Editing Summerville, South Carolina (section)

==History==
The first settlement in Summerville began following the [[American Revolutionary War]]; it was called Pineland Village in 1785. Development in the area resulted from plantation owners who resided in the Charleston area and came to Summerville to escape seasonal insects and their attendant swamp fever.<ref name="HistoricFacts">{{citation |url=http://www.visitsummerville.com/html/historicfacts.html |title=Historic Facts About Summerville & Dorchester County |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717224317/http://www.visitsummerville.com/html/historicfacts.html |archive-date=July 17, 2011  }}</ref>

Summerville became an official town on December 17, 1847. That year, the town passed a law against cutting down trees, the nation's first such law, and a $25 fine {{USDCY|25|1847}} was issued to anyone who did so without permission. The town's official seal reads "{{lang|la|Sacra Pinus Esto}} (The Pine is Sacred)".<ref name="SummervilleBook">{{citation |url=http://www.summerville.sc.us |title=Summerville's Book of History |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030325124057/http://www.summerville.sc.us/ |archive-date=March 25, 2003  }}</ref>

The [[1886 Charleston earthquake]] affected Summerville, which resulted in a fire that reduced many of the buildings in the town square to ruins.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-07-29 |title=A Brief History of Summerville |url=https://www.postandcourier.com/a-brief-history-of-summerville/article_10c2eafe-2bd7-11ee-8fba-3b4810afa5a7.html |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=Post and Courier |language=en}}</ref> During this earthquake, the [[Old White Meeting House Ruins and Cemetery]], located near Summerville, was also destroyed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SCDAH |url=http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/dorchester/S10817718012/index.htm |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.nationalregister.sc.gov}}</ref> Today, Summerville is located within the Middleton Place-Summerville Seismic Zone, which is the most active seismic zone in South Carolina.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Earthquakes - South Carolina Emergency Management Division |url=https://www.scemd.org/prepare/types-of-disasters/earthquakes/#:~:text=About%2070%20percent%20of%20South,the%201913%20Union%20County%20earthquake |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.scemd.org}}</ref>

In 1899, the International Congress of Physicians (or "Tuberculosis Congress"<ref name="HistoricFacts" />) listed Summerville as one of the world's two best areas for treatment of and recovery from lung and throat disorders, due to its dry and sandy location and the many pine trees that release [[turpentine]] derivatives into the air. This notation is credited with aiding Summerville's commercial and residential development.<ref name="SummervilleBook" />

The former Summerville post office built in 1938 contains a mural, ''Train Time – Summerville'', painted by [[Bernadine Custer]] in 1939. Federally commissioned murals were produced from 1934 to 1943 in the U.S. through the [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]], later called the [[Section of Fine Arts]], of the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnesen |first=Eric |date=2007 |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415968263}}</ref>

In 2019 [[Dorchester County, South Carolina|Dorchester County]] announced that it was redeveloping 500 N. Main Street, the biggest tract of land in Downtown Summerville.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.dorchestercountysc.gov/our-county/projects/redevelopment-of-500-n-main-st | title=Redevelopment of 500 N. Main St. | website=dorchestercountysc.gov}}</ref>

The [[South Carolina Highway 61|Ashley River Road]], [[Middleton Place]], [[Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site]], [[Old White Meeting House Ruins and Cemetery]], and the [[Summerville Historic District (Summerville, South Carolina)|Summerville Historic District]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>