There’ll be fireflies before your eyes
          And moss draped over the trees
          The drive will wind around the vine
          To where we’re going to be.
 
Thus read the last stanza of clues hand written on the front of the legal size envelope we each got as we drove off. “Don’t open them yet. Wait till I tell you!” The narrator and chauffer was my sister Cynthia, our family’s version of Perle Mesta (known as the “hostess with the mostes”). Cynthia also has a penchant for the quirky and unexpected “do.”

This time she planned a mystery trip to include myself, daughter Cathy and daughter-in-law Amy. Cynthia said to dress casually and bring money to do a bit of shopping and enjoy lunch. “Prepare to go to the country ‘over the river and through the woods’ and to be gone for most of the day. Being a keen observer and a crack investigative reporter, it took me a mere half hour of driving to notice the tea bag dangling atop the rear-view mirror. “Ah ha,” I cried. “Puzzle solved. We’re going to the Tea Plantation!”

ÒThat’s not a tea bag,” my sister informed me dryly. “That’s a red herring.” Well, a semi-red herring anyway, as it turned out. We did go to Wadmalaw Island, but not to sip tea (exactly) but to test out a distillery and a winery close to home.

As we approached the turnoff, we got permission to dip into the envelopes and found booklets on our destinations: the Firefly Distillery & Tasting Room and the Irvin-House Vineyards, Charleston’s only winery and vineyards, next door to each other and on beautiful grounds. Turns out the distillery features an infusion of American Tea and Firefly Vodka in different flavors. The tea was from the nearby Charleston Tea Plantation, which by the way has it roots (literally) in the tea once grown on the Tea Farm right here in Summerville. The winery produces wine from its own muscadine grape vineyards. If savoring these products is to your liking, you join a host of satisfied customers getting to know some hardworking people and their wares which are bringing in many dollars to boost Lowcountry economy.

What it did for us was to expand our horizons as to what kinds of experiences and products are offered in these parts. We also got to spend an entire relaxing day bonding with a quartet of family females. What could be better? Except maybe some ideas for how to bring visitors – and dollars – back to our town. Remember, roads run both ways.

We don’t have a winery or a distillery in Summerville. Maybe never will. But we do have lots of current and (I’m certain) future attractions, including excellent restaurants and other amenities. These to add to the unique lifestyle of our residents as well as our visitors. With all the creative people in the Summerville arts and business and civic communities, as well as our schools, I predict we’ll continue to come up with incentives to bring in guests to share our good fortune – and add to it as well.

Maybe in the not too distant future, even more folks will be visiting Flower Town to both unravel and to revel in their own distinctive mystery trip.