A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I never knew my Aunt Dess. She died when I was only three years old, so I don’t have any memories of her. Other siblings and cousins have said that she could be mean, and was a bit…unusual. You see, by all accounts Odessa Lee Taylor Poole, younger sister of my grandfather, was one of the last of the granny witches.
We just got back last night from a quick trip down to Florida. Laura had a four-day weekend because it’s Fall Break at Furman, so we took the opportunity to head down and assist her sister Amy with their mom. It was also a birthday weekend for both sisters, so we tried to work in a joint celebration.
I was out and about searching for examples of buildings designed by 19th century architect Edward C. Jones. I had visited three locations in Henderson County, including the Mansouri Inn, St. John in the Wilderness, and Calvary Episcopal. It was now time to close the loop and head back to South Carolina. I only had one more target related to Edward Jones, but I was far from done with explorations.
Read More “In Search of Edward C. Jones – Part 3, the Trek to Spartanburg” »
In Part 1 of this series I took a look at the legacy of Edward C. Jones, a South Carolina architect who until just a few weeks ago was unknown to me. Having done a bit of research, I decided it was time to do a bit of ground-truthing. Wednesday was an absolutely spectacular fall day, despite an oncoming hurricane, so I wanted to take advantage of the weather while it held. My ramble would take me on a loop up through North Carolina then back down through Spartanburg. As usual on these rambles, I made discoveries I never intended, and met some cool people along the way.
Read More “In Search of Edward C. Jones – Part 2, the Trek through Henderson County” »
Edward C. Jones was nowhere on my radar. His name was completely unfamiliar to me, which is odd, since I’m very familiar with so many of the buildings he designed. I knew lots about Robert Mills, Rudolph Lee, and other South Carolina architects, but for whatever reason, I’d not paid attention to Jones. That all changed a few weeks ago. John Nolan from Greenville History Tours posted a series of photographs featuring buildings that Jones had designed. Seeing them next to each other the similarities leaped out. I knew I needed to find out more about this architect, and the buildings he designed.
Read More “In Search of Edward C. Jones – Part 1, The Architect” »
This weekend was one of celebration for our family. Yesterday my niece, Kelsey Claire Taylor, married Joe Ford. The setting at Hotel Domestique was beautiful, and it was a great time for our family to get together.
Bennie Waddell and I have been trying to keep to our paddling schedule, even though we haven’t been able to make it work every week. Regardless of whether or not we can actually paddle that day (sickness, weather, conflict, etc., etc) I think it’s important that it at least be on the schedule. We’re more likely actually to hit the water than simply saying, “Oh we need to do X someday…” Wednesday the stars aligned, and we were both able to take the trip up to Lake Jocassee that we had missed last week. It was an excellent day of paddling.
The Upstate Minis have been organizing some fantastic trips, lately, and I’ve been trying to take part in more of these. A few weeks ago Laura and I joined them for their X-Files Mystery Tour to PARI. This time, Jeff Goodman planned a trip down to the “Boneyard” on Bull Island to do some dawn photography. Sadly, Laura wasn’t able to go with us because of work. So, on Friday I swapped the Subaru for her Mini and joined the rest of the group for the drive down.
Bennie and I have been trying to keep to our paddling schedule, but the fates have been against us. On this last day of summer we had a nice trip to Jocassee planned, but then illness struck, and Bennie was unable to go. I had my boat loaded up, so I decided I’d head on out anyway, with a slightly altered itinerary. I have been wanting to check out the old Harrisburg Plantation Cemetery on “Ghost Island” in Lake Hartwell, so that’s where I set my sights.
It’s fair season! Somehow I completely missed the Upper State South Carolina Fair, but that’s probably OK. For years, though, I’ve wanted to visit the North Carolina Mountain State Fair in Asheville, but I’ve always missed it. I almost missed it this year, but I spotted that this past Sunday was the last day. Laura had work to do on Sunday, so I decided that this was the year that I’d make that trek.