Fairfield County Museum News

Fairfield County
Museum News
Spring, 2011
ONE STEP AHEAD AFTER TWO STEPS BACK
Last summer, the Museum suffered a catastrophic crushing of the 250 year-old McCreight log
barn by a falling pecan tree. The structure represented four years of volunteer labor in moving
it log-by-log from its endangered site and reconstructing it behind the museum. The barn had
been in an almost-finished state, and this was a
blow to all of the volunteers who had put so
much effort into this project. Antique farm
equipment and implements were all stored in
various locations awaiting the completion of the
barn as an integral part of the museum programs.
Fairfield County Council’s insurance coverage
allowed the hiring of professionals to reconstruct
the barn to its previous state when the ill winds
blew. All of the roof structure was crushed,
along with some of the top logs on the walls
being reduced to “lighter-wood” splinters. Removing the crumpled tin and broken materials
revealed that even though the lower logs remained in place, some of them suffered splits
and dismemberment. The driving fall of the
large tree even crushed one of the stone corner
piers, which had been brought over from the
McCreight property as original foundation stones.
Inside this issue:
July, 2010
One Step
1
Bob Curlee
2
Happenings
2
Sam Joyner
2
Community Events 3
Membership
3
Genealogy
4
Annual Meeting 5&6
Membership Form 6
Replacements from Waxhaws, NC
An agreement in trade with the Museum of the
Waxhaws in Waxhaw, NC brought us a load of
antique logs that they had salvaged some years
ago when building a replica of Andrew Jackson’s
birthplace. Director Scott Farb has accepted the
trade of some steel and Plexiglas display booths
that we had bought from the SC State Museum
some years ago.
The barn is now ready for volunteers to begin
the finishing work to enclose the front gable end,
erect enclosures for the side shed rooms, construct the rear attachment which will eventually
house our portable cotton gin, and relocate the
early farm sled, cotton wagon, and other early
farm implements now in storage. If you are
interested in helping on this project, please contact the museum.
Starting over
“To educate citizens and
visitors about the
heritage of Fairfield
County.”
The accompanying pictures show the sequence
of work.
-Mission Statement
Almost finished!
Winter, 2010
Page 2
church’s back property to recruit investors
for promoting the modern gas stations. All
went well until April of 1938, when the nation began experiencing a year-long recession that, like the situation of our own present time, saw a devastating rise in unemployment and the end of many business
ventures such as the Workman project.
AWARD FOR TALENT IN WINNSBORO:
BOB CURLEE ON THE JAMES WORKMAN
STORY
Have you ever noticed three unusual large
concrete pedestals standing behind Sion
Presbyterian Church on Washington Street?
When I was growing up, we children called
them the “mushrooms” for their resemblance to toadstools. There was a tradition
that the larger one was built just after the
Great Depression as a prototype for a
“modern” automobile service station. The
supporting “stem” for this was a decent
sized round room, surrounded by arches.
The interesting history of the structures was
published in the Herald-Independent newspaper the 1980s by Sharon and Mike Avery.
By the time this article is printed, you may
have seen a new video about these curiosities being aired on Winnsboro’s Cable TV
station 4 and regional station 39. This production has just received notice of the 2011
Award of Merit with the Confederation of
South Carolina Local Historical Societies. The video was created by Mr. Bob
Curlee, our town’s original “Mr. Scientist”
growing up in the 1950s and 60s with an
insatiable interest in technology and media.
As a 10 year-old, he became a licensed HAM
radio amateur. From 1967 to1969 he was a
member of the U.S Army Signal Corps and
in the 1960s & 1970s he was a musician
and sound engineer in various dance bands.
Later, he established and operated
"Strawberry Jamm", a music recording
studio and was a lighting director for South
Carolina ETV Network. Bob recently retired from 8 years as a contract media production specialist with Midlands Technical
College, and has for a number of years
worked as a free-lance video producer for
Curlee Productions. Bob will also be installed on April 28 as a new Fairfield County
Historical Society board member.
In the 1980s the unusual reinforced concrete structures behind the church were
featured in the newspaper article by Mike
and Sharon Avery. The topic was picked up
and described for State newspaper readers
by Winnsboro resident and columnist, Bill
McDonald. The story involves young architect James Minor Workman who married
Mary, daughter of Sion Presbyterian’s pastor Rev. Dr. George Gregg Mayes. Mr.
