Please join us Monday Oct 22nd 2018
We welcome you and your guests for lunch and a presentation by David Hodges discussing the history of the Sunset Lodge
An internationally known brothel, the Sunset Lodge, founded about 1936, was located in a white frame house adorned by neon on U.S. Highway 17 originally three miles south of Georgetown’s limits. The business was reportedly encouraged by business leaders, including Tom Yawkey, a Massachusetts millionaire who owned a resort home near Georgetown. They wanted to divert the attentions of workers building the International Paper Company mill at Georgetown from their local women.
The lodge’s past is cloaked in legend and myth, but researchers generally agree that the clientele included servicemen, merchant seamen, college students, millionaires, and reportedly members of Yawkey’s Boston Red Sox baseball team, which passed through en route to spring training in Florida. State legislators were also frequent visitors.
David Hodges has been researching the history of the Sunset Lodge for years and will joining us to discuss this interesting attraction our state would probably rather not be known for. David was born in Columbia and went to A.C. Moore, Hand, and Dreher. He graduated from the University of South Carolina and entered the life insurance business with MassMutual at age 24 where he continue to work full time. David sits on many boards locally and is an Elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia. Please bring a guest for what is sure to be a fun and interesting presentation.