Staycation Opportunity: "Marker Mania Challenge" with the Beaufort County Historical Society and beyond ...

Update 31 August 2020: The BCHS has extended the Marker Mania Challenge until 25 September 2020. Sign up to participate on their website: https://www.beaufortcountyhistoricalsociety.com/

You may have seen mention on Facebook and/or the local media about the "Marker Mania Challenge" contest being sponsored this summer by our friends in the Beaufort County Historical Society.  In case you haven't, the basics are posted on the BCHS's website. The goal is to get families out and about in the fresh air while keeping to their COVID-19 mitigation bubbles to learn a bit of local history in the process. Kids can even earn prizes for participating. 

Because I had some business over in Jasper County one recent Sunday afternoon, I decided to expand the challenge - to satisfy my own curiosity - to see just how many historic markers I could find directly on State Highway 336 between Snake Road and Tillman.  I stopped at eight markers. In the process, I traversed from the colonial period into the recent past. (Please: No judgment about my ability to take good selfies. My limbs are in proportion to the height of my body. If you've ever seen me in person, you know that I am a short woman. Back when postcards were a thing I would buy them on my vacations because my camera skills were nil).

First up was one of my favorite and often visited historic sites: the grave of Thomas Heyward, Jr. at Old House. The dirt road sort of sneaks up on you if you don't know precisely where it is located if you're coming from Snake Road. Proceed up a beautiful tree-canopied lane passing a couple of mobile homes to get to a small open grassy area and a brick-walled enclosure. 

Oak Lined Lane at Old House

I usually take my house guests here as he was Beaufort District's only Signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a Patriot who believed in liberty though he enslaved many people of African origin or descent on his plantations. One of those plantations is the site of the family cemetery.

Heyward Family Cemetery at Old House Plantation

A short distance away is the historic marker for the Battle of Honey Hill. This Civil War engagement was among the last successful Confederate actions. Local units from the area prevented the Union from cutting the Savannah & Charleston Railroad in early November 1864. One of my ancestors was in the South Carolina 3rd Cavalry based in the area and should likely have been present but it seems that he was incarcerated on the date of the battle based on information from his muster roll.  

I made a slight detour from State Highway 336 to visit Grahamville. The old village is at the four-way stop where there are two historic markers. I am not an intrepid explorer so the high grass around the Grahamville sign prevented me from getting up close. (This is where the wonderful Zoom In feature on a smartphone is so appreciated.) 

We have several rare documents in the Research Room relating to events held in Grahamville: a paper presented to the Beaufort County Historical Society in 1949;  a copy of The Political Life and Services of the Hon. R. Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina by Daniel Wallace that includes Rhett's Independence Day speech in Grahamville in 1859; and Rev. Arthur Wigfall's A Sermon upon Duelling delivered in 1856 at the Holy Trinity Church. (Rev. Wigfall was strongly against dueling. We hope to get Neil Baxley to deliver his presentation about dueling in Beaufort District again once we can safely gather together in a common physical space.)

The village's Holy Trinity Anglican Church occupies one of the four corners at the intersection of Bees Creek Road and State Road S-2-29, also known as Smiths Crossing. It began life as a chapel of ease for Episcopalian planters in St. Luke's Parish. I have always liked its carpenter Gothic architecture. It is a rather small but lovely antebellum church. As the historic marker indicates, it is the only physical structure in the village to survive the Union advance. When I lived in Jasper County, I attended a christening and several funerals held there. 

As an added treat, I could hear the organist practicing a Bach Prelude and Fugue as I stood outside.

My errands included a stop by the Ridgeland Post Office so I took Bees Creek Road back to where it intersected with State Highway 336. There I came upon the "Ridgeland" historic marker at the railroad track crossing on Main Street. 

(A little known fact: one of my ancestors signed the town's charter.) Nearby is a statue in honor of the only land tortoise native to the Southeast, the gopher tortoise. Destruction of long-leaf pine forests has led to the species' status as vulnerable to extinction. It's fitting that the Historic Marker is in the park housing the gopher tortoise statue as the settlement was called originally called "Gopher Hill." The town's origins are recalled each October when the "Gopher Hill Festival" is celebrated. Unfortunately like many other 2020 Festivals, COVID-19 has caused this year's festival to be cancelled. 

Just on the other side of the railroad track is the Ridgeland Post Office at 7554 W. Main Street. I picked up my mail relating to our properties in Jasper County. The Post Office building does not have an historical marker but next door to the Post Office is another State Highway 336 historic marker. 

(I don't look particularly happy, do I?) I have two personal connections to St. Paul's Methodist Church. My great-grandmother Inez Grace Buckner Lewis Sanders used to be a member of the congregation. My two eldest children attended the St. Paul's pre-school getting a wonderful start on the path to the joy of learning.  

There are more churches with historic markers heading out State Highway to Tillman, the African-American congregations of St. John's and St. Matthew's. The St. John's AME Church marker commemorates a tragic event in South Carolina's recent history, the Massacre at Mother Emanuel Church in 2015. In his youth, Reverend Clementa Pinckney preached here. After his murder, his body returned to the sanctuary for a viewing before his funeral held in Charleston. When the Research Room re-opens to the public, we also have a vertical file of materials gathered about Senator Pinckney that guests can review.

Less than 2/10th of a mile away, there is an historic marker for the St. Matthew Baptist Church. Like many of the historic African-American congregations, it was founded in the Reconstruction Era.

