Captain William Hilton Espies A Promontory

Today marks a significant date in Beaufort District's history. On 28 September 1663 a sea captain named William Hilton sailed along the coast of what became South Carolina and saw a a headland in the ocean. He named it after himself. 

You can read Hilton's account of his Voyage to the Carolina Coast (1664) in our Research Room or borrow one of the reprint copies from the SCLENDS catalog. It's also available as "A Relation of Discovery" by William Hilton (1664) in Narratives of Early Carolina, 1650-1708 edited by A.S. Salley. We have a physical copy in the Research Room or you can borrow printed copies from one or more of the SCLENDS libraries.

Dwayne Pickett, a living historian who in the past has appeared at BDC's programs in the guise of Captain Hilton, recently wrote a book about the English explorer. The book Captain William Hilton and the Founding of Hilton Head Island is available in the BDC Research Room and through the SCLENDS catalog. It is also available as an e-book through the Library's subscription to Hoopla. All you need is a valid Beaufort County Library card to check out the physical or electronic copies. 

Beaufort County Library issues free cards to Beaufort County residents and property owners, USCB & TCL students, members of the military and their dependents, and all Beaufort County Government and School District employees.With that card, you get access to almost 3 million books, dvds, recordings, etc. - the vast majority of which you can borrow to use outside the library -- plus access to electronic products that include movies, tv shows, music, audio books, ebooks, journals, magazines, and newspapers, book selection guides, test preparation materials, investment resources, books for the blind, and a host of materials for children. 

That's why a free library card is hands down the best deal in town! And when you get one - and keep it renewed - it tells our funding agency, Beaufort County Council, that you appreciate the Beaufort County Library's collections, services, staff and programs. 
 

We encourage you to get one today!

Heads up: All units of the Library system will be closed on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 for Staff Work Day. Regular hours will resume on Thursday, October 3, 2019.

BDC Local History Programs in October 2019

I am delighted at the turnout for our August and September programs - 202 people - some of them new faces to me which makes me feel like we are reaching more people in the community with high quality, free local history related programs. We hope to continue that momentum with our October 2019 offerings. This month we highlight a local bromance, Civil War era photographs and the history of education on Daufuskie Island in collaboration with partners Beaufort Branch Library, Beaufort County Historical Society, Hilton Head Branch Library and the Pat Conroy Literary Center.

Please note the attendance procedures: Two of the programs are first come, first seated. Folks who want to attend Jim Alberto's talk about teaching at the Mary Fields School can pre-register for a seat at the Hilton Head session on October 25th by going to https://daufuskiedaze1.bpt.me.

Sunday's Connections was about Bernie Schein's upcoming Author Talk. We will be happy to see you at the program.

We pilot a new "Historically Speaking" lecture series with the Beaufort County Historical Society
on October 17th with what is sure to be a crowd-pleaser: Dr. Stephen Wise on the topic Civil War era photographs of this area.

Traditionally, BCHS holds its lectures on Thursdays at Noon and we're keeping to that schedule at least for now. We decided that since the fire marshal says that we can fit almost 100 people into the Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, we are going to let the lecture be open to the general public with no advance registration process. Instead, we will open the Meeting Room doors for guests at 11:30 AM. If or when we reach room capacity, access to the lecture will be closed.

As frequent readers of this blog know, the Beaufort District Collection often takes local history programs to other branch libraries and to some community groups (who ask). In concert with the Pat Conroy Literary Center we are hosting two sessions about Daufuskie Daze, Jim Alberto's memoir of his time teaching on Daufuskie Island after Pat Conroy's short tenure. The first session, October 25 at 2 pm, will be held in the Hilton Head Branch Library's Meeting Room. One can pre-register to attend the South of Broad event at https://daufuskiedaze1.bpt.me. His second session will be on November 15th in Beaufort Branch.

For the latest updates about upcoming BDC programs, be sure to check the Library's master calendar. 

Because October is American Archives Month, expect to see some of our truly "spiffy" items and record series relevant to the topic du jour during each of these programs.

Heads up: Registration for Lecture 4.2 of the Beaufort History Museum / Beaufort County Library local history series, "Guns of the Big Gun Shoot" with Dave Smoot, opens on October 24, 2019. Be sure to reserve your seat. 

Bernie and Pat: a Bromance

The Beaufort District Collection and the Beaufort Branch Library are teaming up to bring author Bernie Schein to share his cherished memories about his friend, Pat Conroy on October 1, 2019.
The Author Book Talk is first come, first seated so we'll open the doors to the Beaufort Branch Meeting Room at 1:30pm for anyone interested in learning more about the sometimes stormy relationship between the two outsiders who first stumbled into each other's lives in early 1960s Beaufort - and fell into a friendship that extended beyond Pat's death in 2016.

Watch Bernie talk about his book, a labor of love, in this YouTube video.

After reading Margaret Evans's book review in the Lowcountry Weekly, I'm sure that you'll want to read the book yourself - and won't want to miss out on this free opportunity to ask questions of the man who wrote the book on the subject of this particular bromance. In fact, she convinced me to read the whole thing - rather than the usual cursory scanning that I do while picking out new materials for the BDC. Randomly turning pages, I fell upon page 97 - and laughed out loud - and it didn't even have anything to do directly with Pat.

