Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for two BDC co-sponsored programs. Based on past experience, we expect that slots will be claimed quickly. Please don't miss out. Register as soon as you know that you will be able to attend.  

1) The Beaufort History Museum / Beaufort County Library Season 3 opening lecture about the Yamasee Indians with one of our very most favorite archaeologists, Dr. Eric Poplin is on Sept. 11th at 2 pm:   

Register through the BHM website: http://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/events
Closed when full. 

2) A workshop about how to begin and uncover your Gullah Geechee family history happens on the first Saturday in October at our St. Helena Branch Library:

Register through e-mail info@gullahgeecheecorridor.org or through the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/380539399090450. You can even call to reserve a spot: 843-818-4587.

A reminder: 

Regular hours will resume on Tuesday, September 4. We trust that everyone will have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

We host Dr. Meade Tonight: Come Join Us

Learn about treatments for measles, typhoid fever, addle-headedness, childbirth, shrapnel and gunshot wounds, amputations, chronic conditions, etc. from Atlanta's most beloved doctor, Dr. Meade as portrayed by Dave Smoot, a living historian who has been playing a doctor at Civil War re-enactments for years!

The program is free and open to anyone interested in learning more about mid-19th medical practices and treatments.


Please note: He won't be available to diagnose anyone's current medical conditions nor give you contemporary medical advice. This is strictly a "history of medicine" presentation brought to you by the Beaufort District Collection.

"Dr. Meade and the Medicine of Gone With the Wind" with Dave Smoot

Wed., August 29

BDC@ Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, 1st Floor 
 
5:30 PM 

Hurricane Quasquicentennial

Remembering the Dead 125 Years Later

To commemorate the 125th Anniversary of Sea Island Hurricane, please read a past Connections post about the "Most Devastating Natural Disaster" to ever befall Beaufort District and visit our Wordpress blog post to reflect on some of the names of the deceased from the Hurricane of 1893.

The names of most of those who died remain unknown as Beaufort County Coroner records are incomplete. The stories in the documents that do still exist are harrowing. Here H. J. Middleton describes what happened to his family when the Tide of Death roared ashore: 

  

Transcription of the images above 

 

State Of South Carolina

Beaufort County

The State vs. the dead bodies of the Will Middleton, Catherine Middleton & Carolina, C. Middleton, H.J. Middleton being duly sworn deposes and says:

I live in Lands End, Beaufort County. On the night of Aug. 27th, 1893, we were visited by a cyclone and tidal wave.  Deceased are my wife and children. The wind blew a gale.  We were all right at that time but as soon as I saw the water get near the house, we made for a tree with the children but the waves were so great and the tide was so strong that we could not help ourselves. I had two of the children under my arms. I found the water getting too deep and worse. I was compelled to turn them loose. I found the children and all on the next evening. If I had not turned them loose, I would have drowned myself.

HJ X (his mark) Middleton

Sworn to before me this 29th day of Aug. A.D. 1893 Jack Freeman, Dep. Coroner

[Beaufort County] County Coroner Inquisition Books vol. 2: 1888 – 1893, pp. 244-245.

By the way, the lecture about the Sea Island Hurricane scheduled for Coastal Discovery Museum on September 26th is completely full. We are trying to work out an additional date for a reprise of the presentation.

Looking ahead: What does the Coroner do? Learn more during Lecture #4 of Season 3 of the joint Beaufort History Museum / Beaufort County Library local history series in April 2019. Registration will open on the Beaufort History Museum's website approximately 2 weeks ahead of the lecture date.

BDC Program and Outreach Goal for FY 2019

The Beaufort County Library's fiscal year mirrors that of Beaufort County so it runs from 1 July 2018 through 30 June 2019. As manager of the Beaufort District Collection I have set a goal for this unit to increase attendance at our programs and community events by 15% over FY 2018.

I want to touch the lives of 1000 people this year, 600 at local history programs inside the Library and 400 people through community outreach at locations outside the Library's buildings.

