The Trains, the trains ...

The holiday season is now underway - for real! Beaufort's Night on the Town and Christmas parade was last weekend (though the Beaufort Light up the Night boat parade was rained out) is followed up with the arrival of the Beaufort Railroaders and their wonderful model train sets. 

The model train sets are on display in the Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, first floor, for only 5 days: December 11 - December 15. Please note the times above. You don't want to miss it!


In honor of this annual event, the Beaufort District Collection is highlighting our "stuff" about the local railroads in our "Materials Monday" series on Facebook, in our Research Room display case, and in our WordPress blog.  As long as you're at Beaufort Branch looking at the model trains, why not come upstairs to see some of the materials we have about the Port Royal, Charleston & Savannah railroad and other railroads?

As a heads up: All units of the Beaufort County Library will close at the regular time
per unit on Friday, December 22nd and remain closed until Thursday, December 27th at regular opening time per unit. Soon thereafter, all units will close at 5 pm on Monday, December 31 and remain closed until regular opening time per unit on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.

Black History Month 2018

The Beaufort County Library acknowledges Black History Month every year during February. The BDC acknowledges the contribution of the Gullah/Geechee people throughout the year but with particular emphasis during February. On tap this year are two programs that I would like to draw your attention to: a joint BCL/BHM lecture on "Jim Crowism" and a genealogy help session that the BDC's is presenting at St. Helena Branch Library.

First up is "Jim Crowism in Beaufort County" with Andrea Allen on February 6th.

You may recall that Allen did a Harriet Tubman lecture for the partnership in March 2017. Well, she's back! And this time she tackles the unpleasant topic of racism even in this bastion of enlightened race relations, Beaufort County. Allen is a member of the historic Tabernacle Baptist Church in downtown Beaufort where she is a musician for the Senior Choir and serves as Sunday School Superintendent. She retired in 2015 from the Coastal Empire Community Mental Health Center as the Assistant Director for a five-county area, after serving 37 years in the SC Department of Mental Health. She joined the Board of Directors of the Beaufort History Museum in January 2016.

Registration for this program opened January 23, 2018 so we hope that some seats are still available.

Grace Cordial heads over to St. Helena Branch Library on Sat., February 10th to introduce folks to the family history support services provided by the Library. That'll be the first 45-60 minutes.  From Noon to 2 pm, Grace will be available to offer those who want some one-on-one help with using the Library's subscription to Ancestry Library Edition and/or those who want to explore our Online Obituary Index.  Free. There is no need to register.

Drop by our Research Room to see our latest display of special collection materials on the topic of Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, and other key figures in local area African American history. Indeed, while you're here don't pass up the opportunity to view the "Combahee River Historic District" exhibit on loan from the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Doing so will definitely result in a greater appreciation of the landscape during your next trip to Charleston.

Last day 28 February 2018

The Research Room and 2nd Floor lobby  is now open Mondays through Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm.

We're running a daily "Black History Note" on our Facebook page featuring lots of people, places, and activities that help tell the story of the contributions of African-Americans to our local history and culture.

Check out the Library system's calendar for specific programs and events relating to Black History Month.

All Aboard! (Updated to 2022)

Latest update: 15 November 2022 includes additions about the Model Trains exhibit and library closure schedule for the end of 2022 and New Year's Day holidays.- Grace Cordial 

Today I am going to use "Railroads Once Were Vital to Beaufort's Economy" by Gerhard Spieler from the Beaufort Gazette, August 12, 1997, p. 11A as the base for a brief exploration of railroad history in Beaufort District. I will indicate my editorial remarks and/or supplemental information with red italics  to indicate updated content and sources. 

Railroads once were vital to Beaufort's economy 

Studies are under way on the feasibility of running a tourist train on 25 miles of track between Port Royal and Yemassee. The train would be in addition to the limited cargo service on that line now. 

 
The tourist train idea did not get sufficient traction to become a reality and limited cargo service ceased on November 26, 2003. In 2008 Beaufort-Jasper Water & Sewer Authority acquired the right-of-way to use as a utility corridor. After years of discussion, efforts to set up a walking/biking "Beaufort Rail Trail" began to flower once the BJW&SA granted a surface easement to Beaufort County to develop 14 miles of the corridor as a recreational trail in January 2011. The tracks were ripped up in stages between 2011 and 2015. The Spanish Moss Trail opened in 2013 and now occupies 10 miles of the former line. The trail is included in the TrailLink system of the Rails to Trails Conservancy. 

