Guests at The Bank, a relatively new restaurant and bar in Chesterfield, enjoy a second floor view of the old Chesterfield County Courthouse. The view is accented by tree lights, courtesy of last year’s Taste of the Carolinas event, and framed with huge windows; the kind they built in 1908.
The building, now owned by Gilbert King, operated as a bank from 1908 until 1929. According to King, an older gentleman in town said he remembered watching from across the street on a Monday morning in 1929, when they locked the front doors of the bank due to the onset of the depression.
The building remained vacant for decades; coming to life again as The Southern Bell Restaurant in recent years. But now, King says he is enjoying “tremendous success” and is looking forward to watching his business continue to grow. By summer, he plans to have a second floor deck built out back, “so you can dine under the stars,” King said.
This past weekend the staff and guests at The Bank celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with food, spirits and live music with Jon Caneda of Sumter. Caneda plays a mix of country, blues, and jazz; as well as many of his own songs. “We had a tremendous reaction from the crowd here Saturday. They loved him,” said King. “We plan to have him back soon.”
Caneda, who played baseball for Sumter High School and Francis Marion University, took piano lessons from first through seventh grade. He had begun to “piddle around” with a guitar in high school, but it was not until he inherited his father’s guitar that he turned more of his attention to music. His father had been a professional musician as well.
Caneda graduated from FMU in 2008 with a degree in business, but has been making his living for the past few years doing what he said he loves best — playing the guitar.
Playing up and down the South Carolina coast for a few years now, Caneda is a familiar name at certain venues at the beach. Throughout the spring and summer months he will be playing at Bummz of Myrtle Beach, Filet’s of Little River, Good Time Charlies’s at Broadway at the Beach, Island Bar and Grill of Pawley’s Island, and Drunken Jack’s of Murrell’s Inlet.
Caneda has played a few times at Oslos’ of Cheraw, where his original song “Stuck in Carolina” is quickly becoming a local favorite. He will again be in Cheraw, performing at the Oyster Bar, on Saturday, March 24, and again on April 6.
— Staff Writer Karen Kissiah can be reached by calling 843-537-5261, ext. 224, or by email at kkissiah@heartlandpublications.com.
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