I recently acquired a map from my Aunt Grace’s estate. While she was in Paris she found an old map of South Carolina in an antique store. The map had lots of interesting information, including the slave population for each county. The information and history intrigued her, and since it was from her home state, she bought it. Aunt Grace knew that I was a map geek and was especially interested in the history of the state. Before she died she expressed her desire that I get the map. I won’t go into the long and sordid details of how it did eventually end up in my possession, but rather delve into the history of the map itself and the cartographers that created this work of art.
For many years I drove over the bridge over the South Tyger River at Berry Shoals, looking longingly at the old steel trestle bridge downstream and the twin lakes of Berry Shoals Pond and Silver Lake. I wanted to explore the area. However, I was always in route to one of my schools or on some other school district business, so I never got a chance to explore…until now. Sadly, my explorations were cut short, all for want of a hat.