BTW: We helped with the historic markers near the Old Depot trailhead. There are  iPhone and iPad apps available for following the Spanish Moss Trail. Newspaper and magazine clippings about the history of the Port Royal Railroad Company and various ideas about what to do with the rail bed are in a permanent vertical file in our Research Room. Please be sure to make an appointment to view the BDC materials: bdc@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468. 

There was a period when railroads were the chief link between Beaufort and the outside world; they provided both passenger and freight service. Freight trains brought commercial cargoes to Beaufort and carried farm produce to Northern markets. Many small Lowcountry towns such as Denmark, Norway, Port Royal, Yemassee and Sweden owe their origin and existence to railroads. 

Lowcountry historian William Whitten has one of the "few remaining passenger coaches" at his home in Port Royal. Whitten wrote in the Hilton Head Report that the 66-foot-long car was" on the round-trip run from Port Royal to Augusta from about the turn of the century to World War II."   

Beaufort's only freight warehouse, located on Depot Road, was retired and later demolished in 1974. 

Built in 1908, it was owned and used last by the Seaboard Coast Line. At one time, according to town historian John F. Morrall, the warehouse was the center of Beaufort's economic life, a place where town merchants met to talk as well as send and receive merchandise. 

Arnsberger Collection, BDC, LCDL

The Charleston and Savannah Railroad, completed shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War, was the first railroad to operate in county limits. Located on the mainland, it was an important link in Confederate military control and in providing quick service between Charleston and Savannah. 

First passengers climbed aboard the C&S Railroad on April 21, 1860. The trip between the two cities took approximately nine hours each way. The train leaving Charleston set off at 7:40 am while the train leaving Savannah left at 9:00 am.

In 2008, H. David Stone, Jr. examined the operation of the C&S RR in his book Vital Rails: The Charleston and Savannah Railroad and the Civil War in Coastal South Carolina. His book is available for check-out through the Local History sections of the Beaufort County Library as well as in the BDC's Research Room. The supplemental information about the date and schedule are from pp. 32-33 of Vital Rails.) 

Gift of Nancy Guthridge, former docent, BDC

In 1869, a memorial of the Port Royal Railroad Co. stated "that the Company is engaged in building a railroad from Port Royal Harbor, in the State of South Carolina, to Augusta in the State of Georgia ... Your petitioner aims not only to construct a railroad, but also build a city." 

We have a copy of Petition of members of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina, praying aid to the Port Royal Railroad Company in completing its road from Port Royal to Augusta, Georgia [Pamphlet article], 1868. Call # is SC 975.799 PET

The railroad was completed by 1874, and in the same year the new town of Port Royal received its state charter.  Docks were constructed to serve ships from northern states as well as Europe. Ships even furnished passenger service to European ports. The railroad carried truck farm produce to inland markets. 

Parts of the railroad parts of it opened in 1871 as this advertisement from the Beaufort County Republican, December 21, 1871 p. 3 advertisement shown on the left attests. 

Financing prospects for the Port Royal Railroad turned out to be less promising than expected. Directors of the Georgia Railroad agreed in 1872 "to endorse $1 million of the first-mortgage bonds...." 
 After protests and threats of legal action by stock-and bond-holders, the sum was lowered to $500,000 and the board of directors was "paid for its endorsement by the transfer of enough stock to allow it to control the Port Royal Railroad Company."

   

The railroad had found itself in financial difficulties from the start. After staring service March 1, 1873, the company defaulted on interest payments on its bonds by November. The railroad was sold at a foreclosure sale on June 6, to be succeeded by the Port Royal & Augusta Company. 

1899 Sanborn Insurance Map, Beaufort Sheet 8, BDC, USC

The best explanation of the financial problems involved with the PR & A RR is "'Black an' Dusty, Goin' to Augusty:' A History of the Port Royal Railroad" by John Martin Davis, Jr. in the South Carolina Historical Magazine, vol. 105, (2004), pp. 198-225. Read it in our Research Room where we have the complete run of the magazine.

 

Arnsberger Collection, BDC, LCDL

By 1915, the Charleston-to-Savannah Railroad began laying a railroad spur to connect Jasper, Bluffton and lower Beaufort County to the main line.

"Cotton, corn, beans and potatoes... would have been useless without a way to get them to market in the early parts of this century," according to Fran Smith in a 1982 article in The Island Packet. 

Culp Collection, BDC, LCDL

I wish that Spieler had said what issue this article was in but newspaper articles seldom provide such citations. It would have been particularly helpful because we do not have an index to our newspapers.  If you'd like to come into the BDC Research Room we'll be happy to set you up with the microfilm reader/printer and the reel of the 1982 Island Packet issues so you can locate the precise article. 

