Pacolet is a mill town on the Pacolet River. The Pacolet Manufacturing Company started here in 1882, the river flooded the town and wiped out two of the mills in June 1903, and the mills that followed were torn down in the late 1980s. In 1997 the separate towns of Pacolet Station and Pacolet Mills merged into today's Town of Pacolet, about 2,274 people in 2020.
What survives is the mill village. The Pacolet Mills Historic District, listed on the National Register in 2007, takes in 126 contributing buildings, most of them worker and supervisor houses built between 1915 and 1920 in Craftsman bungalow and Tudor Revival styles. Those houses are now more than a century old, and their plumbing has been reworked several times over.
The utilities are a mix you will not find in most of Spartanburg County. Water comes from Spartanburg Water and sewer from the Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District. Natural gas, though, is billed as Union Gas, the City of Union's gas system, and Pacolet Town Hall takes those payments. Permits and inspections run through the town, which contracts that work out.
Pacolet at a glance
- Natural gas
- City of Union (Union Gas). Pacolet Town Hall takes payments for Union Gas, the City of Union's system, which reaches into Spartanburg County; your bill shows which utility serves you.
- Water
- Spartanburg Water
- Sewer
- Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District
- Permits
- Town of Pacolet, through its contracted building inspection firm
- Housing
- A National Register mill village of 1915 to 1920 bungalows, older homes around the old Pacolet Station, and rural houses outside town.
Plumbing and gas in Pacolet: what to know
Century-old mill houses
A 1910s mill house was built with no indoor bathroom to speak of, so the plumbing you have now was added later, often more than once. Expect a mix: galvanized and copper supply lines, cast iron and PVC drains joined with rubber couplings, and crawlspace runs that were never insulated. A leak is often a sign of what the rest of that section looks like.
Old gas piping on Union Gas service
Many older homes still carry black iron gas pipe that has been extended for each new appliance over the years. That works as long as the pipe is sized for the total load and every joint is sound. If you are adding a gas appliance, the line has to be checked against everything it already feeds, and a new run gets a pressure test before it is put in service.
Sewer laterals under old trees
The line from a mill house to the public sewer is often clay tile or cast iron, and a century of tree roots finds every joint. Recurring backups in the lowest drain, especially in fall, usually mean roots. Cutting them clears the line for a while; replacing the damaged section ends it.
Who to call for what
A gas smell or meter problem goes to Union Gas, the City of Union's system, by phone from outside the house. Water main and meter issues go to Spartanburg Water, which also handles the public sewer. The pipes on your side of each meter or cleanout are the homeowner's, and that is the work we do.