History and Genealogy – Page 19

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

November 14, 2013November 15, 2013 Tom 16 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

I decided this is going to have to be a multi-part post. Otherwise, dear readers, you will be scrolling for an uncomfortable amount of time. We saw an amazing amount of stuff on Tuesday’s photo trek, and it all has an equally amazing amount of back-story.

Fellow Chorale member Tommy Thompson sent me an interesting story entitled “How A Mule Kick Killed Eight People.” The story was about a feud in Edgefield County, and we decided that we absolutely had to head down that way for a photo trek.

Of course, as interesting as the story of the feud was, a single location just doesn’t work for a photo trek. So, the night before I loaded up my GPS with several possible targets in the Edgefield area. The next morning I rendezvoused with Tommy down on Augusta Road, and we headed south.

There is always so much along this road that is of interest, and it’s tempting to stop and take photos of every rustic barn and old house. I’ve long found that if I allow myself to get distracted like this, I never reach my destination. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but sometimes not. We drove straight on through Greenwood and turned onto Highway 178. This route took us to the community of Epworth. There are some interesting old buildings there, and my great-great grandparents are buried only a couple of miles north of there. There is also the old Epworth Camp Meeting site. The only distraction I allowed was a brief turn onto the Epworth property so Tommy could see the old tabernacle and cabins. I had photographed and explored it before, so we kept going.

Exploring Jacks Township

November 6, 2013November 6, 2013 Tom 12 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

For November I wanted to make a major push on my book so that I could get early drafts submitted to publishers. That means spending lots of time in libraries and calling up lots of local historical societies to check some of my research. I’d made arrangements to meet with Elaine Martin in the genealogy section of the Laurens County Library. I wanted to find out some information about the ghost town of Renno and the surrounding Jacks Township. Since our appointment wasn’t until the afternoon, that gave me the morning to explore the area once again.

Jacks Township is one of nine townships established in Laurens County in its early history. The area is located on the far eastern corner of the county. Large portions of it are in the Sumter National Forest, and as I was growing up the area always seemed very remote and mysterious. Years later as an adult that impression has not changed. That little wedge, including parts of Newberry and Union Counties, strikes me as a place where tales of imagination are born.

Laurens County Townships
from The Laurens County Scrapbook

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Remembering Merrittsville

October 14, 2013October 14, 2013 Tom 32 Comments

History and Genealogy

I’m trying to catch up with my blogging, so I’m about a week behind. Last week was a busy one.

October 8, 2013

Tuesday evening Glynda and I made a trek up to Landrum for a showing of a film entitled “Merrittsville: The Lost Village of the Dark Corner.” Merrittsville is one of the towns on my ghost town list, so I was very interested to hear what they had to say about it.

I had a little bit of information about Merrittsville. I knew it was once on the North Saluda River on land now inundated by the Greenville Watershed Reservoir. That meant that it was completely off limits – we couldn’t even venture along the banks to see if something remained of the town. Merritsville School was once located just below the reservoir dam, but is now long gone, demolished to make way for the water utility. North Fork Baptist still stands, and Laura and I have attended a wedding for one of her students there.

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Where Did the Swamp Rabbit Go?

October 2, 2013October 2, 2013 Tom 20 Comments

History and Genealogy, Local

Swamp Rabbit Railroad at
Echo Valley Park

No, I’m not talking about the railroad. My friend Mark Elbrecht has done a great job documenting the path of the Swamp Rabbit up through River Falls. The rest of of the rail has been converted to the very popular trail from Travelers Rest to downtown Greenville.

I’m talking about the actual engines and train cars. But which engine and cars? Is the Swamp Rabbit the train itself, or the path it takes? In this case, I believe it’s the latter. Many different engines have operated along the old Greenville and Northern line. However, the fate of some of the train components that ran on the tracks is equally confusing.

Here’s how this line of inquiry got started…

Travelers Rest History Museum

October 1, 2013October 2, 2013 Tom 2 Comments

History and Genealogy

Sunday afternoon I finally got a chance to visit the History Museum of Travelers Rest. The museum has been open since the end of August, and is open Saturday and Sunday, but this was the first chance I’d had to visit. The museum is located on the south end of Traveler’s Rest on Highway 276. … Read More “Travelers Rest History Museum” »

Pickens Cemetery Ramble

September 29, 2013 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

Oolenoy Baptist Church and Cemetery-017 — Oolenoy Baptist Cemetery

I really, really need to find another subject for photography. It seems that I’m stuck in “cemetery mode.” People ask me if I have some morbid fascination with death. Not really. I’m more interested in the historic nature of a cemetery – the lives of the people who lived and found their final resting place in this spot. I love the artwork on the old headstones, and the florid language of the older epitaphs. For old cemeteries no longer in use, or no longer associated with a church, I like to ponder on the communities that once existed, as well as the lives this locations represent.

