LASR.net Homepage




Menu

Dizzy Gillespie Birthplace Park


category : Park
This park marks the site of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie's birthplace in Cheraw. The park includes a historical marker on his life and features sculpture and park benches that symbolize his life. The park is open from dawn to dusk. There is also a statue of Gillespie on the Cheraw Town Green on Market Street.

Born here in 1917 as John Birks Gillespie, Dizzy attended public schools, graduating from Robert Smalls in 1933. His family attended the Wesley United Methodist Church (c. 1915) on Green Street and as a child, he was employed to keep kids from sneaking into the c. 1920 Lyric Theater, a skill he'd become quite adept at. (Now the Theater on the Green, the restored facility is used for performances. ) His musical talents earned him a scholarship to the Laurinberg Institute in North Carolina. In 1990, Gillespie received the National Medal of the Arts (the highest award bestowed upon an American artist) and was honored by the Kennedy Center for his contributions to the performing arts. A guide to the sites connected to his life is available at the Cheraw Chamber of Commerce. Dizzy died in 1993.


Hours:

Attractions and Upcoming Events


Cheraw Country Club

Located in the Sandhills of South Carolina, Cheraw Country Club provides golfers an opportunity to enjoy a leisurely round of golf at a great rate.This course’s signature #4 hole features a water hazard and trees on both sides of the fairway. The most difficult hole, #11, is a 440-yard, par 4

Cheraw, SC Golf Courses


Cheraw State Park

Natural beauty and great golf come together at Cheraw State Park.

An 18-hole championship course winds its way through the long-leaf pinelands of the traditional state park, a course that’s earned notice from the Aubudon Society for the way it’

Cheraw, SC State Parks

Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority

Providing public transportation to Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marlboro and Marion County since 1976

Cheraw, SC Other Attractions

Things to do Park near Cheraw, SC

Dizzy Gillespie Birthplace Park

This park marks the site of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie's birthplace in Cheraw. The park includes a historical marker on his l...