Summerville is Dorchester County’s largest community with a population at approximately 30,000, is recognized as the home of all high schools in America’s most winning football coach, Summerville High School’s John McKissick. The Dorchester 2 school district has the distinction of district average composite SAT scores of 1022, which surpassed the national average (1021) and state average (985). The Summerville Dorchester 2 School District average ranks tenth in the state of South Carolina.

Summerville is a town considered by many as a distant suburb of Charleston; and has thus experienced rapid population growth. Summerville is the largest town in Dorchester County, northwest of Charleston, South Carolina.  The Town of Summerville is also fondly known as the "Flowertown in the Pines," so named because of its situation on a dry, sandy ridge, amidst pine trees that charge the air with fragrant derivatives of turpentine. Summerville was originally settled in the early 18th century as Charleston residents discovered that the higher land and pine forests provided respite from the oppressive heat and that came with summer. Most of today's beautiful old homes of Summerville had their origin as summer cottages for the first families of historic Charleston.

Summerville’s annual arts and crafts event, the YMCA Flowertown Festival, held each April, draws over 25,000 people each spring and is the largest open air show of its kind in the Southeast. Other popular Summerville events include Sculpture in the South and theatrical performances by the Flowertown Players. Woodlands Resort & Inn is one of only three lodging properties in America to be awarded the Mobil Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond awards for both lodging and dining. This luxury retreat located in the heart of Summerville, is only 30 minutes from Charleston’s historic district.

In 1899, a world congress of medical specialists in the field of respiratory disease gathered in Paris. The group named Summerville one of the two best areas in the world for the cure of lung and throat disorders. One inn after another sprang up as the town quickly became a favorite winter resort for Northern visitors who came to enjoy the mild climate and hunting season. The most famous, the Pine Forest Inn, in Summerville, sometimes served as the winter White House for Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.

Some residents may still come to Summerville for pulmonary relief, but most come for its mild climate, excellent Dorchester County schools, healthcare, a vibrant downtown, a variety of housing options, small-town friendliness and the proximity to historic Charleston and the beaches.       

In 2022, close to 3,000 homes sold in the Summerville, SC area that borders North Charleston and Ridgeville.  The highest sold price was $1,880,000 for a home located in the Historic District of Summerville. The median sales price was just over $314,000.