By Jason Evans

Staff Reporter

jevans@thepccourier.com

SIX MILE — A large chunk of downtown real estate in Six Mile was auctioned off at town hall last month, drawing a large crowd, according to Mayor Roy Stoddard.
Interstate Auction Company held the absolute auction for properties, a total of 26 acres, owned by Six Mile LLC. The properties had been owned by a single family for nearly 100 years. The auction was held to liquidate the assets of Six Mile LLC.
“The place was packed,” Stoddard said.
The auction drew more than a hundred people.
Some bids were even taken over the phone.
“It was big time — they had one auctioneer who did nothing but the phone,” Stoddard said.
Before the auction opened, the town was able to purchase 8.5 acres of property for $125,000.
Stoddard said the town was very fortunate to be able to purchase the property.
“That’s right in the heart of our downtown area,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to control what’s going to take place in an area.”
The family that owned the property had allowed the town to use it for years, Stoddard said.
“For our festivities, the Issaqueena Festival, Christmas parade, you name it,” he said. “A parking and staging area. They put up kids’ inflatables and let the kids play there. It was just neat the way they allowed us to do that.”
The town would like “if at all possible” to restore the Dillard House, the white house that sits on the purchased property, Stoddard said.
“We’d have to have help,” Stoddard said. “That’s the idea, to make it kind of a showplace, maybe a museum down the road. We’ve got our ideas. We’re still germinating, still trying to pull things together.”
Stoddard doesn’t know yet what the new owners plan to do with their new purchases, which include the former site of a restaurant.
One couple who purchased several of the auctioned properties are business owners in another part of Pickens County, so Stoddard hopes they will use their new purchases for retail in the town.
“We’re excited,” Stoddard said. “We think that it will really help the town. We’re looking for big things in Six Mile.”

The Pickens High School Class of 1956 held its 60th class reunion at the Gatehouse in PIckens on Saturday. Pictured from left, front row, are Nancy Brown Reece (seated), Shelby Henderson Finley, Shirley Newton Lovingood, Carolyn Ellenburg Freeman, Judy Rampey Norton, Shelby Duncan Reilly, Betty Garren Brock, Ruth Ann Lovell Smith, Hazel Owens Couch, Blanche Boggs Fowler, Lucy Boozer Harward and Mozelle Holden Stewart. On the second row are Tunkie Cole Stokes, Sam W. Stokes, Ruth Ellen Cassell Trotter, Ernie Baker, Marilyn Dorr Black, Shirley McNeely Kay, Margaret Roberts Waldrop, Fran Hasket Wood and Jean Masters McCall. In back row are Floyd Collins, Allen Chappell, Allison Dalton, Charles Barker, Heyward Maddox, Tommy Boggs, Garvin Stewart, Doug Hudson, John Frank Hendricks, Wallace Couch, Ray Haskett Mascot and Tom Bivens. Not pictured are Anne Acker Childs, Morris Keasley and Mary Ann Simmons Hayes. At right, John Hendricks even brought the car he actually drove to school while attending PHS.