See inside of $1.8M SC property for sale that includes restaurant and 100-year-old home
Hundreds of vehicles each day pass by the Cooper House along Dick Pond Road in Socastee – most of them not realizing they are traveling through one of the most historic areas of Horry County.
They may have even stopped by The Porch Restaurant, located next door at 4211 Peachtree Road, for a chicken bog eggroll or a hamburger or BBQ sandwich.
The home, along with the T.B. Cooper General Store, which sits on the 2-acre property, is more than 100 years old. And anyone with $1.8 million can buy the property and become the next steward of these historic buildings, including the restaurant.
It’s an opportunity that doesn’t happen often, Myrtle Beach Realtor Jay Gray said.
The properties are currently owned by Marnie Kennedy, who bought them with her late husband, Ralph Stacey.
Kennedy operates her wedding event planning business, Leave It To Marnie, out of the Cooper House and general store.
She’s selling the properties as she readies to “move into another chapter” of her life.
That includes focusing more on her event planning and the family’s other restaurant, Ramanis, 2523 Forestbrook Road, which is being managed by her son, Kyle Stacey.
And although Kennedy wants to sell the properties, it’s important to her that the history of the property and the area is preserved.
“It’s vital that it remain exactly like it is,” Kennedy said.
T.B. Cooper General Store
The restaurant is the “newest” of the three buildings. It once was a bait and tackle shop before its current incarnation of selling food, Kennedy said.
At the general store and the outside area, Kennedy has weddings booked throughout the year, which won’t be disrupted when the property sells, she said. The general store offers a rustic, but beautiful setting, with the original shelving and wood planks on the floor and walls.
The T.B. Cooper Store was built in 1905 and sold feed, grain, coffee, soda pop and other wares to Socastee residents. It also served as the first post office for the Socastee area.
Thomas Cooper served as its postmaster in 1908. Later, the store became a bank, but the post office counter remains in the store.
The Cooper House
Kennedy also uses the Cooper House for weddings, including rooms that serve as bridal and groom suites.
While additions have been made to the house over the years, the home hasn’t changed much since it was first built in 1908. There is still original woodwork, hardwood floors throughout and antique furnishings that will be left for the new owners. The 3,800-square-foot home has four bedrooms, one full bath and three half baths.
The outside of the home sports a spacious front porch and a screened in porch on the side of the house. Part of the outside acreage is used for weddings, including a patio area.
The rest of the property, which is dotted with trees, including oaks draped in Spanish moss, extends on the other side of the house toward the waterway.
The home was also used to house boarders at one time.
Cooper died in 1928, and his family kept the home until about the 2000s, according to Gray. Cooper is buried across the waterway at the Socastee United Methodist Church, Gray pointed out.
A big piece of community history
The Cooper House and T.B. General Store are just a short distance from the Socastee Swing Bridge and across the street from the Samuel Sarvis home.
Both sites, along with the swing bridge, are part of the Socastee Historic District and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Gray said that although the buildings are on the national register, it doesn’t mean that work can’t be done.
He said he could see the property being transformed into a bed and breakfast with the restaurant providing the food, or an Airbnb.
The property is a rare opportunity for someone to help shape the next chapter in Horry County’s history, Gray said.