 The line was operated later by the Seaboard Coastline Railroad, but by 1973 the company sought permission to abandon that stretch. Many of the cargoes once carried by the railroad now came and went by trucks, over new highways and bridges. 

In 1978, the last freight shipments on the railroad spur were unloaded at Levy Station in Jasper County. 

Capt. Charles N. Barnum, in a 1967 paper presented to the Beaufort County Historical Society, described passenger service from Beaufort in 1929: 

There were two trains a day both ways at the Beaufort station. Going to Charleston would take about three hours. Going to Savannah took about four. Going either way required a change of trains, and the time taken was only an hour shorter than the normal running time of the regular boat to Savannah. 

He shares very interesting historical tidbits about ferries, bridges, and the railroads. For example: The boats to Savannah left from a wharf on Bay Street. The railroad accommodations were coaches. Fresh air came in the open windows during the summer only. You can read Barnum's "Records of Public Transportation in Beaufort County" in the BDC Research Room.

Through the years, first the Palmetto Post and then The Beaufort Gazette, recorded railroad news in their pages. A 1911 story in The Gazette reported a new through train from Port Royal to Augusta, Georgia. A November 1914 article headlined "Seaboard Railroad from Charleston to Savannah." An April 1918 story told of "Dale Station on Seaboard Air Line Doing Good Business."

 
Earlier, in August 1896, the Palmetto Post reported the "Sale of the Port Royal and Augusta Railway." In 1915, The Gazette reported "Seaboard Air Line Puts Beaufort County on its Main Line" and in October 1917, "Service on the new Seaboard Air Line Begins." 

Look at the "All Aboard! Railroads in Beaufort District and beyond" post on the BDC's WordPress blog for additional links and materials.  

We are thankful for our decade long partnership with the Lowcountry Digital Library. They provide technical assistance, preservation, and hosting of the digital images to make some of our materials available over the internet. 

Note well: The eagerly anticipated model trains exhibit will be at Beaufort Branch from 13 December through 17 December in 2022. Contact: library@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6456 for details.

Note as well: The "Pouring on the Steam" cartoon is from the 1951 Beaufortonian, the Beaufort High School yearbook. We have a good collection of yearbooks in the Research Room. 

Third note, this one about holiday schedule: All units of the Beaufort County Library will be closed December 23 - December 26 on account of County policy regarding holidays falling on weekends. Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Sunday this year. Thus the Library will be closed on Monday, January 2, 2023.

Native Americans in Beaufort District

November is Native American Heritage Month. Once upon a time, Native Americans roamed the wetlands, fished the estuaries, and camped along our riverbanks. Many small Native American groups lived in the area. These former residents left behind shell middens, pottery shards, and their words upon our landscape:  Wimbee, Combahee, Huspah, Yamasee, Pocotaligo, Sadkeche, Coosawhatchie, etc.

Archibald Rutledge, Jr., South Carolina's Poet Laureate from 1934 to 1973, penned the following poem: 

"Indian Days"

Coosawhatchie, Waccamaw, Yauhannah, Edisto!
What singing memorial of long ago,
Of Yemassee, Tamassee, and Pocotaligo.

The homes of our primal man, hard by God's ancient sea,
Oconee, See-Wee, Wateree, Cherokee.
Gone now, gone forever from Cumbahee, Jocassee.
The braves' change here no more shall ring by Peedee, Socastee.
Their maids' bright smiles no more shall cheer on golden Congaree.
Quiet, quiet, all is quite, deep on the dark Santee.

I hope that you were able to hear Dr. Poplin's lecture about the archaeological record of the "Combahee Ferry Historic District" on November 15th. Native American trading paths had crossed the river for thousands of years. Unfortunately artifacts left along trading paths are usually much fewer in number than those found in settlements or at trading sites.

For a group that only lived here for about 35 years, the Yamasee played a critical role in the most important colonial war that few remember. Our "Yamasee War, 1715 - 1717" Wordpress blog post outlines some of the materials we have on the topic.

For a broader discussion of Native Americans based in this general area, I recommend our "Native Americans" Wordpress blog post.

Poplin Lectures about the Combahee Ferry River Crossing on Nov. 15th

Archaeology is one of the key themes in our holdings here in the Beaufort District Collection. We try to offer enlightening, illuminating and educational programs and exhibits from time to time on the status of archaeology within the area. This week we have a lecture to supplement the "Combahee Ferry Historic District Exhibit" currently on display in the 2nd floor lobby.

