Edwin Dargan of Dargan Turf Farm
Star Profile
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Edwin Dargan

Florence and Mechanicsville in the Pee Dee are connected by South Charleston Road, aka the Mechanicsville Highway.

Close to Mechanicsville on the main highway are family farms that go back to King's charter, run by the same families for 250 years or more. A recent reincarnation of one of the oldest family farms, once focused on tobacco, is Dargan Turf Farm.

The company grows grass, lots of it and all kinds.

Edwin Dargan was born in McLeod Hospital in Florence before there was a hospital in Darlington County.

Dargan's father was a farmer on the land handed down since South Carolina was a colony. His mother ran the house with help from Dargan's two sisters, one older and one younger.

When Dargan was five years old, he fell asleep on the tractor's fender while his father was driving, and landed in front of the tractor. Dargan's stomach was run over. This taught him a good lesson about accidents on the farm.

Dargan spent the first two years of school in Mechanicsville Elementary and moved to St. John's Elementary for third through sixth grade.

Dargan's junior high years were spent at Brunson Dargan School, and he graduated from St . John's High School.

In high school, Dargan was president of the Key Club, and played No. 1 singles on the tennis team.

Dargan entered Clemson University in the fall of 1963 to major in agronomy and to gain a commission in the Army - like his father did a generation earlier.

At Clemson, Dargan managed dances and concerts as a member of the Clemson Dance Association. Also a member of the Tiger Brotherhood, Dargan was named one of the 16 outstanding members of his senior class.

Following a sixmonth break after graduation, Dargan entered the Army a second lieutenant in Ft. Belvoir, Va., where he endured three month's training as a combat engineer.

The rest of his two- year obligation with the Army was spent at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo., as the post officer responsible for civil engineering and landscaping.

After the military, Dargan returned to Darlington County for six months on the family farm. He also spent a year with the Federal Land Bank in Florence. He left the bank for a 10- year engagement as a farm manager for another family's farm, a spread of about 25,000 acres.

In 1981, Dargan went into the farm business for himself, leasing 1,000 acres from his father.

In the summer of 1986, there was a record drought with record failures. Dargan toughed it out and planned his long- term committment to irrigating his farm at great expense.

Just a few years ago, Dargan first went into the turf business, growing grass in volume.

Dargan's farm has 2,000 acres in production, only 300 of which are dedicated to turf . Thirty of those acres grow Bermuda grass, another 20 acres grow Palmetto St. Augustine, and six are set aside to grow Jamen Zoysia. The rest of the 300 acres grow centipede.

The other 1,700 acres are split roughly three ways among cotton, soy beans, and corn. The most profitable production per acre on the farm comes from the turf.

With a custom combination of Dwarf Bermuda and Mini Verdi grasses, Dargan has built a grass tennis court next to his house, a rare amenity in the Carolinas. Hilton Head has one grass tennis court, and Columbia has no grass tennis court.

Dargan's wife Marsha is an artist, mostly a painter in acrylics. Dargan works with his son Ned, his partner in the turf business, and his other son James owns RRR Wholesale Supply in Florence. His daughter Elizabeth is a residential Realtor in Mt. Pleasant.