Anyone who has driven Highway 93 through downtown Central lately has seen the construction near the Caboose. It is the start of a new 10-foot-wide segment of the Green Crescent Trail. According to the Green Crescent Trail's October 26 update, it will run mostly along Highway 93 and tie into the existing Pepper Street trail across from Bolick Field.
Those two ends are already where Central spends its Saturdays and its biggest night in December. On one end are the free Saturday trains at the Central Railway Museum, beside the Caboose. On the other is the Christmas parade at Bolick Field. The trail is being built along a route the town already uses.
What Is Being Built, and Where It Goes
The Green Crescent Trail organization says the segment starts near the Caboose in downtown Central, follows Highway 93, connects to the Pepper Street path that was built several years ago, and ends at the site of the future Central Fire Station. A later phase is planned to reach Southern Wesleyan University.
AnMed Health is a longtime sponsor of this segment. The project is part of the group's "15x30" initiative, which aims to connect 15 miles of important trail segments across Clemson, Central and Pendleton by 2030.
The group's update describes the work as still in progress and asks people to follow along for more news. For now, the stretch beside the Caboose is a work zone.
Here is how the pieces fit together:
| Point on the route | What's there | When it's active |
|---|---|---|
| The Caboose, Highway 93 | Newly repainted and remodeled railroad caboose, just east of the museum | Visible any day from the road |
| Central Railway Museum, 108 Werner St | Model railroad layouts and local railroad artifacts | Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., free |
| Pepper Street trail, across from Bolick Field | Existing path the new segment will join | Open now |
| Bolick Field, 110 Pepper St | Listed location for the Central Christmas Parade | Friday, December 11, 6 to 7 p.m. |
| Future Central Fire Station site | Current end point of the new segment | Under construction |
| Southern Wesleyan University | Planned future phase | Not yet built |
The Caboose End Already Has Saturday Hours
The Central Railway Model & Historical Association describes the Caboose as newly repainted and remodeled, sitting on Highway 93 just east of the association's museum building at 108 Werner St.
The Central Railway Museum is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and admission is free. Its centerpiece is a double-decked HO scale model railroad that fills most of the building. Two smaller rooms hold "heritage" layouts of Lionel and American Flyer trains, the toy trains many members grew up with in the 1940s and 1950s. Other layouts in various scales and a collection of real railroad artifacts from the area round it out.
The museum's own calendar lists open houses on each Saturday in November, including November 28, and on December 5, all from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The association also notes that regular trains come through town, to the delight of visitors and members alike.
A 9 a.m. opening makes the museum the earliest stop of a Saturday in Central. Beck's and Against the Grain at the Mill don't open until 10.
Mid-Morning Belongs to the Mill
Central Roller Mills at 300 Madden Bridge Rd is the one stop on this Saturday that is not on Highway 93. It is in its second holiday season as a shopping and dining spot. WSPA covered its grand opening at the end of August 2025.
According to an atHome Upstate feature from September 2026, the mill opened in 1903 and processed wheat and corn into flour and feed for farmers in Pickens and Anderson counties. It sat dormant for more than 40 years before a local partnership renovated it. The same piece calls it the only surviving intact roller mill in South Carolina.
What's inside, per the Mill's directory and the atHome feature:
- Against the Grain Mercantile, a modern general store with seasonal paper goods, tableware, handmade pottery, local provisions, houseplants and gifts. Its posted hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
- Stems at the Mill, a plant and wine shop.
- Beck's Bakes & Crêpes, open Wednesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.
- Paddle and Board Charcuterie, with grab-and-go boards.
- The Bee's Knees, a toy and book shop that atHome describes as a book RV parked near the food truck.
- The Loft Wellness Studio upstairs, offering Pilates, yoga and pop-up classes.
- Blue Ridge Grill, a food truck in the courtyard serving steak burgers, lobster rolls, shrimp and grits, and hog wings.
Timing matters at Beck's. atHome reports that the baked goods often sell out, and it singles out the white rosemary loaf as a bread made to take home. The bakery opens at 10 a.m. on Saturdays, an hour after the museum. The museum first, then the Mill when its doors open, gets you to the bread case before the morning crowd has picked it over.
Against the Grain Mercantile at againstthegrainmercantile.com keeps the longest Saturday hours at the Mill, until 6 p.m. Saturday November 28 is Small Business Saturday, and the Mill's lineup of independent shops is the obvious Central stop for it.
Two December Evenings on the Calendar
Saturday, December 5. The museum's open house runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening, Southern Wesleyan University's calendar lists Lessons and Carols at 7:30 p.m. SWU is the planned end point of the trail's future phase, so this is the far end of the same route. Check the SWU calendar for details.
Friday, December 11. The Clemson Area Chamber lists the Central Christmas Parade for 6 to 7 p.m., with Bolick Field at 110 Pepper St as the location. That puts the town's biggest December night at the Pepper Street end of the trail.
Last year's town council minutes show how the parade night used to run. The 2025 parade was on Friday, December 5, with pre-parade activities starting at 5 p.m., a tree lighting at the caboose, free hot chocolate, and visits with Santa and Mrs. Claus. That evening reached from the caboose to the parade, which is the same stretch the new trail covers.
The City of Pickens has its own parade a week earlier, on Friday, December 4, from 7 to 8 p.m., with the theme "An Appalachian Christmas." More on that town is on our Pickens neighborhood page.
How the Day Lines Up
Put together, a December Saturday in Central follows a clear order. The trail will eventually connect most of it.
- 9 a.m., Central Railway Museum, 108 Werner St. Trains are running and admission is free. The Caboose is just to the east on Highway 93, next to the trail construction.
- 10 a.m., Central Roller Mills, 300 Madden Bridge Rd. Beck's opens. Get bread before it sells out, then browse Against the Grain, Stems and The Bee's Knees.
- Lunch in the Mill courtyard. Blue Ridge Grill's food truck, or a board from Paddle and Board paired with something from Stems.
- Before 2 p.m. The museum closes, so if trains were saved for later, this is the cutoff.
- December evenings. Lessons and Carols at SWU on the 5th at 7:30 p.m. The Christmas Parade, listed at Bolick Field, on Friday the 11th from 6 to 7 p.m.
Steps 1 and 5 are at the two ends of the trail segment under construction. For now, getting between the Caboose and Bolick Field means driving or walking Highway 93. When the segment is finished, that same trip runs on a 10-foot-wide trail along Highway 93 that joins the Pepper Street path. The Green Crescent Trail posts construction progress at greencrescenttrail.org.
If you live near Highway 93 or Pepper Street and want to talk about how a project like this trail fits your plans for your home, the Tim Elder Team follows these changes block by block across the Upstate. You can start with a free home valuation and a conversation about what's being built near you.
