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  • Exploring Barnwell County – Part 1, Blackville

Exploring Barnwell County – Part 1, Blackville

Posted on February 10, 2016 By Tom 2 Comments on Exploring Barnwell County – Part 1, Blackville
Photography, Rambling

Sacred Heart Retro effect #5

Alan wanted to go exploring again. It had only been a couple of weeks since our exploration of LA (Lower Anderson), but we wanted to take advantage of the winter exploration season, when leaves are off the trees so we can see stuff tucked back off the road. Our trek would not only take us through Barnwell County, but down through Allendale and up through the Savannah River Plant. Of course there would be old churches, cemeteries, ghost towns, and a few surprises along the way.

As has gotten to be our habit, we started out early with our traditional breakfast at Bill & Fran’s. From there we headed down to Columbia, then took Highway 321 south-southwest. Below Swansea we branched of on Highway 3 heading mostly west. Once again we disciplined ourselves, only getting distracted once at an old cotton gin, even though I’m absolutely sure I’ve photographed it before.

Murray Gin

We’ve gotten our preparations for these trips down pat. First, we both make a list of know points of interest we would like to visit. These may be places we’ve spotted on previous trips, but just didn’t have time to check out, or they may be places folks have posted on Flickr or one of the many Facebook groups about the state. Next we check the SCIWAY Picture Project page for any landmarks we don’t want to miss. Finally, we download GPX files from the Historical Marker Database page and make a list of any National Register of Historic Places sites we might want to visit. To this list I add any of the other lists I track – old schools, fire towers, etc.

We take all of this data and dump it into a shared Google Map, where we edit and tweak the list as needed before the exploration date.

Once we’ve got the map set, I download all of the collected points and import them into my GPS. We also have the maps available on our mobile devices. It’s a far cry from when we used to just jump in a car and see where it takes us. There’s still an element of that, but this way we make sure we see what we want to see.

We hit the community of Blackville first. Alan had never seen “God’s Acre healing Springs”, so we headed that way. It wasn’t as crowded as the last time I was here, but there were till a few people filling up jugs. The water was flowing quite well. I had a couple of small cups with me, so Alan and I took a taste. It actually wasn’t too bad.

Healing Springs
Healing Springs-001

We drove on into the town of Blackville. The first thing to catch our eye were the ruins of the old Shamrock Hotel.

Shamrock Hotel Ruins-004

We wandered around taking photos from multiple angles.

Shamrock Hotel Ruins-002
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-001
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-005
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-006
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-008
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-009
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-013
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-010

From the back side you can see steel girders shoring up the brick walls. There was a sign on the ground that described grant funding for restoration, but it looks like they had given up restoration, and were now concentrating on stabilization.

Shamrock Hotel Ruins-023
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-022
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-011
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-012
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-014
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-015
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-016
Shamrock Hotel Ruins-024

A guy in a truck drove by and said, “You want to buy that place?” He went on to say what a shame it was that the place was falling down. There was no more money for restoration. He also spoke longingly of the good food served in the Shamrock’s restaurant.

When I got back I was able to find a photo of the Shamrock in its heyday. Here’s how it once appeared:

Shamrock Hotel

I decided to make a composite from the original image with one I’d taken.

Shamrock Hotel Composite

Just down the street was another building that had been revived. A pizza place no occupied what was once the Brown Motor Company.

Brown Motor Company - Russells Pizza-001
Brown Motor Company - Russells Pizza

We turned down a side street and came across a couple of churches we wanted to check out. First up was Blackville Methodist Church. This was a small white frame church, founded in 1841. The original church was destroyed by fire in 1887, and rebuilt a couple of years later.

Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-005
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-022

There were several old stones in the cemetery, including one signature stone by R. D. White.

Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-021
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-016
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-014
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-008
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-006
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-007
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-012
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-010
Blackville Methodist Church and Cemetery-011

At the other end of the block sits Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This brick Gothic structure was built in 1898. It looked rather under utilized when we visited. There was a sign listing it as “The Chapel” with service times.

Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville
Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-001
Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-003
Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-008
Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-010

There was a statue of Christ out front with the “sacred heart” prominently displayed.

Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-004
Sacred Hart Catholic Church in Blackville-007

There wasn’t a cemetery nearby that we could see – just the church. After we took several photos we walked on back to the car.

This was just the first part of our trip. We had much more to see.

Sacred Heart Retro effect #5

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2 thoughts on “Exploring Barnwell County – Part 1, Blackville”

  1. Jay Lindler says:
    February 10, 2016 at 8:10 pm

    You should have stopped by for a minute as you passed through Swansea!

    Reply
    1. Tom says:
      February 10, 2016 at 8:11 pm

      I’ll have to remember to do that next time!

      Reply

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