Thursday was a beautiful day, so I decided to head out and take some photos. I gave my friend Keith a call, and we headed out in a typically random direction. From his house in Travelers Rest we headed across country, generally toward Pickens. Soon we found ourselves at Oolenoy Baptist Church, and its historic cemetery.

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A Bridge to Nowhere

August 12, 2013May 16, 2014 Tom No Comments

EdTech, History and Genealogy, Paddling, Photography

Sparkleberry Swamp Altered — Sparkleberry Swamp

Somehow I found myself taking one last course for certification this summer. I’m taking one of the PBS Teacherline courses online. The course is on Dynamic Media and Digital Storytelling, a subject with which I’m already quite familiar. However, I just needed the course credit.

The course itself is been…so, so. There’s been more time spent on “Educationese” and gobbledy-goop catch phrases that I used to detest, than on actual digital storytelling.

Even so, I did manage to put together a decent (in my opinion) project. My digital story was entitled “A Bridge to Nowhere”, and it’s a summary of a previous blog post about the controversial Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector, a proposed bridge from Lone Star to Rimini across Lake Marion.

The 12 minute video summarizes the history of the Santee Cooper area, and briefly touches on the controversy. I used photographs I’d taken from several paddling trips to lakes Marion and Moultrie, coupled with GoPro video. I filled in with a few maps, newspaper clippings, and historic shots to complete the video.

Lone Star Barbecue, Mercantile, and Ghost Town

July 24, 2013July 25, 2013 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling, Restaurants

We have a tradition of looking for a good barbecue place after our paddling trips. This was no different. Our target for this outing was Lone Star Barbecue and Mercantile. However, this was a two-fer – lots of good food and a chance to explore one of South Carolina’s ghost towns.

Lone Star, the Ghost Town

It started with a bit of miscommunication. The rest of the guys had never been to the town of Lone Star, and thought that the barbecue place was in the town proper. So, once we loaded up the boats, they set off, with me following, toward the town. What they found was the ghost town that I knew. All that is left of Lone Star is the old freight depot, moved from its original location, the large brick Masonic building, and two dilapidated stores. Across the tracks was a small convenience store that may or may not have been open. No barbecue anywhere in sight.

Cokesbury Tour, Tabernacle, and Ninety-Six

June 26, 2013July 25, 2013 Tom 1 Comment

History and Genealogy, Local, Photography, Rambling

Cokesbury-086 — Old Cokesbury College Main Building

It finally happened. As many times as I’ve been here and photographed the exterior, I was finally able to get inside the old main building at the old Cokesbury College. This weekend is Greenwood’s Festival of Flowers, and as part of the event they were holding an open house at the historic location. While in Greenwood I hit a couple of other locations I had been wanting to photograph. I was joined by fellow explorers Mark Elbrecht, who alerted me to this year’s tour dates, and Alan Russell.

I had tried to do this last year. Mark was able to go down on a Saturday, but I had to delay until Sunday due to a paddling trip. Even though their website said the event would be Saturday and Sunday, when we got there Sunday morning everything was closed up tight. We never got into the building.

This year it would be different. The Chamber of Commerce had even used one of my photos of the old building on their promotional website. I was going to make sure that we were there on the correct day. So, Mark, Alan, and I headed down and arrived at the site at about 10:30 am.

Leaving Charleston – Strawberry Chapel and Childsbury

June 21, 2013July 25, 2013 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling, Travel

We had a great, wildly diverse weekend in Charleston, from swamps to beaches to city church yards. When planning this trip, we intentionally stayed an extra night into Monday so that I wouldn’t think about work at all on my first official day of unemployment. That meant that we could take our time coming home, and we did just that.

Laura and I love taking the back roads to and from the low country. Our plan was to drive northeast out of Charleston, then turn north through the Francis Marion National Forest. There was at least one ghost town along the way, and I was sure other interesting places would present photographic opportunities.

As we headed north on 17 I mounted the GoPro to my windshield. I wanted to get video as we crossed the the Cooper River Bridge. The video itself that interesting, but I got a couple of interesting stills. Never mind the reflection of my GPS and XM radio on the dash.