The Setting for The Old Gravel Road Series

Dodgeville, South Carolina, is the town that doesn’t exist, but that you’ll wish did! Located in the Upstate of South Carolina, Dodgeville boasts a population of 1,251 citizens—each of them fictional. Glenbrook (also fictional) is the nearest “big” town, and Greenville (an actual city) is the nearest large city.

Dodgeville is off the beaten path and enjoys its anonymity. However, with Bitsy Evans’s popular blog, The Old Gravel Road, and her ever-growing social media following, tourism in Dodgeville has become a bit of a “cottage industry” for several of the local businesses.

In the pages of the first book in The Old Gravel Road series, The House at the End of the Old Gravel Road, the residents of Dodgeville are preparing to celebrate Dodgeville Days, the town’s annual festival. This year, they’ll find out what the winning entry was for the town’s motto. Pastor Dave, the well-liked minister at Dodgeville Community Church, will once again emcee the annual event. And to top it all off, one of the favorite local businesses (we can’t tell you which one!) has a grand re-opening after receiving a very special makeover from a large design firm in Greenville. The town is all aflutter about the big reveal!

Dodgeville enjoys the warmth of South Carolina days, the beauty of South Carolina sunsets, and its proximity to the mountains (about an hour’s drive to the north) and the ocean (about three hours’ drive to the east). The town, like nearby Simpsonville, was founded in 1885, and is already starting to prepare for its sesquicentennial celebration in 2035, though most of its older citizens doubt that anything could top the big hundredth-anniversary celebration back in 1985. To quote Miss Pauline, owner of the Sweet Tea and Sunshine Cafe, “Only time will tell.”

Welcome to Dodgeville, SC—It doesn’t exist, but you’ll wish it did!