About Florence County, SC

What use to be the Railway Restaurant in Lake City is now the Railway Charcoal Grill and Club Car Pub. After three months of renovations, Tony Whitlock and Katherine Fridl have definitely reached their goal of offering a restaurant that is classy but still casual, sophisticated but friendly, and great taste but without a great cost. They accomplished this by offering the Dining Car which offers a non-smoking dining experience and the Club Car Pub which is an English style pub. Both offer a full menu including unique dishes such as fried alligator bites to traditional entrees like the 16 oz. bone-in Rib-Eye steak. The cocktail menu is also diverse with offerings such as the Railway's Dirty Blue Martini to the Railway's signature lemonade made with Firefly sweet tea vodka. Desserts are to die for with a sure to be favorite of caramel filled donuts with a coffee dipping sauce. So for a different but for sure wonderful dining experience get all aboard for a great dining experience at the Railway Grill in Lake City located in the old railroad depot.

For too many years we have been getting pills to treat our symptoms rather than prevent the diseases that plague the Pee Dee region in South Carolina. Some physicians in the little town of Lake City may have the medical model that is needed in health care. Lake City is the home of a new six million dollar investment, the Live Oak Medical Center. This may just be the answer that we need to help with sky rocketing costs of health care. Instead of just treating the symptoms of our disease, it is also about preventing the diseases. Live Oak Medical Center combines physician offices, wellness center and physical therapy center. Dr. Albert Mims, one of the founding physicians said “I have practiced in Lake City for 28 years and see this concept as an answer to some of the issues that plague the I-95 corridor where there is limited access to health care and little chance to correct diet and sedentary lifestyles that can prevent or delay chronic diseases such as hypertension, coronary artery disease and diabetes.” Hats off to these physicians for providing the Pee Dee region with a chance not just to treat their symptoms, but to also make some life style changes that can prevent or delay many diseases. The facility though, will only be as effective as the willingness of the patients to take advantage of the many resources offered there.

If you are looking for a different place to eat, then be sure to try Food Scapes located at the Lake City Airport. Yes, believe it or not Lake City does have an airport, but better than that it has one of the best little restaurants around called - Food Scapes. All dishes are prepared using fresh, seasonal, local ingredients and boy do they know how to do it right. Better than that they are open seven days a week from 10AM to 10PM. Along with a wonderful selection of entrees, they have some of the best desserts around. Food Scapes also offers - delivery, grab and go deli case, boxed luches, corporate catering, special events catering, "tween" pricing, children's menu and gift cards. So, are you ready for a new place to eat? Check out Foodscapes at the Lake City Airport, 244 Clifton Road, Lake City, SC. Don't be fooled by the small green block building that houses Food Scapes. I promise you will be making many more trips to Lake City for this hidden treasure.

There is a surge of first-time home buyers in California and across the country who are taking the plunge into the still-shaky housing market, exchanging rents for mortgages. Lured by a combination of a drastic drop in home prices, expanded FHA-insured loans, record-low interest rates and an $8,000 federal tax credit, these newcomers are breathing new life into a beleaguered market. Their entry, many hope, will help slow the fall in home prices and sales. First-time buyers bought more than half of the existing homes sold in February, according to the National Association of Realtors®, and helped add to the 5.1% increase in sales from the month earlier. Enticed by the huge drop in prices around her neighborhood, first-time buyer Ucilia Wang says she's willing to take the chance that prices could slide further or that the economy could worsen. Overall, in Oakland, Calif., where she rents a tiny one-bedroom apartment, the median home price dropped 66% over the past year. In her sought-after neighborhood of the Piedmont District, Wang is finally finding homes in her price range of about $500,000, which would have been hard to find two years ago. "You don't have to spend $500,000 for a one-bedroom condo [anymore]. You might be able to get a single-family house for that now," says Marci Orler, a Realtor® in San Jose, Calif., who bills herself as a first-time home buyer specialist. With six active clients, Orler is much busier today than she was this time last year when few first-timers, or anyone else for that matter, were shopping for houses. Prices have finally fallen to a level that people without equity can consider buying, she says.