Attendance at the Daufuskie Island Author Book Talk on July 25th gave us a good start towards meeting our goal. We have 565 people to go for our in-Library programs and 400 to go for our community outreach programs as of this date. We trust that the enlightening, illuminating and educational programs planned for August and September and beyond will continue that trend:


"Dr. Meade and the Medicine in Gone With The Wind" with Dave Smoot
Wednesday, August 29  | BDC@ Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street, 1st Floor | 5:30 PM

Question: "Why is the BDC sponsoring a program about medical treatment based on what happened to characters in Gone With the Wind?"

Answer: "Longtime readers know that there has to be some connection to Beaufort District history for the BDC to sponsor a program. The connections are these: 1) The Union used Beaufort and Hilton Head as a hospital base during the Civil War. Thus, it is appropriate to highlight the subject of Civil War medical practices and techniques in a BDC program. 2) Some students of Mitchell's work claim that at least some of the inspiration for the life and times of the Old South came from her childhood visits to Beaufort."

Popular Civil War medical re-enactor Dave Smoot becomes beloved Dr. Meade for an hour (or so) to tell us all about mid-19th century medical practices using the maladies and conditions of the characters from Gone with the Wind as his patients. 

Medical Re-enactor & Living Historian Dave Smoot as "Dr. Meade"

For example:Scarlett's first husband, Charles Hamilton, contracts measles; what would have been the treatment?; Scarlett's mother contracts typhoid fever; how would it have been treated?; Mr. O'Hara's beloved Tara falls on hard times after the Southern defeat and he becomes addle-headed; what would have happened to him?; Both Scarlett and Melanie give birth; what special circumstances would have been present?; and A cast of thousands are lying wounded on an Atlanta street. One screams, "Don't cut, don't cut", on the operating table. What happened to the wounded? The book and the movie are different. There are characters in the book that are not featured in the movie? Some get sick. What happens to them? Come let Dr. Meade explain what did.

"Altamaha and the Yamasee Indians" with Dr. Eric Poplin

Tuesday, September 11 | Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street, 1st Floor | 2:00 PM

Season 3 of the very popular Beaufort History Museum / Beaufort County Library local history series begins with the return of our favorite archaeologist, Dr. Eric Poplin of Brockington and Associates. Learn about the local Native Americans, the Yamasee. Be sure to register through the Beaufort History Museum website because the 75 seats available go fast. Registration normally opens about 2 weeks in advance of the program date so the link for registration will open on 28 August. The program is free though Beaufort History Museum appreciates donations to its institution. 

"Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names" with Grace Cordial
Thursday, September 13 | BDC@ Bluffton Branch, 120 Palmetto Way | 3 PM

Two days later, I will be at the Bluffton Branch presenting my favorite reference book Correct Mispronunciations, a gem of a book about onomastics. This program is free. Because there are 100 seats available at this location, there's no need to register.

"Tide of Death": The Hurricane of 1893 (Hilton Head emphasis) with Grace Cordial
Wednesday, September 26 | BDC@ Coastal Discovery Museum, 70 Honey Horn Drive | 3 PM


Please note: On August 8th, Natalie of Coastal Discovery Museum notified me that all 70 seats in their lecture space are claimed for my lecture highlighting the materials we have about the Great Sea Island Hurricane.

The Daufuskie Island Author Book Talk at Hilton Head with Jenny Hersch and Sallie Ann Robinson that was originally scheduled for September 19 has been rescheduled to December 5th at the request of the authors.

Registration for the October 6th "Gullah Roots" workshop event has opened. We are thrilled to be co-sponsoring this introductory session about how to begin researching one's Gullah Geechee ancestors with the International African American Museum's Center for Family History and the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission.  Reserve your spot before all spots are taken.

Reminder: All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed for Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd. Regular hours resume Tuesday, September 4, 2018.

Known Schedules Adjustments Today and for Labor Day

Reminder: Due to an anticipated staff shortage, the Research Room will have shortened hours today Wed., August 15. Kristy will be on hand to assist customers 9 AM to Noon and again 1 PM to 5 PM today.  Please plan your research visit accordingly as there will be no access to the Research Room during the lunch period.


