The Parson's Table

The very structure of The Parson’s Table is a patchwork of Carolinian history.

Originally the first Little River Methodist Church, the main dining room was built in 1885. Mr. H.W. Stone sawed the logs for the church and did such a good job that most of the original wood is still in the building; the flooring in the main dining room has since been augmented with siding sourced from a farm house built in the 1850’s, though it still conveys the hand hewn heart of pine floors.

The dining room’s large chandelier and stained glass windows first hung in the Mullins, SC Baptist Church, built by H.J. Vereen, Sr., Robert Livingston, and Dr. R.G. Sloan. And the beautiful beveled glass over the doorway into the room came from the White Mansion in Lumberton, NC. Local cypress now covers the original pine-board interior walls, though clap board pine can still be seen on the walls in some of the outside rooms.

As you enter the restaurant itself, the large antique doors are also made of local cypress, and are over one hundred fifty years old. The building served as a church until 1952, its first marriage in 1886 joining together the McCorsley and McGinn families. In 1952 the church, and several side structures added over the years, were converted into a community meeting place.

This was purchased by longtime Little River resident Mr. Toby Frye in 1978, and moved approximately two blocks south to the present location where it was converted into a restaurant using stained and beveled glass Mr. Frye had collected over the years. The remaining stained and beveled glass comes from various old churches throughout the South, collected by previous owners Ed and Nancy Murray. The stunning original Tiffany lamp in the main room is from an old farm house in Atlanta.

Please feel free to walk around the various rooms to view all the antique stained glass. As a challenge, see if you can pick which window is most valuable and why!