A brake-worthy pit stop just unlocked its doors along Highway 17 in the community of Green Pond, South Carolina, between Charleston and Savannah. It’s an outright trove of Southern treasures. On a familiar stretch of road, the new billboard caught my eye: In bright yellow font, surrounded by a picture of an ice cream cone and steaming coffee cup, beckoned the words Wood Bros. General Store. I had no idea about the art, surprises, and history this place contained, but I was ready to stretch my legs.
Inside the wide and airy building, the friendly staff, including manager David Lockwood and his wife, Nikki, were still in “soft-opening” mode, but bounty already lined the shelves—sacks of Carolina Gold rice, local honey branded with that bright yellow Wood Bros. logo, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits in the freezer, notepads from the New Orleans stationer Alexa Pulitzer, and boiled peanuts in the fridge.
Black-and-white artworks pulled me with a gravitational force to one corner—these were silhouettes cut by both Clay and Carew Rice. The fall issue of Garden & Gun was cracked open in front of the framed pieces for sale, with this article about those cherished Lowcountry artists across its pages.
On the other end, nearly an entire wall of shelving made up what proprietor David Wise believes to be the largest showroom for hand-carved decoys and shorebirds in the state. (Wise co-owns the store with his wife, Morgan.) I thought about all the sporting art enthusiasts who travel this route for the annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition each February in Charleston—they’ll want to stop here to see vintage and modern works from such names as the Ward Brothers, Frank Middleton, Tom Boozer, and Mark McNair.
On the left side of the building, the Court House Coffee shop poured nitro cold brew, cappuccinos, and classic drip. On the right side was a bit of a construction zone, an area Wise plans to open as a restaurant during “phase two” next year. For the past few months, the three-and-a-half acres the store sits on have been operating as a community gathering spot, hosting group bike rides and a Saturday morning farmers market of barbecue, baked goods, and local produce.
Forgive me, I’ve buried the most important part of this report too many paragraphs down: “We’re claiming to have the nicest bathrooms between Charleston and Savannah,” Wise says. “Each has a room you go into instead of a stall, and that’s the most important headline.” With brass hardware, penny tile floors, and handmade Landrum Tables stands, he’s probably safe in his assessment. (That handcrafted furniture company, Landrum, opened a showroom that’s also worth popping into just a few steps away in a separate building.)
Yes, Wood Brothers is celebrating its opening this month, but it’s more of a long-awaited homecoming for the Green Pond community, which sits in the Ace Basin, an important watershed at the confluence of the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto rivers. The original Wood Brothers General Store operated from 1964 until 2012, selling just about anything a passing motorist might need, as well as goods for a fun day in the country. “As a kid growing up,” Wise remembers, “I’d step into the store and they would have hot dogs, snake boots, cast-iron pans, duct tape, nuts and bolts. And you could get your tire fixed.”
In the 1960s, Richard Wood served as the captain of the Walterboro High School football team, and as the story goes, he graduated on a Friday and the following Monday, he and his brother, Donald, opened their store. They also ran a construction company and a wrecker service, and in 1972, Richard became the youngest magistrate in the state. Judge Wood operated his court out of the very spot where Court House Coffee sits now, named with a nod to his legacy.
Wise, who also owns the nearby Hobonny estate, and now lives in Mount Pleasant with his own family, kept an eye on the location. “I always told Donald I was interested if he ever wanted to sell it,” Wise says. For his part, Donald Wood was worried someone might tear down the building—or worse, turn it into a liquor store or vape shop. “A year and a half ago, Donald reached out to me and said, ‘Let’s talk.’” Wise told Wood he wanted to respect the heritage of the spot and keep the Wood Brothers name.
Deal sealed, Wise set about rethinking what a general store means in modern times. He hired the South Carolina graphic designer Gil Shuler, who created those eye-catching roadside signs, plus hats and T-shirts. He sourced popular area brands like Oliver Pluff & Company Teas as well as newcomers like the cookie baker Joony’s out of Charleston. “Ninety percent of what we sell is Southern-made,” Wise says. “We want folks to stop in and take home an authentic piece of the Lowcountry.”
While working to reopen the store, Wise learned that some 50,000 cars pass by on this stretch of highway each week. A few times a year, on weekend visits to Savannah and to see my family in Florida, I’m one of them. My plan now is to stop into the long-running and reliably delicious snack shop Carolina Cider Company on the right side of 17 for a pastry while headed south, and at Wood Brothers fifteen miles north for coffee and a bathroom break on my way home to Charleston.
But perhaps the biggest stamp of approval comes from the Wood brothers themselves. Although Richard died in 2021 at the age of seventy-five at home in Green Pond, the Honorable Judge Wood’s legacy lives on at the coffee shop where his courtroom once sat, and in every conversation locals and visitors have with his brother, Donald, who lives nearby and is once again a regular at Wood Brothers General Store.