Workman constructed several versions of
his experimental architecture on the
A few years ago, Mary Mayes Workman’s
cousin Betty Harden delivered to the museum a large metal canister containing the
original 8 mm. footage of a promotional
film showing the 1938 construction of the
concrete “mushrooms.” It had been kept in
the attic of the architect’s son, Jim Workman, and the old cellulose acetate had yellowed and curled, reeking a vinegar-like
smell that indicated its disintegration. A
museum volunteer expressed an interest in
trying to reshoot the images in modern
video technology by spooling the film
through a hand-wound film editor/viewer.
The resulting video was very hard to watch
as whole sections of the original images
curled and darkened, the heat of the projector bulb melting segments of footage
while it was being filmed. Bob has pre-
The filling station prototype constructed
behind the church.
served still images from this old footage in
the new six-minute video.
Young Jim Workman appears in the original
footage as a nine-year-old model demonstrating the different functions and uses for
the filling stations. Jim spent part of his
childhood in Winnsboro and died in Atlanta,
an octogenarian, just last month. Betty
Harden notes that her cousin never got to
see the Curlee video, but its release in his
memory should be timely in preserving for
future generations this interesting facet of
our cultural heritage.
Remember to tune in to our local cable
channels to see the video soon. The video
will be awarded the 2011 Award of Merit
by the Confederation of South Carolina
Local Historical Societies later this
month and copies are now on file at the
USC film library, Fairfield County Library,
and the Museum. To purchase your own
copies, please contact Bob or Pat at (803)
635-4394.
MUSEUM HAPPENINGS AND ADDITIONS:
The Museum saw record attendance on
Dec. 12, 2010 at our annual Christmas
Open House Reception. Many folks had
perhaps read of the historical society’s recent gift of the Catharine Ladd Endowment
and the resulting refurbishment of the
downstairs parlor, dining room, and study.
In past weeks, the reupholstered Rabb sofa
and the new window treatments in the parlor and dining room have appeared. If you
haven’t seen it, you may have noted in
local press coverage where several community groups have used the Museum as a
chosen backdrop for photographs and television coverage. Recently J. R. Berry of
News 19, WLTX - TV interviewed Winnsboro’s interesting personality Charles Shults
in our parlor for a special production. This
will be aired on April 28.
EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT
This April, Sam Joyner, son of Mr. and Mrs.
James Joyner, is working on his Eagle
Scout project to clean up the Means family
cemetery on Ashford Ferry Road. This is
probably one of our most important historical sites and has long suffered neglect and
the theft of a beautiful iron fence that stood
on the granite wall enclosing the cemetery.
Now large fallen trees and undermining
roots have nearly destroyed what is left of
this beautiful resting place.
In 1983 the Fairfield County Historical Society dedicated a historic highway marker to
mark the cemetery’s location. Members of
the Means family were on hand to celebrate
the event. Buried there in an unmarked
grave is Fairfield County’s only native born
state governor, John Hugh Means, who was
killed at the Second Battle of Manassas in
1862. He had been Governor of SC from
1850 – 52 (terms of the office were then
for two years), president of the 1852 Secession Convention, signer of the Ordinance
of Secession in 1860, and had served as a
colonel in the 17th SC Regiment. As there is
no tombstone there, there had been some
belief previously that he had been buried in
another locale: It was thought that perhaps
the family had been afraid his grave would
be vandalized by invading Union troops if
buried with his family. However, Mrs.
Sharon Avery, historian at the SC Department of Archives and History, preparing the
research for the permanent historical
marker, concluded that he was indeed buried in Fairfield County next to his family
members.
Some years afterward members of the
Means family contacted the historical society board with a request for help in having
the vandalized cemetery cleaned up. A
donation of family funds was sent and several of us spent a Saturday chain sawing
Winter, 2010
Page 3
and cleaning out vines, etc. Since that
time, the ravages of time and rough
weather have taken their toll again.
Sam’s project involves managing a crew of
volunteers on April 2 who will safely reset
and clean the tombstones with soft brushes
and water, removing fallen trees and debris
from the 200’ by 450’ site. A local farmer
has committed to mow the surrounding
saplings and thickets to improve access to
the historic site. The Gen. John Bratton
Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
and the Fairfield County Historical Society
are donating some funds for materials,
although Sam is still looking for donations
to help with his project. Interested donors
or volunteers should contact Jimmy Joyner
at [email protected] or 803-635-1582.
Sam hopes to receive his Eagle Scout
medal before his father Jimmy leaves early
this summer for an contract assignment in
Afghanistan.
