Mayor Tiffany Zeigler on the Growth of Pembroke

Story by Gail Parsons
Photography by Jason Hurst Photography

Named for Judge Pembroke Whitfield Williams, a jurist and an education leader, the town of Pembroke was born out of the railroad industry.

Its first citizen was M. E. Carter. He was on the construction crew for the railroad and lived and worked out of a boxcar. When the tracks were laid and the trains started showing up, people and businesses quickly followed. Although the first residents started moving into the area in 1889, it wasn’t until August 1905 that the Georgia General Assembly incorporated the city. In 1937, Pembroke became the county seat.

M.E Carter and the founding fathers certainly could not have imagined how Pembroke would look 120 years later, said Mayor Tiffany Zeigler.

 “You start out living in a railroad car in the middle of pine trees, then moving forward to now you having three state highways that converge upon one another right in downtown,” she said. “You’re starting in a small country area with a railroad coming through it to seeing potentially 2000 houses with commercial coming with it all at one time. I think that would probably flabbergast them. It flabbergasts me.”

But she also believes they would be proud to see how most of the downtown has been preserved. Buildings have maintained the architectural design and integrity of the original structure.

“I think our city has done a phenomenal job at that,” she said.

Population Growth

Its strategic location in north Bryan County continues to make Pembroke an attractive place to live and raise children. According to the US Census, the population steadily rose going from 467 residents in 1910 to 2,513 in 2020 when it was up 14.4% over the previous census in 2010.

Zeigler said she foresees a much higher growth percentage coming up.

“Initially, this was … a small railroad town,” she said. “It was based off the railroad and the turpentine industry. It was actually a bustling little town at one time. I was looking through some newspapers from the 1930s when we actually had two car dealerships right here in town.”

Over the decades the downtown has grown and shrunk. There were booming times and slow times, she said. Now, with the Hyundai Plant in Bryan County preparing to start production, Pembroke is on the cusp of a growth spurt.

“Since the announcement of the Hyundai plant and really the expansion of the ports and industry coming out west from Chatham County and Savannah, we’ve seen an influx of developers looking for infill lots, larger lots, whether it be for subdivisions or planned unit developments,” she said. “In the last year and a half, we’ve seen more housing permits come through putting individual houses in these infill areas, but also smaller subdivisions.”

A planned unit development is a community of homes with shared amenities and services, operated by a homeowner’s association. These developments use a creative model to create communities as opposed to the traditional housing development, which simply fits as many homes onto the available land as possible.

Under Pembroke ordinances, there is a minimum acreage for a PUD. That zoning designation allows the opportunity to creatively plan developments that normal zoning would not allow for. It also has minimum conservation requirements that must be followed.

“Twenty percent of the land area that is not wetlands has to be preserved for amenities and green space for the residents of that community,” she said.

Some of the projects, currently in various stages of the application process, will require annexation in addition to rezoning. Over time, Pembroke’s 7.7 square mile footprint will likely increase.

A balancing act

The responsibility for balancing growth with maintaining a small-town vibe falls to the city planners.

“Our goal is to preserve the mindset of the small town, to preserve our downtown atmosphere,” Zeigler said. “Of course, we can’t control the state highways and how they may expand at some point one day, but we will certainly be actively involved in that process, in making sure that our town is preserved.”

Preserving history, the intrinsic value of the town and what makes Pembroke special, starts with ensuring its residents understand the history of their city, and that starts in the schools.

“We are making sure the kids … understand how our city was formed, how it came about over the last 100, 125, years, and how it’s moving forward,” she said. “Then, as we grow, we keep in mind the historic nature of our community and how it was formed.”

Zeigler said she and other city officials are selective as to what development projects they allow. On the aesthetic side of the house, as potential commercial or residential development is approved, they’ll blend modern with historic architectural features.

Maintaining the small-town vibe, despite a growing population, will not happen by accident and is a multi-faceted effort. The Downtown Development Authority, of which Zeigler is the chair, plays a key role in that process.

“When we’re doing activities such as our movie nights and farmers markets, we’re bringing people together in that atmosphere—providing a place for people to get to know one another through activities,” she said. “I think that’s going to be important also with our recruitment of businesses that are coming in, making sure that they meet the needs of our community.”

It also helps to maintain positive working relationships with the state and county government, Pembroke’s sister city of Richmond Hill, and other surrounding towns.

“I think that relationship has gotten a lot better from the past,” she said. “We also talk a lot with our neighbors in Statesboro and Hinesville. Their Downtown Development Authorities have been phenomenal in helping our Downtown Development Authority with resources and helping our new DDA director fit into her position.”

The goal for the city and the DDA is to create a live-work-play model so people can stay local and not have to travel outside of the community. If they can stay local to work and play, it reinforces the tight-knit mindset as people get to know each other.

However, to do that, growth is needed. Without growth the city could not provide the services they need to provide. That is where the balancing act comes in—allowing growth but not losing the small-town vibe.

“Pembroke … is a very tight knit town,” Zeigler said. “The people tend to take care of one another, whether they’re long-time generational families or they’re new families that are coming in. If anything happens to a particular family or the community as a whole, the community tends to rally behind one another.”

A vision for the future

Zeigler was raised in Pembroke and like so many young people growing up in small towns, when she left, she vowed she would never be back. College was her ticket out. However, when it came time to raise a family, and after getting a taste of a larger city, her impression changed, and she came to appreciate the small town vibe. But she understands why it is difficult for young people to come home, even if they want to.

“One, there’s a lack of available housing,” she said. “Second, a lack of affordable housing. A large majority of our kids coming out of our high school are having to move away. They’re not able to stay.”

Combine the lack of housing with a slow job market and young people are driven away.

With new housing options coming soon, the expansion of the ports, and the opening of the Hyundai plant and all the residual job opportunities it will bring, she anticipates change is on the horizon.

Zeigler’s vision is to create a city where young people want to stay, a city where they feel like there’s a purpose for them.

“I want to see opportunities,” she said. “I want to see opportunities for businesses to have growth. In the past, there’s been a lot of small businesses that have not been able to sustain themselves here in our community, and I want to see that change. As a small business owner myself and third generation in our company, I want to see other companies able to do that within our community.”

To see that vision to fruition the city government and the Downtown Development Authority need to provide the resources businesses require to stay viable. They also promote the Buy Local campaign to keep people in town.

“It’s really a multifaceted mindset on how you go about changing people’s minds,” she said. “You don’t have to get in your car and go 30 minutes to Walmart or Tanger Outlet, or any of the big box stores.”

While the tradeoff for living in a small town is not having chain stores, residents should still be able to run out and get the things or services that they need locally, Zeigler said.

“We are a small city, but there’s a lot of things that we can do and have the ability to do because we are a small city,” she said. “And you know, we’re not behind the times on everything. There’s a lot of forward-thinking ideas going on here and we are moving forward.”