As a heads up: All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed on Monday, September 3rd in observance of Labor Day. Staff will be in the Research Room on Tuesday, September 4th to assist you with genealogical and historical research.

New (and New To Us) Materials Received in July 2018

The task that I like most about managing the Beaufort District Collection is selecting materials for the Research Room. Here's a list of materials that arrived in our Research Room in July:

Beaufort: The Duke and His Duchess, 1657-1715 by Molly McClain (2001) is a biography of Henry Somerset, the First Duke of Beaufort and his wife, Mary Capel Somerset. Henry was a powerful and active member of Charles II's Privy Council while Mary distinguished herself in the field of botany. Together they navigated the cultural changes in England caused by the restoration of the Stuart kings to the throne. Their grandson, also Henry Somerset, became the 2nd Duke in 1700. (His father, Charles died in 1698, which made 14 year old Henry the heir to the dukedom when the 1st Duke died in 1700.) Beaufort, founded in 1711, is named after the 2nd Duke. The volume details the contentious relationship the 2nd Duke had with his grandmother who controlled the family's financial affairs. (Note: By the way, apparently his contemporaries did not think highly of Henry, the Younger. The 2nd Duke has been described as 'a weak man, vain and ... a drunkard.' Perhaps it is fitting that the his namesake town and county were recently declared South Carolina's drunkest.)
 
Catherine's Cross by Millie West (2013) is a novel about a suspicious death being investigated by a  Beaufort County detective with a little hoodoo thrown into the plot. Millie West is a Beaufort County resident.

Arcadia Press's first hardback book is Daufuskie Island (Images of America series) by Jenny Hersch and Sallie Ann Robinson (2018). The authors have done extensive research and gathered stories and photographs from island residents, visitors, libraries, and archives - including two from the Beaufort District Collection. The book is available in the Research Room, from the local history sections, as well as via Hoopla, the Library's e-book and streaming service. (Note: Hersch and Robinson did an Author Book Talk for us in July. Due to unexpected circumstances, the reprise at Hilton Head Island Branch is being rescheduled. Please stay alert for the new date.)  

Enlisted for the War: The Struggles of the Gallant 24th Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, Infantry, 1861-1865 by Eugene W. Jones, Jr. (1997) is a solidly researched history of the struggles and assignments given to the 1,520 men from nine different farming communities in South Carolina who were the first state's first regiment to enlist for the duration of the Civil War. The unit defended the coast from Wilmington North Carolina down to our area. It later was relocated to the western theater in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee and ultimately surrendered with General Joseph E. Johnston in Durham, North Carolina on 26 April 1865. "Appendix I: Biographical Sketches and Roster" include some soldiers from the Beaufort District. This title joins a host of other regimental histories of Civil War units in the SCLENDS libraries.  (Shoot an e-mail to bdc@bcgov.net and receive a copy of our "How to Find Out More about Your Civil War Ancestor" brochure.)   

Fabric of Liberty: The Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina by Alexander Moore (2012) recounts the history of this fraternal heritage association of former Continental Line officers who had served under General George Washington, and their descendants and the role that its members have played in reconciling warring political and economic factions. (While I am on the subject of fraternal heritage associations, please pencil this into your calendars: "Lineage & Hereditary Societies: What Are They and How Do You Join Them?" with Bonnie Wade Mucia | Tuesday, November 13 | BDC@ St. Helena Branch, 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road | 4:00 - 6:45 PM.)  

The Secret of the Gullah Treasure by Carl Linke (2017) is a novel that interweaves school integration, the Civil Rights movement, previously unknown works by Edgar Allan Poe and Gullah traditions to illustrate an African-American teen's resiliency in the mid-1960s. A unique feature of the novel are the QR codes in the book which link out to images of the places mentioned in the text, some of which belong to the BDC's Lucille Hasell Culp Collection hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library. Linke was granted permission to use the images in his work. He has been a fulltime resident of Beaufort County since 2011.   

