A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
As you drive through several communities in Western North Carolina, you will see wooden crosses dotting the countryside. These crosses are free-standing, about ten feet high, and bear a message, usually something like “Jesus Saves from Sin” or “Jesus Died for Sinners.” These are found in front of Baptist churches in the area, and occasionally in front of private homes.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a restaurant review. Diets and limited income just aren’t conducive to eating out a lot. Even so, a new one caught my eye, and I decided to check it out. Tandem Creperie recently opened this year, right on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.
Last Sunday we had gone on a leaf-peeping drive, and stopped for the first time at The Forest Coffeehouse, down the street.
The coffee at The Forest was excellent, and it reminded me of all the new spots in Travelers Rest, and I remembered seeing an article about Tandem. I hadn’t had crepes in ages, so I decided to head up that way.
This week we have lots of Furman activities going on. This weekend I’m photographing the wedding for two Furman Alumni, and it also happens to be Furman Homecoming. So, Friday afternoon we had the rehearsal for Megan and Kyle, then Laura and I headed on up to Furman for the Friday night activities on the mall.
Former Furman Chemistry student Rebecca Geiseking was giving a talk about her amazing origami at the Roe Art Building. We managed to make it there just at the end of her talk. Rebecca is now at Georgia Tech pursuing a Ph. D. in chemistry, but she continues to do her artwork. She described the engineering and mathematics that go into designing the folds for her paper designs.
Monday, October 20, 2014
I had started off the morning with a nice visit with Nicole and Carrie at the Pottersville site, just north of Edgefield. On my previous visit to the site, Carrie had told me about the old Tompkins School, where Sue Logue had been a teacher. I didn’t find it on that trip, but was able to locate it in Google Earth. Since I had the location pinpointed, I was determined to find it this time.
To recap, Sue Logue was the first woman to be executed by electric chair in South Carolina. Logue was sentenced for orchestrating the death of Davis Timmerman, as well as being implicated in the shooting deaths of Sheriff Wad Allen and Deputy “Doc” Clark. She was also rumored to be having an affair with Strom Thurmond. The Tompkins School was not only where Logue taught, but where it was rumored that she had several rendezvous with Thurmond when he was superintendent of schools for Edgefield County.
October 20, 2014
When I visited the Pottersville archeology dig last week, they were just getting started. I wanted to see how they were progressing, so I headed back down there. Plus, I wanted to get back to some of the school locations I’d missed.
I headed down early, but not as early as I had last time. I wanted to make sure they were underway when I arrived. I drove straight down without distraction, and made it there by about 10:00. Once again, only Nicole and Carrie were at the site.
Thursday, October 16, 2014
It had been a busy week. I had been to Georgia, Laura had been to Florida and returned just in time for her birthday, and now it was time for another ramble through South Carolina. Several weeks ago, before all the craziness began, Dwight and I had agreed to try a phototrek down his way. Dwight said he had never been to Camden, so we decided to head that way. We would also throw in a trip out to Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Garden.
I picked up Dwight in Columbia, and we headed east out of town in I-20. We passed the exits for Lugoff and Camden, then took an exit we thought might be the correct one. Turns out we still had a few miles to go. No matter, we took two lane roads on into the town of Bishopville. Along the way we spotted a couple of interesting sites, such as an antique hearse and a Hogwarts wannabe. We even crossed the Scape Ore Swamp, home of the legendary Lizard Man.
We entered Bishopville and turned south onto Highway 15. At Broad Acres Road we saw the sign for Pearl Fryar’s Topiary Garden, so we turned that way.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Houston had stayed overnight after our Ghost Tour of Woodburn Plantation the night before. He had Monday off, and since Laura was out of town, Glynda and I decided to head down to Athens with him for a road trip. Of course, this would be one of our typical rambling road trips, full of history and interesting sights.
…and, of course, we couldn’t really take interstates. We headed down Augusta Road, then cut through Belton, Antreville, and the town of Iva. Just out from Iva we spotted a sign for one of my ghost towns.
Monday, October 12, 2014
On Sunday we toured several historic Georgia communities, including one with family ties. After spending some family time with Glynda and Houston at his house in Athens, we decided to head out for more exploring.
After a big breakfast we headed south on Highway 441. Just southwest of Watkinsville we came to the area’s Heritage Park. The first building you see was the old Central School, which used to be on Colham Ferry Road.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Last weekend the Pendleton Historic Foundation offered “ghost tours” of its historic properties – Ashtabula Plantation and Woodburn House. Tours would be conducted for Ashtabula on Friday, and for Woodburn on Saturday. My brother Houston was going to be in town, so I got tickets for Houston and Glynda for the Woodburn tour.
We drove on over to the Pendleton/Clemson area warily – not because of ghosts but because of traffic from the Clemson. Turned out to be a valid concern. The game had just ended when we arrived, and we had to turn left across three lanes of game traffic on Highway 76. It took awhile. Finally we did make the turn, and arrived in time for our tour.
NOTE: I know this is out of date, but I’m about a week behind on blogging. It’s been a busy week, with lots of activities.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
I had gotten up very early to take Laura to the airport to visit her family in Florida. Since I had the convertible and some time, I decided to head over to the Pumpkin Festival in Pumpkintown. Since I had visited Oolenoy School twice in the last month or so and had seen the banners for the festival, I though I needed to check it out.
I read somewhere that if you don’t get to the festival early, the crowds can be unmanageable. The festival was supposed to start at 9:00, but I planned to get there by 8:30 am. I had a quick breakfast at Stax and headed on up.