Random Connections – Page 55 – A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Legacy Kites and Drones

March 20, 2016 Tom No Comments

Several weeks ago my nephew Chip invited me to a day of kites and drones at Legacy Park in Greenville. I meant to write about it at the time, but things crept up on me, and when I stumbled on the photos I had to put that to rights.

It was going to be a beautiful Sunday morning. We made arrangements to meet at Legacy Park, located in a new planned development between Woodruff Road and Verdae Boulevard. Chip and I had our drones, and I had tossed in several kites, just in case. Chip’s wife, Anna, and their kids Olivia and Ethan would round out our crew.

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Trek to Helen

March 8, 2016 Tom 2 Comments

Photography, Rambling

It was a beautiful Friday, and both Ken and I felt the need to get out of our respective houses and explore. I headed over to Clemson to pick him up, and we set off, eventually make our way over to Northern Georgia.

Exploring Southern Fairfield County – Part 3, Ridgeway

March 4, 2016 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

I had spent the morning exploring parts of Fairfield County. So far I had visited the ruins of the old Lebanon Presbyterian Church, and I had zig-zagged through several communities. Now I was on to my final destination of the day, Ridgeway.

Exploring Southern Fairfield County – Part 2, Rion, Wallaceville, and Blythwood

March 3, 2016March 4, 2016 Tom No Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

So far I’d already had a productive morning. I had visited the ruins and cemetery of the Old Lebanon Presbyterian Church. I would have been satisfied with just that, but I still had time on this beautiful Thursday, and there was much more to see. I would spend a good bit of time chasing GPS waypoints, and zig-zagging across the lower part of Fairfield County.

Exploring Southern Fairfield County – Part 1, Old Lebanon Church

March 2, 2016 Tom 10 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

It seems that I’ve made several trips down to Fairfield County lately. On each of those trips I spotted places I wanted to explore, but just didn’t have time, or the weather wasn’t right, or some other circumstance prevented me from paying a visit. Last Thursday the weather was perfect, so I decided to get out and find some of those locations.

The Athens of Greenville

February 26, 2016February 28, 2016 Tom 8 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy

Usually, when someone utters the phrase, “The Athens of ….” whatever region, they mean that the region is a center of enlightenment and learning. While this particular saga does end with a school, the story begins with civic jealousy.

Greenville County did, in fact, have its own town named Athens for a short while. I first heard about the town from Dot Bishop at the Travelers Rest History Museum. I made a note to add it to my list of ghost towns until I could do a bit more research on it, and see if I could find any remnants of the old town. That time has finally come, and here’s what I found…

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The Lost Counties of South Carolina

February 23, 2016February 23, 2016 Tom 2 Comments

Geocaching and Maps, History and Genealogy

I grew up in the southwestern part of Enoree County, South Carolina…

At least, that’s how my biography might have started, if the people of Woodruff had their way back in 1913. Enoree County would have been created from parts of Greenville, Spartanburg, and Laurens Counties, with the county seat in the town of Woodruff. I came across a reference to this mythical county while doing research on another topic on the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America site.

I haven’t been able to relocate the original article (should have bookmarked it right then and there) but it gave more specific boundaries for the new county. At first I thought it might be cool to find these boundaries in Google Earth and see which areas would be encompassed by the new county. As I dug deeper, I found that this wasn’t an isolated proposal, and was part of a much larger story, leading me to the discovery of “new county fever” that broke out around the turn of the 20th Century.

Hanging with Frank in Greenville

February 20, 2016 Tom 1 Comment

Local, Miscellaneous

NOTE: I’ve had a very bad cough and head cold this week, so I’m a week behind with this story. Trying to write while not feeling well is almost impossible for me. Anyway, this should have been posted last Sunday…

Saturday night was a big night in Greenville. CBS was holding a debate for all of the GOP candidates at the Peace Center, so there was lots of hoopla in town. The biggest hoopla was fictional (kind of like most of the candidates’ debate points.) Frank Underwood had set up his campaign headquarters in town.

Exploring Barnwell County – Part 3, Speedwell to Spann

February 14, 2016 Tom 3 Comments

History and Genealogy, Photography, Rambling

OK, so technically this ISN’T Barnwell County, but I had already posted parts 1 & 2, and this was on that some trip. We were on our way out of the county, so actually cover Allendale and the counties we crossed on our way home.

Alan and I had finished our lunch at Hogg Heaven, and the light sleet and snow had ended. Now it was just cloudy. We decided to check off a couple more items on our exploration list.

Exploring Barnwell County – Part 2, Barnwell

February 11, 2016 Tom No Comments

Photography, Rambling

Alan and I were out exploring Barnwell County. So far we had sipped from the Healing Springs at God’s Acre, and had visited several locations in Blackville. It was time to move on down the road to Barnwell, proper.