Hester Memorial Airport

The exact reason is not officially documented. However, the closure is characteristic of many small general aviation airports from that era, which ceased operations due to economic factors. These typically include declining usage, high costs of maintenance and insurance, and the land becoming more valuable for alternative development.

The site has been completely redeveloped and is now occupied by the Hester Solar Farm, a large-scale solar power generation facility operated by Duke Energy. Satellite imagery clearly shows that the entire area of the former runway and airport grounds is now covered by thousands of solar panels. All original airport structures have been removed.

Hester Memorial Airport was a small, public-use general aviation airfield that served the community of Calhoun Falls and surrounding Abbeville County. It featured a single unpaved turf runway (Runway 18/36) approximately 3,200 feet long. The airport's operations were limited to private and recreational flying, supporting local pilots and their light aircraft. It held local significance by providing air access for the town but did not handle any scheduled commercial or military traffic.

Zero. The land has been permanently repurposed for industrial-scale renewable energy generation. The significant investment in the solar farm infrastructure makes any prospect of converting the site back into an airport economically and logistically unfeasible.