History and Genealogy – Page 18

Visiting Camp Asylum

February 23, 2014May 16, 2014 Tom 5 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

I’ve been wanting to have a “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” for some time now with two of my great friends from Furman, Dwight Moffitt and Jami Sprankle. Since both live in Columbia the idea was that I’d ride down and we would see what all the city had to offer. While our day didn’t quite live up to the idealized movie standards, we still had a blast with a day full of insane asylums, hidden tunnels, harpsichords, safety coffins, and bagels. Oh Yeah!

The opportunity presented itself when Dwight forwarded me information about a tour of “Camp Asylum.” A group of archeologists from USC are excavating a Civil War prisoner of war encampment on the grounds of the old South Carolina State Mental Health Hospital on Bull Street. The site has been sold to developers, so the archeologists wanted to study as much about the site as they could before it was no longer available. Historic Columbia is offering tours of the dig on Fridays through the end of April. Jami starts a new job on Monday, so this Friday was the perfect time to explore.

Plans flew back and forth all week. We looked at the old Hidden Columbia videos on Facebook as well as other guidebooks and things to see what we might want to include in our Ferris Bueller Day. A cool soundtrack was a necessity. In the end, weather and family obligations limited our choices.

Pointing the Way in Concrete

January 31, 2014April 8, 2015 Tom 3 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy, Internet

Ghost towns, odd bits of masonry, abandoned towers, derelict schools, old cemeteries, old dirt roads – these are items that speak of a hidden history. These are the things you may pass many times daily and never give any thought. However, if they are brought to your attention, you never look at that area the same way. Just recently my Geocaching friend Larry Easler (aka HockeyHick) made me aware of a whole new genre of interesting historical remnants – Airway Beacon Markers.

Larry found one of these things fairly close to us and did the initial research and background history. He has since placed a geocache at the location as part of his “Hidden History” series of geocaches. On a cold morning after the recent snowfall, Tommy Thompson and I decided to check it out.

Chasing Aiken across Abbeville

January 20, 2014January 20, 2014 Tom 5 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

Trinity Episcopal-004 — Trinity Episcopal Church
Abbeville, SC

Fellow explorer and photographer Alan Russell has been working on family research. His great-great grandfather was none other than David Wyatt Aiken, a prominent figure in 19th century politics in South Carolina. Aiken served as an officer in the Confederate Army, and served five terms as a US Congressman.

Alan has been working with Aiken’s diary, and has been compiling a list of locations that Aiken mentions. This particular Saturday, Alan had a list of locations in and around the town of Abbeville, so we decided to check them out. Along the way we talked with some interesting folks, and even had a chat with the mayor of the town.

Sacred Spaces along the Cooper River

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014 Tom 4 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

Taveau Church with Texture — Taveau Church

So far the day had gone quite well. We had an excellent breakfast in Moncks Corner. We had discovered some old plantation ruins and a cursed tree and survived to tell the tale. However, time was running out on our adventure. We had been cheating the weather that was flooding the rest of the state, and the radar was looking pretty bleak.

It was time to initiate some serious gris gris to ward off the curse of the Robintation Tree. We started with our own LCU version of communion – bratwurst and sauerkraut served with home brewed beer for lunch. Instead of the banks of a river, this time we had a true tailgate lunch in the parking lot of the Childsbury Heritage Preserve parking area.

Plantation Ruins and a Cursed Tree

January 13, 2014 Tom 11 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

Comingtee Plantation Ruins with Texture — Comingtee Plantation House Ruins

This is Part Two of a three-part post…

After our marvelous breakfast at Howard’s in Moncks Corner, our group of adventurers from Lowcountry Unfiltered set forth for more exploration. Our target was the Bonneau Ferry Wildlife Management Area, which has only recently been opened to the public. Weather was rolling in quickly, and severe thunderstorms were already hitting the upstate. We had a finite window of opportunity.

Bonneau Ferry WMA encompasses 10,700 acres of pine savannahs, bottomland hardwoods, wildlife openings, wetlands and reservoirs along the banks of the Cooper River and East Branch of the Cooper. The eponymous ferry is actually on the southern part of the WMA, along the banks of the East Branch. Our target was the western portion of the tract, along the banks of the main branch of the river. We would start at Strawberry Chapel and explore the area around Comingtee Plantation.

Bonneau Ferrry WMA Mills Atlas — Bonneau Ferrry WMA from Robert Mills 1825 Atlas

The Laurens County History Museum

December 9, 2013 Tom 1 Comment

History and Genealogy, Local

It started with a trivia contest on Facebook. The Laurens County Museum had posted the following:

TUESDAY TRIVIA CHALLENGE!

Waterloo’s Harris Springs was a popular mineral water resort in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but there was another spring near Clinton that was known for its bottled water. Can you name it?