In other words, the book is a treat - and a treat to which one should treat one's self  - and if you want to put a cherry on the top on that treat -- come to the Beaufort Branch Library on Tuesday, October 1 at 2:00 pm for the Author Book Talk.

Looking ahead:

William Carney, An Exemplary Soldier

(Latest update: 6 May 2025 - gmc)                                                              Those customers who came to Dave Smoot's lecture about Civil War Hospitals in September 2019 learned about some of the structures, patients and medical workers. Among the patients was Sergeant William Carney, formerly of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. Look closely at Carney's chest. What do you see?

Carney received the Congressional Medal of Honor due to his "most distinguished gallantry in action" at Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863. He was shot in the thigh, but managed to crawl uphill on his knees, "bearing the Union flag and urging his troops to follow." He was the first African-American soldier to earn the honor. He recuperated from his wound in Beaufort and returned to service.

To learn more about this American hero, his service, and the battle of Fort Wagner, we recommend these materials:

Battery Wagner: The Siege, the Men who Fought, and the Casualties by Timothy Bardshaw (Palmetto Historical Works, 1993).
 
Blue-eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw edited by Russell Duncan (University of Georgia Press, 1999).

Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston Harbor, 1863 by Stephen R. Wise (University of South Carolina Press, 1994).

Swamp Angels: A Biographical Study of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment: True Facts about the Black Defenders of the Civil War by Robert Ewell Greene (BoMark/Greene Publishing Group, 1990).

The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry [DVD] by Jacqueline Shearer. (WGBH Boston Video, 2006).

The Assault on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863: The Memorable Charge of the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, written for 'The Springfield Republican' by Luis F. Emilio (Rand Avery, 1887).

The National Archives has a web page devoted to more information about "Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military in the Civil War."

The BDC has a pathfinder to "Black Soldiers and Sailors during the Civil War: Selected Links and Materials" posted in our BDC WordPress blog of Links, Lists, and Finding Aids.

"Indigo" with Peggy Pickett is Full but ...

We are delighted that so many people intend to come to the Library on Tuesday for Peggy Pickett's talk about the history of Indigo in South Carolina that we are "sold out." When we started this collaboration with the Beaufort History Museum, we had no idea that we would have such success!

If you want to take a chance that there will be a no-show, all reservations become null and void at 1:55 pm on Tuesday, September 17th. Should there be a seat unoccupied at that time, the ushers will seat walk-in customers. Just so you know, sometimes folks who reserved seats in advance are unable to make the lectures. Sometimes we have a full contingent of reservation holders show up.

Local History Programs in September 2019

The Beaufort District Collection has some very popular golden oldie programs that get reprised on a fairly regular basis but those are not all we do. We offer programs on new topics as well. September 2019 is a prime example of new programs: one is about the Civil War era and the other is about the Colonial era.

In late 1861, Northern troops, in a seaborne assault, secured Beaufort and the surrounding area for the Union. It was quickly realized that the medical means brought along fell far short of meeting the  needs of the troops.  Necessity being the mother of invention, homes abandoned by their owners were commandeered as hospitals. Look closely at the map. The structures in red are homes (mostly) converted to hospitals. "Sorrow by the Sea" is the story of the medical side of the Civil War in Beaufort. This program is open to all on a first come, first seated basis.

"Sorrow by the Sea: Civil War Hospitals of Beaufort"
with Dave Smoot

Wednesday, September 11, 2019
5:30 PM
BDC@ Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street
First come; First seated


Six days later author Peggy Picket discusses the role of indigo as an economic foundation for the prosperity of the lowcountry during the colonial period. Explore the history of indigo in South Carolina and discover how it affected the sea islands around Beaufort in the season #4 opening lecture of the very popular Beaufort History Museum/Beaufort County Library Local History series. 
 
Please note: All BHM/BCL local history series lectures require advance registration.

In 1744 Eliza Lucas Pinckney sent a sample of indigo she had developed on her father’s plantation to England where it was said to be as good as the indigo produced by the French in their island colonies in the West Indies.  Indigo soon became a valuable export for Carolina planters. 

Pickett by Kellie McCann

"Indigo" with Peggy Pickett

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

2:00 PM

BHM/BCL Local History series

Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street

Registration is required and opens Tuesday, September 3rd. 

Sign up through the Museum's website to attend this lecture: www.beauforthistorymuseum.org/wildapricot/events-3463469. Registration opens 2 weeks in advance of the program date and will close when capacity is reached.

Update: 11 September 2019 - All seats for this session have been reserved. Capacity is met. Registration has closed. 

We hope that you can join us for one or both of these upcoming local history programs. 

Reminder: 

Please be vigilant and monitor the Beaufort County Emergency Management Division's notifications regarding Hurricane Dorian.  Hurricanes can be fickle forces of nature. If it heads this way, the Library may not re-open as previously scheduled.