She thinks the schools provide a good education. At 35, she can see how her hometown has changed, how downtown thrived before a bypass and strip shopping centers attracted people away. Now, with downtown restored, some of the people who grew up in Chester have found their way home. There's also affordable housing, some of it in the town's 250-acre historic district, says Nancy Anderson, the real estate agent. Retirees are moving in, and so are people who commute to Rock Hill, Charlotte and Columbia.
Traffic is minimal, the atmosphere peaceful and a simpler life easier to be had.
Small towns have their rewards, says Ed Driggers, city administrator. You can call your child's doctor on the telephone as a personal friend, tell him what's wrong, and he'll call you in a prescription to the local drugstore. Carowinds is close, too. Anderson's vision is Abbeville. Because two railroads were built near town, many of the most popular performers before and after the turn of the century entertained there.