Your first guess is probably Greer, right? But, no, in a real-life case of situational irony, Jason Greer’s family didn’t found the city of Greer, S.C.
But his great, great, great grandfather (That’s a lot of greats!) Peter Simpson did, in fact, found Simpsonville in the 1830s. Simpson owned a general store near where the clock tower now stands.
Yes, Jason’s family goes way back in the Upstate of South Carolina. And he himself has lived in the Greenville area for most of his life, including living right near the locally beloved Paris Mountain with his wife for the last five years.
Before that, Jason recalls passing through Travelers Rest (“TR”) to go to Camp Old Indian or for trips to the mountains.
“On longer trips, I was always glad to see TR coming back, especially seeing Paris Mountain rise to the left, as I traveled from the north to the south,” he says.
Of course, you know Jason as a familiar voice on TravelersRestHere.com as one of our longtime bloggers. But in his other life, he works as a communications professional, with work in technical and marketing writing and political consulting.
“In other words, I like to take complicated things and make them understandable and more useful to clients,” Jason explains.
Fortunately, he also enjoys blogging about the wonderful people and events happening here in Travelers Rest.
“I love that TR is a transition,” he says with obvious appreciation for the area. “It is a transition to the mountains, western North Carolina, the state parks, the camps and it is the transition from the urban areas of Greenville County to the rural northern rolling hills. It is where the long history of southern Appalachia meets a 21st century entrepreneurial experience. It is the transition and the willingness to try new ways of doing business and experiences, with deep rooted life of a people who know where they are from. Yes, Travelers Rest is friendly and it is also determined. People like living here, and they like being rooted here too.”
It’s clear that Jason’s love for the area carries over into his blog posts.
Some years ago, Jason became involved with a church that was meeting in the old Travelers Rest High School building. One winter Sunday morning, they arrived to find that the heat was not working. It was extremely cold but instead of canceling the service, congregants went home to get blankets and hats, returning to share them with everyone else. They went on with their worship service.
“Many people at that service continue to live and work, and have even founded businesses in Travelers Rest now. And to me, it really represents the spirit of, ‘We are in this together, we won’t stop and we will make something new out of a transition time.’”
As to the future of our town, Jason has a powerful vision.
“I would like to see Travelers Rest continue to be a friend to entrepreneurs and people with new ideas of doing business. I would like to see the long-standing people and culture respected and learned from and newcomers welcomed and listened to. And I would like to see growth handled in a way that respects and uses well the natural resources of the area.”
He continues:
“There will be a lot of hard decisions to make in years to come, as growth and population want to be a part of this special land. There will be a need for real cooperation and understanding, and forethought and planning over the next generation.”
Well said, Jason.