Left by the Side of the Road: Characters without a Novel by Carolyn Schriber (2012) offers reasons why hundreds of real people with whom Laura M. Towne came in contact during the early years of the Port Royal Experiment do not appear in The Road to Frogmore or Beyond All Price, her works of local historical fiction. The tipping point for Schriber was "Did this person help or hinder Towne in a significant way?" and in many cases, important people in other spheres, such as Robert Smalls, did not. The vignettes offered here, although written as historical fiction, flesh out real people in Beaufort District during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. 
 

Lowcountry Time & Tide: The Fall of the South Carolina Rice Kingdom by James H. Tuten (2010) concentrates on the rice plantations of the Heyward, Middleton and Elliott families in Colleton and Beaufort to examine how former plantation owners and former enslaved people tried to revive rice production after the Civil War. Their attempts ultimately failed and rice cultivation on a commercial scale in South Carolina ended in the early 20th century. We also have Tuten's dissertation written for Emory University that was the basis for this book: Time and Tide: Cultural Changes and Continuities among the Rice Plantations of the Lowcountry, 1860 - 1930 on microfilm. 

(Note: On December 8, Dr. Edda Fields-Black of Carnegie Mellon University will share her research in a lecture "Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid and the Civil War Transformation of Gullah Geechee" in a BDC@ St. Helena Branch program beginning at 1 PM). 

Malachi by Scott Graber (2009) is a novel wherein a young transplanted lawyer discovers that the rural life of growing tomatoes and harvesting shrimp is being overcome by the desire of land developers to lure well-heeled Yankee retirees. He is happy with his genteel life until he discovers a secret about his law firm and about himself--a secret that will change his perceptions. Graber is a local attorney. We also have his novel Ten Days in Brazzaville in the Research Room.


The Name Game: From Oyster Point to Keowee by Claude and Irene Neuffer (1972) is an oldie-but-goodie children's book with charming illustrations about how surnames and place names came to be in South Carolina. It is similar to one of my favorite reference books, Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names, also by the Neuffers. (Note: Speaking of Correct Mispronunications, meet me at Bluffton Branch on September 13th at 3:00 PM to learn how to speak South Carolinese.)

South Carolina Women: Their Lives and Times, vols. 1 (2009) & 2 (2010) edited by Marjorie Julian Spruill, Valinda W. Littlefield and Joan Marie Johnson is a collection of essays about the state's  significant women. Included are some women associated with Beaufort District: Angelina Grimke;  Laura Towne and Ellen Murray; and an enslaved woman known as Lavinia, who was owned by the Lawton Family in Upper St. Peter's Parish, Beaufort District.    



Stories and Poems of a Gullah Native Book II by Peppi Cool Breeze (AKA Elijah Heyward, Jr.) recounts events and people from his childhood and life as a teacher in the local schools. We also have a copy of his first volume (2012) as do several of the branch libraries. 

The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker (2007) is an "intimate human history of an inhuman institution" highly praised for "lighting up the darkest corners of the British and American slave ships of the eighteenth century .... [by] illuminating the lives of people who were thought to have left no trace."  


Kirkus Reviews called The Voyage of the Slave Ship Hare: A Journey into Captivity from Sierra Leone to South Carolina (2016) by Sean M. Kelley "an important book that not only shows how the slave trade operated, but also provides a clearer picture of the victims' origins, language, and methods of survival." It, however, concentrates more on the experiences of the newly arrived Africans than their lasting cultural impact upon their Gullah/Geechee descendants.

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen Oates (1994) is an accomplished biography of one of the greatest heroines of the mid-19th century who was once barred from the Union's Hilton Head and Beaufort area hospitals. Barton would return to the area to lead the Red Cross's first ever hurricane recovery effects in 1893-1894. (Note: The "Tide of Death" lecture about the Great Sea Island Hurricane at Coastal Discovery Museum on September 26th is already "sold out.")

