The residents of Lake Wateree and surrounding areas must be very excited once again about the opening of the restaurant at Colonel Creek. The restaurant, located at 12143 River Road, is named Colonel’s Creek Grill. The adjoining market opened by Ken Boone and a business partner in May of 2005 is still going strong. The restaurant, on the other hand, has had several different proprietors. It first opened in May 2005, re-opened with new people in April 2009 and again in February of 2010. Let us hope that the new folks will stay for a long time.
They are not strangers to the restaurant business, having been in business for 34 years. Many of you know them already. They live at the lake and have catered for many events at the lake and parts of Fairfield County, the Dutchman Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Wateree Home Owners Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation banquet at the Old Armory in Winnsboro, the Hunt Club and many individuals.
The new proprietors are David and Marcia Pressley. Their former restaurant, named Parklane Seafood once located on Parklane Road in Columbia, later moved to Leesburg Road. David was born in Monroe, N.C. and Marcia is from Horry County. Pressley went to work at a friend’s grill when he was just 11 years of age to make a little spending money. By the time he was 15 years old he was doing some of the cooking.
David was working at the beach doing summer work when Marcia caught his eye and they hit it off right away. The couple will celebrate their 40th anniversary in August. They have two daughters, one living in Seattle and the other in Columbia. They also have two grandsons.
David is an avid hunter, but not fishing so much. Being in the seafood business for so many years he said he sees his share of fish all day. Marcia enjoys spending any spare time she has being with or doing for the grandchildren. The couple had a great tragedy befall them six weeks ago when their lake home on Kingfisher Road burned down. The cabin adjoining the house was saved, but they lost everything else. They are currently living in a hotel in Columbia until their home can be rebuilt. On top of that terrible loss, David had a large deer jump in front of his vehicle on the night of June 22. Fortunately he was not injured, but as he said, “Sometimes I feel that there is a big black cloud hanging over my head.” But not so with the restaurant, from the comments I have heard from lake residents, friends and church family. The restaurant serves very good food at affordable prices and they still do a large catering business.
The new restaurant opened June 6 and has been received with much excitement. It is open Wednesday through Sunday at 11:30 a.m. serving lunch and dinner, closing at 9:30 p.m. David and Marcia Presley are both warm and friendly people with the interest of the lake people at heart. They are happy to be at the lake and the folks in the area are happy to have them there.
The Lake Wateree, Ridgeway and surrounding area residents will certainly support the new restaurant. With its opening and the Windmill Restaurant that has been in operation for a long time and The Retreat, the area residents now have several choices for dining.
Welcome and good luck to Marcia and David Pressley and their Colonel’s Creek Grill and we hope that you are around for a very long time.