Like the marker for Ridgeland, the marker at the intersection of State Highway 336 and US Highway 321 indicates a name change. In 1820 the area was known as "Hennis Crossroads" but was renamed in honor of George D. Tillman, US Congressman and political rival to Robert Smalls.  Tillman was from a South Carolina political dynasty in the Reconstruction Era: He was a brother of Gov. Benjamin Tillman, and father of James H. Tillman who shot and killed an Elliott family member, Narciso Gonzales, editor of The State newspaper on the street in Columbia in 1903. 

If true crime is your genre of choice, I recommend that you borrow Deadly Censorship: Murder, Honor & Freedom of the Press by James Underwood about the assassination of Gonzales. The Library has physical copies that you can get through curbside service or download as an e-book from Hoopla. 

I encourage each reader to seek out some sites or markers to people, places, themes and events related to where you live or may be visiting this summer. If you happen to be in Beaufort County and would like to participate in "Marker Mania Challenge", I'm sure that the Beaufort County Historical Society would welcome your participation. 

Tours of Civil War Exhibits and Historic Sites

The Beaufort County Library is partnering with the Beaufort History Museum to host a Living History Civil War Encampment at the Arsenal March 11 - 13, 2016. An encampment often brings in folks who are interested in learning more about the era by touring other nearby sites and exhibits about the topic. As librarians we love to share information about the long and storied history of Beaufort District with others. Beaufort County is blessed to have a number of cultural heritage organizations that sponsor regular tours and have permanent or special exhibits about local historical people, places, events, and eras. Here are just a few of the recurring tours of Civil War related historic sites that sometimes includes permanent or special exhibits on the Civil War:

FORTS OF PORT ROYAL TOUR WITH COASTAL DISCOVERY MUSEUM
Wednesdays at 10am | Tours meet at the Port Royal Golf Club, 10 Clubhouse Drive, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Learn about the area's early explorers and the importance of the island during the Civil War, Mitchelville, and the Steam Cannon. The tour visits the site of Fort Walker and the Steam Cannon. Regular price is $12 adult $7 child (ages 6-12); Reservations are required for this tour. Call Coastal Discovery Museum at 843-689-6767 for reservations. www.coastaldiscovery.org

FORT MITCHEL TOUR WITH THE HERITAGE LIBRARY 

Thursdays at 10am | Tours meet at Fort Mitchel, Hilton Head Plantation

Visit a well preserved example of a Civil War era coastal artillery battery. Learn about what life on Hilton Head Island was like for northern soldiers during the Union occupation 1861-1865. Reservations are required for this tour offered by the Heritage Library, owner of the historic site. Regular price is $12 adult $7 child (ages 6-12); Call Heritage Library at 843-686-6560 for reservations. (The Heritage Library will give you directions upon placing your reservation for the tour.) www.heritagelib.org

JOHN MARK VERDIER HOUSE MUSEUM TOURS
Permanent & Special Exhibit for March 2016 only| Mon-Sat, 10a-4p
Verdier House, 801 Bay St, Beaufort | 843-379-6331

Paid admission to the John Mark Verdier House includes a tour of the house museum and two Civil War related exhibits: “Robert Smalls: Beaufort Hero” showcasing the life of the African-American slave who became a Republican leader in the Lowcountry after the Civil War; and a special exhibit, “They Came to Beaufort….Three Women of the Civil War,” featuring the inter-connected stories of Clara Barton, Susie King Taylor and Frances Dana Barker Gage (runs March 1 - March 31, 2016). $10 per person, children and teenagers free.

Heritage Tourism

Beaufort County is visited by millions of people each year and those visits have considerable impact in our government and business pocketbooks, on the environment, and on our infrastructure needs and use.

According to The Economic Impact of Travel on South Carolina Counties 2011: A Study Prepared for the South Carolina  Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism by the U.S. Travel Association Washington, D.C., August 2012, Beaufort County ranks third in South Carolina, earning $1.0 billion in domestic travel expenditures. These expenditures generated $197.5 million in payroll as well as 11,900 jobs within the county. See http://www.scprt.com/our-partners/tourismstatistics/researchreports.aspx to download this - and other tourism related - reports. 

Some of those tourist dollars derive from heritage tourists. The National Trust’s definition of cultural heritage tourism is “traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes historic, cultural and natural resources."

We are blessed in Beaufort County to have museums, architectural treasures, historic sites, library collections and archives that share Beaufort's past with interested visitors.  Too often we do not experience the full range of the depth, breadth, and scope of the places in which we live.  I am as guilty as everyone else about neglecting to read the Historic Markers along the roads.  Do you take advantage of the cultural heritage resources available here? Do you take folks to the Parris Island, Coastal Discovery, Heyward or John Mark Verdier museums?  Do you ride out to Old Sheldon Church to look at the ruins of the Prince William's Parish church and cemetery?  Have you gone to Fort Howell?  Have you stopped by the restored old schoolhouse near Sun City?  If you have done any of these activities, then you have behaved like a heritage tourist. 

To see what the average "heritage tourist" looks like demographically speaking, visit http://www.culturalheritagetourism.org/resources/visitorProfile.htm.

Of course, one can be a "heritage tourist" and not "fit" the demographics.  I most certainly am a heritage tourist, and I don't "fit" all the criteria uncovered in the demographics.