Redcliffe Southern Times

REDCLIFFE PLANTATION
181 REDCLIFFE RD
BEECH ISLAND, SC 29842
(803) 827–1473
UPCOMING
EVENTS AT
REDCLIFFE.

Behind the Scenes
of Redcliffe Plantation
Sat, Jun 07 5:00 PM
$15/participant
For more information on
these programs please contact the park.
Park Staff
Redcliffe Southern Times
V O L U M E
8 ,
I S S U E
M A Y
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2 0 1 4
Museum Day! Celebrate YOUR local museum!
International Museum
Day has been celebrated
around May 18th since
1977. It is a time to
recognize the people
and places who protect
our natural and cultural
heritage; a time to celebrate cultures and diversity, art and scientific
tour. We use these objects to
tell you about the people who
used them and how they lived.
One single object can give you
multiple perspectives.
For
instance, the tin hat bath tub
that sits in one of the bedrooms can illustrate how members of the Hammond family
Park Manager
Joy Raintree
Park Interpreter
Elizabeth Laney
Park Technician
Doug Kratz
Speaking of
Sheep!
Frederica Wade
Billings kept a
“Book of Menus”
in 1938. In pencil,
she scrawled these
instructions for her
cook… “Fri. 4-15
Cook Lamb chop
for Runzy’s lunch.”
It appears that even
their Jack Russell
Terrier
was
fond of
mutton!
discovery, memories and the
objects
that hold them.
.
This year’s theme is “Museum
Collections make Connections.”
The International Council of
Museums (ICOM) chose this
theme because it “demonstrates
how museum exhibitions have
the ability not only to tell a story,
but to also engage with the community through shared memory.”
If you have ever toured Redcliffe
then you know how true that
statement is. Redcliffe has an
extensive collection of over
4,000 personal items belonging
to the Hammond family. Every
object has its own story, and
those stories reflect four generations of people that used those
objects.
At Redcliffe you are much more
likely to get a “social history”
tour than a “decorative arts”
tour. What does that mean?
Well, the objects at Redcliffe are
not solely valued for their beauty , form, maker, or use and they
are not the primary focus of the
bathed in the 19th century, but it
can also illustrate the work of the
enslaved housekeeper that had to
draw water from a well and prepare a bath for someone.
Museum Day began as a way to
ignite conversations among museum visitors, to broaden perspectives, and encourage advocacy of
our cultural institutions. We invite
you to visit us on May 18th and
share how our museum collection
has helped you to make a connection!
Join a tour at 11 am, 1, or 3 pm
WOOL & WHEELS:
Textile Production on the Plantation
When James Henry Hammond acquired Silver Bluff Plantation in 1831
there were no sheep listed in his inventory of the property. Within two
years he owned 22 sheep and by 1839 he owned over 75 sheep. A part of
the sheep’s use to the plantation was as a food source. Mutton is often
listed as an alternative to pork and beef for slave food allotments. The
sheep’s wool would have been equally as valuable as a source for yarn
and cloth to supplement factory made cloth that Hammond purchased.
continued,, p. 2
Wool & Wheels continued...
Spinning raw wool into yarn was the province of enslaved
women too pregnant to continue work in the fields. In his daily
plantation journal James Henry Hammond writes for 31 Mar
1834: “Eliza had a child born dead last night. She has done no
work out of her house & none but spinning in it & very little of
that for ten weeks.” In February of 1835 he records that “Rosa
Smith & Dido [are] spinning on account of pregnancy.”
The type of spinning wheel these women used may have been a
Great Wheel, also known as the Walking Wheel or Wool
Wheel. A woman, standing, with one hand could move the
wheel which turned the spindle while holding a piece of wool
roving in the other hand which was twisted into yarn.
Thanks to Marilyn Squier of McCormick, South Carolina Redcliffe Plantation now has a Great Wheel of
its own. Mrs. Squier recently donated the antique
spinning wheel for Redcliffe to use in the interpretation of enslaved women who lived and worked on the
Hammond plantations.
DOCUMENT OF THE MONTH
N
o, this is not a tawdry
historical romance or a
lurid liquor advertisement…
It’s a letter John Shaw
Billings, Redcliffe’s final
owner, wrote to his mother in
1931. One of many historical
letters from John S. Billings
contained in the archival
collection at Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site it is
also one of the funnier letters
written by a member of the
Hammond family.
to do with it before I reach the
U.S. prohibitia barrier Sunday
night at Seattle. If I tried to drink
it all myself F. would have a D.T.
patient on her hands. Besides, you
know how little I care for liquor
without social ceremony. I’d hate
to pour it out. Perhaps I can persuade F. to smuggle it in in her
corset.”
The Billings’ letters are some
of the only Hammond papers
that were not donated to the
University of South Carolina’s
Caroliniana Library and are
“Dear Ma… I have in my bag a housed at the state historic site.
40 oz bottle of Johnnie Walker
Whiskey which cost $6.85 and is
the finest and purest. The bottle
is 90% full. My problem: what
Do you think Frederica
Billings smuggled whiskey
into the country in 1931?