Please note these upcoming schedule adjustments:
1) The Research Room will be closed from Noon to 1 pm on Wednesday, August 15th due to an anticipated staff shortage. Kristy will be on hand to assist customers 9 am to Noon and again from 1 pm to 5 pm that day.
2) All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed on Monday, September 3rd for the Labor Day holiday

Local History Program for August 29, 2018

News Flash: Just added to our program schedule!  

Beaufort is visually stunning with lots of antebellum homes because the Union occupied this town and established lots of hospitals during the Civil War. Thank goodness for the need to help the wounded. It helped save a lot of structures from physical damage and destruction. We're hosting a program based on medical history to illuminate the period for our customers on August 29th.

The beloved novel Gone with the Wind has a lot of characters - and a fair portion of them get sick or wounded. Living historian Dave Smoot has created a new program to share his deep knowledge of mid-19th medical treatments and practices based upon the medical manuals of the time. (The BDC connection?: Some students of Margaret Mitchell's work claim that at least some of the inspiration for the life and times of the Old South came from her childhood visits to Beaufort.)

• Scarlett's first husband, Charles Hamilton,  contracts measles; what would have been the treatment?
• Scarlett's mother, Ellen Robillard O'Hara, contracts typhoid fever; how would it have been treated?
• Mr. O'Hara's beloved Tara falls on hard times after the Southern defeat and he becomes addle-headed; what would have happened to him?
• Both Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Rhett and Melanie Hamilton Wilkes give birth; what special circumstances would have been present?
• A cast of thousands are lying wounded on an Atlanta street. One screams, "Don't cut, don't cut", on the operating table. What happened to the Civil War wounded?
• The book and the movie are different. There are characters in the book that are not featured in the movie? Some get sick. What happens to them?

Come to this free "first come, first seated" BDC local history program to find out!

Unexpected Schedule Adjustments Aug 7 and 8

Due to an unexpected staffing shortage, the Research Room will be closed at lunchtime on Tuesday August 7 and Wednesday August 8. Kristy will be on hand both days to assist customers from 9 am to Noon and 1pm and 5 pm.

Celebrating Beaufort District's Lighthouses and Range Lights

Please note: This post was updated 9 July 2024. All information and links were accurate as of this date. -- Grace Cordial

During the colonial period of American history, lighthouses were privately owned. The first tower  erected in England's the American colonies to aid navigation was located on Little Brewster Island near Boston. The first official lighthouse became operational in 1746 also in the Massachusetts colony on Nantucket Island. When the United States Constitution was ratified in 1789, one of the responsibilities of the new national government was interstate commerce. Thus in 1789, the US approved an "Act for the establishment and support of lighthouse, beacons, buoys, and public piers" took over the care of lighthouses from their previous owners. In 1852, the government set up the Lighthouse Board which eventually was transformed into the Lighthouse Service by 1910. The Lighthouse Service was responsible for managing and supervising lighthouses and lightships. In 1939 the U.S. Coast Guard became responsible for overseeing the lighthouses.  

The United States Lighthouse Society hosts lots of excellent educational information about past and current lighthouses and light tenders on its website.

In 1989 the Congress honored the bicentennial of the federal responsibility for lighthouses and marine navigation with a "National Lighthouse Day." The Hon. William J. Hughes of New Jersey said: This celebration "will provide some long overdue recognition for the important role which lighthouses played in the history of our country ... [including] protecting our coasts to guiding our sailors." Since 1989 fans of lighthouses has kept the celebration though it is not on the official holiday calendar. 

South Carolina has 10 lighthouses and one facsimile lighthouse. Only the Georgetown Light on North Island and the Charleston Light on Sullivan's Island are still maintained and operated by the United States Coast Guard. There are five structures commonly called lighthouses in Beaufort County today though some are actually range lights and one is not truly a lighthouse at all: 

1. Bloody Point Rear Range Light (1883)

2. Haig Point Rear Range Light (1873)

3. Harbour Town Lighthouse (1970) (the facsimile one)

4. Hunting Island Lighthouse (1859, 1875, 1889)

5. Hilton Head Rear Range Light (1881) 

Which of course, begs the question: "What is the difference between a lighthouse and a range light?" 