Event Name:  “Archaeology of the Combahee Ferry Historic District"

Short Description of Event: Dr. Eric Poplin of Brockington and Associates discusses the archaeology performed before the Harriet Tubman Bridge spanning the Combahee River was constructed. First come; First Seated (Maximum capacity: 85) Co-Sponsor: ASSC

Time and Date of Event: Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Location of Event: BDC@ Beaufort Branch Library, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort, SC 29902

Price of Event: Free; Ages 12 - Adults

Anyone who has driven from Beaufort to Charleston on US Hwy 17 has gone across a rich and multi-tiered archaeological site. Learn about the significance of the Combahee River crossing beginning with the Native Americans who camped along its banks, the lost town of Radnor, the daring raid to free the enslaved led by Harriet Tubman and the 2nd US Colored Troops in 1863 up to the time of the new bridge. Come learn about this crucial transportation crossing through time by viewing the exhibit on loan from the SC Department of Transportation and by listening to Dr. Poplin's lecture. Doing so will change how you view your next trip up Highway 17 to Charleston.

Dr. Poplin Returns: Combahee Ferry Historic District Archaeology

One of our very most favorite archaeologists, Dr. Eric Poplin of Brockington and Associates, returns on Wed., November 15, 2017. This time his topic is the archaeology done in advance of the new bridge linking Beaufort and Colleton Counties at the Combahee River. He was the lead archaeologist investigating the uses of the area by Native Americans, colonial settlers, and by both Confederates and Federals during the Civil War. The bridge was named the "Harriet Tubman" bridge in honor of a daring raid up the river that freed an estimated 700 - 800 enslaved people in 1863.

We will have 85 seats available on a first come; first seated basis in the Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, 1st floor, 311 Scott Street. We hope that you'll be able to join us.

The exhibit is on display in the 2nd floor lobby just outside the BDC Research Room door, Mondays - Fridays 9 am to 5 pm with the exception of holidays and unexpected closures. Please note: The Library system will be closed on Fri., Nov. 10th and Sat., Nov. 11th for Veterans Day.  

Dig Archaeology? We Have Programs for You!!

Anyone who's read this blog, our Wordpress blog, our website, or attended any of our programs knows that the Beaufort District Collection concentrates on five major themes: local history, Gullah culture, genealogy, natural history and archaeology for South Carolina’s lowcountry areas of Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties. In addition to being Archives Month and Family History Month, October is also South Carolina Archaeology Month. For 15 years, we have celebrated Archaeology Month in some way. This year the BDC is hosting the keynote lecturer, showing an exhibit, and doing my very most favorite library program - "What the Heck Is It?" again. We are grateful for the support of SCIAA, ASSC, and the SC Department of Transportation.

Event Name: “Their Story Ends: Recent Excavations at Edisto Island State Park”

Short Description of Event: Archaeologist Dr. Karen Y. Smith, SCIAA, shares what she learned about 4000 year old Spanish Mount Point mound before it was consumed by the waters. Co-sponsor: Archaeological Society of South Carolina. 85 seats: first come; first seated.

Time and Date of Event: Tuesday, October 10, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Location of Event: BDC@ Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort, SC 29902

Price of Event: Free; Ages 12 - Adults 

Event Name: “What the Heck Is It? - Year 5”

Short Description of Event: Drop in with your artifacts and try to stump our learned archaeologists, Dr. Jon Leader and Dr. Eric Poplin. No registration. No limit of the number of items you can bring. Just understand that whatever you bring, you have to do all the lifting and toting to get it into the building and to get it back to your vehicle. Co-sponsor: Archaeological Society of South Carolina.

Time and Date of Event: Saturday, October 28, 2017 from 10:00 am - 1:30 pm

Location of Event: BDC@ Beaufort Branch, 311 Scott Street, Beaufort, SC 29902

Price of Event: Free; Ages 12 - Adults

Anyone who has driven from Beaufort to Charleston on US Hwy 17 has gone across a rich and multi-tiered archaeological site. Learn about the significance of the Combahee River crossing beginning with the Native Americans who camped along its banks, the lost town of Radnor, and the daring raid to free the enslaved by Harriet Tubman and the 2nd US Colored Troops in 1863.

Event Name: “Combahee Ferry Historic District” Exhibit

Short Description of Event:  Co-sponsor: Archaeological Society of South Carolina.

Time and Date of Event: Mondays - Fridays, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, October 2017 - February 2018

Location of Event: Beaufort District Collection, 311 Scott Street, 2nd Floor, Beaufort, SC 29902

Price of Event: Free; Ages 12 - Adults

Please note: Dr. Eric Poplin will be here on Wed., November 15 to lecture on the "Archaeology of the Combahee Ferry Historic District." Please go ahead and pencil this into your calendars.