- [Man] Stop and stretch your legs at
South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina.
South of the Border was established in 1950
by Alan Schafer and was meant to be a bar
because North Carolina prohibited alcohol.
And the bar was just a stone's throw away from
the boarder, so North Carolinians could easily
grab a drink.
South of the Border is a rest stop with
restaurants, gas stations, a video arcade,
a motel, and a truck stop.
As well as a small amusement park, a mini-golf course,
shopping, and firework stores.
One of the many restaurants at South of the Border
is the Peddler's Steakhouse.
It is run by Mitch Drigger.
When I was younger, South of the Border, we used
to come here.
Actually to play put put with my relatives
and it was right over there where the aligator
adventure is.
And Allan Shaffer had it to begin with.
It started from a hot dog stand and then he
started putting more into it.
He got the company, the Blooming Ginger Ale.
Just kinda expanded from there.
Right now, his grandson owns it and what he is doing
now is renovating it and also putting in a
dirt bike track.
Probably about six years ago and it's actually for sports,
semi-professional I think.
But that's all that I really know about it.
Actually this restaurant used to be the hotel office.
That's why it's circle, because the cars would
actually pull up where the dining area is.
The actual office itself would have been our kitchen.
And that was the original office.
- [Man] While you're there stop by
Reptile Lagoon, the largest indoor reptile exhibit
in the United States, to see snakes, crocodiles,
alligators, and turtles.
- South of the Border was a offshoot of another
company that my father owned and my grandfather
owned.
In Little Rock we had a beer distribution company
called Schafer Distributing Company.
And it started in 1933, we worked over half the
state of South Carolina in the end.
The name South of the Border came from
the United States Postal Service.
He was getting mail, Alan Schafer, south of
the North Carolina border.
So at that point in time, so much of it came that
way he finally just renamed the business,
South of the Border.
Well he grew from that, the beer joint as I called it,
he had to have a restaurant added and have to have
food to have on premise service.
And the business just started growing from that
because of tourism.
And all of the sudden there was nothing between
Fayetteville, North Carolina and Florence South Carolina.
Nothing on 301 at that point in time.
And it was half way in between them,
well basically half way, and people started stopping.
Funny a lot of the business started purely by
just watching what tourists do.
At that point we're talking about 1949 now.
People would stop and there was a cotton field
on the west side of 301.
Big cotton field.
And my father noticed people over there
picking cotton.
He couldn't figure it out, what in the world were
these people picking cotton for?
Well northerners had never seen a cotton field and
all the sudden he said well I can do something
about that, we can sell cotton.
So he leased the cotton field from the
farmer, or he bought the cotton from him, and
had his little hemp ball containers or wraps.
He'd wrap cotton balls, cotton packs, in and sold
them to the tourists.
That's what started South of the Border shops was
him selling cotton.
- [Man] About 300 people, mostly local
employees, work at South of the Border.
At one time, with 700 working there, it was the
largest employer in Dillon County South Carolina.
South of the Border is an attraction on
interstate 95, US highway 301, and US 501 in
Dillon, South Carolina.
The stop has fallen on hard times as more modern
hotel areas, both in the north and south,
have grown along I95.
But it is still a good place to stop and
refresh your childhood memories.
(soft music)