FLORENCE – Buc-ee is king in this corner of rural Florence County. He presides over a tangled maze of cars, from Virginia, New York, Georgia, New Jersey — all there to see a gas station. Teenagers with beach tans and 30-somethings with toddlers get out and stretch their legs.
They take photos of a giant inflatable beaver, beaver bobbleheads, beaver diapers. They bite into smoked meat and caramelized sugar. They hear the cash register sliding open, their coins dropping in, one after another.
A mile away, in the belly of Back Swamp, a spider hesitates at the edge of its web, waiting. A cicada thrums to life. A heron takes flight over groves of hickory and holly, cypress and cedar.
The trees reach up, clogging forest paths, blotting out the sky. Sunlight slants through the shadow, so deep it must hold a secret. On one side of this Interstate 95 interchange is a cluster of businesses anchored by South Carolina’s only Buc-ee’s , a famed tourist attraction that brings millions of people and dollars to Florence.
On the other is a centuries-old community , where generations have raised their families in rural splendor. In the middle are local leaders who have to decide — what does Florence County want to be? At an Aug. 15 meeting, County Council members decided to open the door to development, at least this time.
They allowed developers to rezone a 105-acre property on the other side of the road from Buc-ee’s. The land, filled now with cotton, could soon be paved over. �.