Mulberry offers a quieter lifestyle with access to city amenities
Just outside of Sumter, South Carolina, Mulberry trades the bustle of town for a rural setting with lots of room to spread out. The neighborhood draws buyers who want a slower pace and traditional homes without straying far from everyday essentials. Residents are just minutes away from the area’s shops and restaurants, while nearby parks and greenway trails add plenty of ways to get outside. Highway access also keeps commutes to downtown, Shaw Air Force Base and beyond within easy reach.
Single-family homes in a quiet, rural setting
Single-family homes make up the majority of available properties in Mulberry. These lean toward traditional designs, including ranch-style homes and farmhouses, giving the area a cohesive look. Houses are often on quiet country roads surrounded by tall, leafy trees. You can find a mix of recently renovated properties and others that need a little work. Sitting outside the Sumter city limits, the lots tend to be generous, with many larger than an acre. As for prices in the community, most range from the lower $100,000s to the mid-$400,000s.
Specialized programs at Sumter High School
The Sumter School District serves Mulberry and provides public education across all grade levels. Students can attend Crosswell Drive Elementary School before advancing to Chestnut Oaks Middle School. At Sumter High School, students can enroll in Advanced Placement courses, dual-enrollment classes, and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program.
Where to shop and dine around Sumter
While Mulberry is primarily residential, there are several shopping and dining options in nearby Sumter. Popular spots you can visit include:
- Hamptons, a downtown restaurant for upscale American fare with Italian influence inside a restored historic building
- Side Bar, a casual eatery serving house-smoked barbecue, burgers and a rotating selection of bourbon
- Simply Southern Bistro, a laid-back spot known for its Southern comfort food like fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits
- Mariachi’s, a colorful Mexican restaurant on Broad Street in Sumter
- Sumter Mall, a shopping center on Broad Street, anchored by a Belk
For groceries, the closest supermarkets are Piggly Wiggly and Aldi.
Dillon Park and Swan Lake offer plenty of outdoor space
Julia Lester Dillon Park is the neighborhood’s hub for recreation. It has baseball fields, a playground, a disc golf course and the BarkPark, a dedicated off-leash dog area. Hikers, bikers and runners will enjoy the park’s trail access. “Dillon Park connects to trails on the Shot Pouch Greenway,” says Talmadge Tobias, a Realtor at Re/MAX Summit, with nearly 20 years of experience. “It runs all the way through town and down to Swan Lake Iris Gardens. It has a lot of shade and is popular for walking and biking.” Covering around 150 acres, Swan Lake is the only public park in the country that is home to all eight species of swans. It also has rose gardens, azalea gardens and more than 120 varieties of iris.
Quick highway access for regional commutes
Most people in Mulberry drive to get around, and multiple highways facilitate trips through the region. “It’s a slower-paced area of Sumter, close to the highway, so commuting to major employers like Shaw Air Force Base is easy,” Tobias says. “The military community is very important here, and many buyers are from the community, so if they want to live in town, access to the base is necessary.” Here are some notable commuting distances from Mulberry:
- 3 miles to downtown Sumter via U.S. Route 15
- 7 miles to Shaw Air Force Base via U.S. Route 378
- 45 miles to Columbia via Route 378
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Written By
Matthew Atkins