According to the United States Lighthouse Society, lighthouses have only one light while range lights consist of two lights and usually help guide boats into a river's channel. The front range light is the shorter of the two; the rear range light is always taller than the front range light. When you are on course to enter the river properly, the two lights will line up one on top of the other. If you go off course, the difference in the height of the two range lights will let the navigator know whether to steer left or right to get back on course. 

Haig Point and Bloody Point range lights are on Daufuskie Island. The Haig Point front light was destroyed by erosion. According to Jenny Hersch's and Sallie Ann Robinson's Daufuskie Island (2018), the Haig Point Rear Light had three lighthouse keepers between 1873 and 1924: Patrick Comer; Richard Stonebridge; and Charles L. Sisson. The Haig Point Rear Range Light still stands on Daufuskie Island. The Bloody Point Range lights were also subjected to erosion and relocated. Among lighthouse keepers for Bloody Point were John Michael Doyle and Gustaf Ohman. 

(BDC Postcard Collection)

 

The Harbour Town Lighthouse was built as part of the Sea Pines Plantation development as an iconic easily recognizable feature in tourist brochures and as a background for broadcasters with the goal of publicizing the resort. It is termed a facsimile light.

(BDC Postcard Collection)

The Hilton Head Rear Range Light is also called the Leamington Light. It is located on Hole 5 of the Arthur Hills Golf Course in Palmetto Dunes Plantation. During World War II a unit of the Coast Guard 6th Naval District Mounted Beach Patrol watched for German submarines from Camp McDougall which was located around the rear range light beginning in 1942.  

(Hunting Island by Culp, 1950s;  copyright owned by BDC)

The first Hunting Island Lighthouse was built of brick and completed in 1859. When the Civil War broke out, Confederates destroyed the lighthouse in order to prevent the Union Navy from using it as an aid to navigation. A new lighthouse was built in 1875 though encroachment of the sea required that it be moved in 1889 to a spot one mile distant. The 130 feet stall 1889 structure is now within the Hunting Island State Park. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1933. It is the only lighthouse in South Carolina that is accessible to the general public. You can read about its history on the Hunting Island State Park website.

 

The Beaufort District Collection Research Room recommends the following sources:

• South Carolina Lighthouses: 15 Historic Postcards by Margie Willis Clary, 2008
• Several vertical files full of magazine and clippings about Beaufort District's lights
• LIGHTHOUSES 
• HUNTING ISLAND - LIGHTHOUSE
• LIGHTHOUSES - HARBOUR TOWN LIGHTHOUSE
• LIGHTHOUSES - LEAMINGTON RANGE LIGHT

Special Presentation, 150th Lighthouse Anniversary: October 16th - 18th [2009], Grand Ceremony [DVD] and a poster, "Interpretive Lighthouse Tour : November 9th and 30th [2017]."

Check out the DVD of the award winning documentary by Suzanne Larsen and Paul Keyserling, A Light on Treacherous Waters: The Story of the Hunting Island, South Carolina, Light Station, from the local history section of your favorite branch library. 

Hoopla, Beaufort County Library's service for e- and audio books, music, and streaming video, has over 300  items with the keyword "Lighthouses" for children, teens and adults to borrow. (Most appear to be works of fiction.) I suggest that you start with A History of South Carolina Lighthouses by John Hairr or Lighthouses of the Carolinas by Terence Zepke.

Gentle Reminder for readers of this post in 2024: It is always a good idea to set up an appointment to work in the BDC Research Room : bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6468. People with appointments get our undivided attention. Please be aware that walk-ins might be granted access if we do not have a scheduled appointment or other obligation and sufficient BDC staff is available to monitor use of our special collections materials. We do our best, always, but sometimes we cannot accept walk-in researchers.