A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
It’s been far too long since I’ve posted something here. The long and short of it is that I’ve been crazy busy getting things ready for my OLLI course and getting things ready for church. I’ve played with probably a dozen musical groups, but I’m even having to scale that back with my other obligations. Since the course seems to be taking so much time, I thought I’d give a quick rundown of what’s happening there.
Last week it was announced that a new preserve has been established under control of SC Department of Natural Resources. The new public space, called the Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area, will be open to hunting, fishing, and hiking. Located in Northern Greenville County along the banks of of the South Saluda River, the property … Read More “Buried in the Tall Pines” »
Early settlers seemed to have a fascination with reusing old names. The US is full of place names with the word “New” appended. In some places they didn’t even bother with the “New.” This longing for a hint of European homeland was the case with several of the ghost towns along the Savannah River – Hamburg, South Hampton Lisbon, Petersburg, New Bordeaux, and Vienna. On this unseasonably warm February day I decided to paddle out and see if I could find any remnants of the tri-city area of Lisbon, Petersburg, and Vienna, now located under Strom Thurmond Lake.
I had done the research. I’d read the book. I was ready to head out and find the angels sold by William Oliver Wolfe’s monument shop in Asheville, made famous by his son, Thomas Wolfe, in his novel Look Homeward Angel. Joining me would be fellow explorer Alan Russell.
Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth.
And, O ye Dolphins, waft the hapless youth.
On North Pleasantburg Drive near Worley Road there once was a local dive called the Radio Room. It was either a din of iniquity or a cool place to hear up and coming bands, depending on with whom you spoke. The Radio Room has relocated into more respectable digs in the Auld Hardware building on Poinsett Drive and the old building has been demolished, revealing a once-hidden cemetery. Of course I had to explore it. In the process I found a collection of fascinating people that had been part of the Turpin/Raines Family that were early settlers of Greenville.
When you’ve lived in an area as long as I have you can’t help but find yourself exploring places that you’ve been previously. Expect the term “Revisited” to start popping up more frequently in blog post titles. This was the case for a recent photo trek with fellow explorer Mark Elbrecht as we wandered over lower Laurens County. We both wanted to see what was left, if anything, of the old ghost town of Renno.
It was another Second Saturday and time for a paddling trip with my friends from Lowcountry Unfiltered. For our September trip we had planned to do the western portion of Okefenokee Swamp, but we decided to put that on hold. I had told Matt that after our epic Morris Island excursion I wanted something with current, preferably going on the direction we were paddling. We got that…sort of…by paddling a section of the Savannah River below Augusta. However, any helpful current was offset by the length of the trip, a new record for Lowcountry Unfiltered.
My latest historical obsession has been the Mountain Lily, a steamboat that plied the waters of the French Broad River between Brevard and Hendersonville. I’d been able to dig up a bit of information about the boat, but now it was time for a photo trek to see what evidence and remnants remained of the ill-fated boat.
Read More “Searching for the Mountain Lily – Part 2, Remnants” »
While browsing through the mountain of posts on Reddit I came across a link on the Asheville Subreddit about the “Mountain Lily”, a river boat that once plied the French Broad River between Brevard and Asheville in the 1880s. This was the first time I’d heard of the boat and I wanted to know more about it. That brief post launched me into my first RandomConnections obsessive trek since I got back from Washington. That obsession would involve research, a photo trek, and a river paddling trip. First though, some background about the ill-fated riverboat billed as the “Highest Steamboat in America.”
Read More “Searching for the Mountain Lily – Part 1, History” »