Good Luck!

Having recently visited the area, I knew the answer – Stomp Springs. I submitted my answer, and was pleased to learn I had won. I was told to stop by any Sunday to claim my prize. This Sunday was the perfect opportunity, before the madness of the Christmas season starts in full swing. It was raining and cold, but I decided to head down anyway.

I had wanted to visit the museum, regardless of any trivia answer. Elaine Martin from the Laurens Library had also been active with the museum, and suggested that I visit. The trivia prize was the perfect excuse for a gloomy Sunday get-away.

The museum is located in a colorful string of buildings on Laurens Street, just off of the main square. I entered to find Julius Bolton and Ernie Seagars sitting behind a reception table. I introduced myself, and told them I was there to claim my prize. Mr. Bolt wanted to know if I was from Laurens, so I gave a brief background and my history with the town. At that point, Mr. Seagars asked if I had a brother named Houston. I replied that I did. Turns out he and Houston were classmates at Laurens High School.

The Allure of Old Masonry

December 6, 2013 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

Victor Hill Hotel Ruins
Pacolet, South Carolina

I’ve written about this before (In Search of Phantom Stairs, August 24, 2008.) There is something intriguing about old masonry. This is especially true of recognizable structures such as stairs, columns, and walls. While it’s cool to find a pile of rubble or old road bed or foundation in a field, a standing remnant goes beyond that. You can tell that something was here – something with intent and purpose. It’s the discovery of those ruins, as well as the exploration of what had been there that keeps me going on these photo treks For this particular photo trek I headed out across Spartanburg County, and found a wealth of such masonic hints of the past.

I was partly inspired by fellow explorer Mark Elbrecht’s recent trek to the Whitestone community and his explorations of the old Whitestone Springs Resort (Part 1, Part 2.) Mark had done an excellent job covering that area, so I didn’t want to repeat his trip (although I may check those spots out later.) My trek would take me across Spartanburg with a dip into Union and Cherokee Counties. Truth be told, I only had a vague idea where I was headed, and that was a problem. By omitting some additional preliminary research I just missed out on some very cool spots. More on that later, but for now, here’s what I found…

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Edgefield-Saluda Relations

November 15, 2013November 15, 2013 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy

In that last series of posts about our photo trek across Edgefield and Saluda Counties I mentioned several surnames, and that I was distantly related to them. The names from the Logue-Timmerman feud to whom I’m distantly related are Timmerman, Dorn and Harling. And I mean seriously distantly. Just to clarify how distantly related, here’s … Read More “Edgefield-Saluda Relations” »

A Feud, a Mule, a Senator, a Potter, and a Ghost Town or Two – Part Three

November 15, 2013 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

Spann Methodist Cemetery
Ward, South Carolina

In Part One of this trek we visited the site of the Logue-Timmerman Feud in Northern Edgefield County. In Part Two we explored Edgefield itself, and found the site of the ghost town of Pottersville and an abandoned church. In this final installment we migrate to Saluda County, and visit a town with an unusual church, and find a ghost town with a heavenly name.

Johnston , Ward, and Spann Methodist Church

We left Horn Creek Baptist Church, retracing our steps along the dirt Old Stage Coach Road. I had plugged the coordinates for our next stop into the GPS, but it kept wanting us to turn onto some even dicier dirt roads. I stayed the course until we reached pavement, then turned onto Gary Hill Road. Here we passed a MASSIVE federal penitentiary. We didn’t think it would be kosher to stop and photograph a prison, but here’s an image of it from Google Earth:

A Feud, a Mule, a Senator, a Potter, and a Ghost Town or Two – Part Two

November 14, 2013November 14, 2013 Tom 5 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

In the previous post I described how a mule kick killed eight people, and we explored the Little Stevens Creek area. In this post fellow singer and explorer Tommy Thompson and I ventured further into Edgefield County seeking out pottery and abandoned churches.

Edgefield has long been known for its amazing pottery. ETV’s History Detectives even did a segment on one of the “face jugs” from the area. Of course, I was not as interested in the pottery itself as in the town that grew up around the industry. Landrumville, aka Pottersville was located just north of Edgefield. Robert Mills’ 1825 Atlas shows its location.

I wanted to see if I could find it. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places. However, since it is still an active archeological dig, all of the location information has been redacted. There are lots of scholarly articles on the site. But, just like the NRHP listing, any article I could find said that the kilns were on private property, and that the address was restricted.

As a workaround, I took the Mills map and tried to overlay it onto Google Earth. Matching the roads and landmarks from 170 years ago was not an easy task, but in the end I came up with an approximate set of coordinates. Even if I couldn’t reach Pottersville exactly, at least I would be able to take a photo of the area.