MARCH 31 – APRIL 7: FOLLOW THE
BLOOMS:
This Spring The Garden Club of South Carolina, Inc. presents the inaugural Follow
the Blooms statewide garden tour. From
May 14-22 visitors will step through garden
gates of some of South Carolina’s most
beautiful private gardens. Locations will be
featured from the Low Country to the Foothills in such places as Camden, Marion,
Columbia, North Auggusta, Greenville, Fort Motte, St. Matthews,
Woodruff, Sumter, Winnsboro, and
Enoree. Many of these gardens, open to
the public for the very first time, have family folklore spanning the 17th through the
21st centuries.
On Thursday, May 19, Winnsboro’s garden
sites to be featured will be these homes:
James M. Lyles, Jr, 301 Garden St.
The Oaks Plantation, c 1835, Sidney
and Carol Cook, 6169 State Highway #213
Edna Ruff, 307 W. Liberty St.
Kitty and Alex Rabb, 402 Hudson St.
St. John’s Episcopal Church yard, 201
S. Garden St
Lyles-Inabinet Gardens, 34 Breaker Lane,
Ridgeway.
THE COMMUNITY AWAKENS
TO SPRING:
APRIL 2, 2011: FAIRFIELD COUNTY
PEOPLE’S CHOICE ART CONTEST AND
GALLERY NIGHT EVENT
The Fairfield County People’s Choice
Art Contest and Gallery Night Event will
be held on Saturday, April 2 at 7:00pm at
the Winnsboro Woman’s Club Building on
Vanderhorst Street, Winnsboro, SC. Light
refreshments will be served. Entries are
open to the public and voted on by ticket
holders for the Gallery Night event. Winning
entries will be displayed afterwards at the
Fairfield County Museum and other community locales.
The contest is sponsored by the Winnsboro
Woman’s Club, the Fairfield County Arts
Council, the Herald Independent Newspaper, the Fairfield County Museum, and the
Arts on the Ridge festival. Tickets are
$10.00 each and available at 803-422-3524
or contact [email protected].
For more information, please contact us
at [email protected].
Tickets for $50 can be purchased by sending your name, address, email address, and
check to Follow the Blooms, PO Box
2124, Camden, SC 29020.
MAY 6 – 7: ARTS, ARTIFACTS, AND ARCHITECTURE:
Arts, Artifacts, and Architecture is the
theme for Ridgeway’s annual Arts on the
Ridge event on May 6 and 7. A walking
tour, If these Buildings and Homes
could Talk, scheduled for Friday evening,
will setout from the Century House as an
entertaining guided tour of the historic
homes and buildings of Ridgeway. At 6 PM,
the public is invited to a Gala Celebration
at the Century House in Ridgeway to
meet the artists and cast their votes for the
People’s Choice Awards. The Fairfield
County Arts Council will be presenting their
annual Friend of the Arts Award during
the gala. The art preview/sale will be sponsored by Fairfield Arts Council.
Saturdays festival will be from 10 AM to 4
PM and includes the art show, an exhibit of
historical photographs and artifacts in the
Century House, sales of art and handmade
crafts in the Cotton Yard, and the bus tour,
Plantations and Pews leaves at 9 AM and
1 PM. Self-guided architectural walking
tours will be featured along with vendor
booths, craft demonstrations, musical entertainment, local merchant specials, and
author/book signings. Carriage Ride Architectural Tours (fees to ride) are scheduled between 10 AM and 3 PM leaving from
the Cotton Yard. Sponsors for this year’s
events are the Town of Ridgeway, First Citizens’ Bank and Trust Company, and the
Fairfield County Arts Council.
For additional information and tickets, call
Virginia Lacy, Chair of the Historical/Cultural
Committee at 803-337-3269 or the Ridgeway Town Hall at 337-2213. Advance tickets are needed for the tours. Interested
artists and craftsmen should also contact
Virginia as soon as possible.
MEMBERSHIP INCREASES:
Society members Brenda Miller and Katherine Doty have been working on updating
our membership files and database. At last
count, it appears our mailing list is composed of about 350 people. Interestingly,
we have members from several other states
such as Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North
Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, DC. We
also have members from many towns in
South Carolina. Also, the Museum has recently been the recipient of some very nice
donations and a memorial for Mr. Quay
McMaster.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE GENEALOGY
ROOM?
The genealogy room is in need of volunteers
willing to learn about the use of the documents, digital data, and published histories
available in the genealogical collection.
Many visitors are now coming to the museum to research, including visitors from
places across the continent and some faraway places such as Ireland, England, and
Germany.
Presently, the genealogy room is staffed at
different times by Nancy Brown of West
Columbia, Dale Connor, Sarah Smith, Jesse
Harris, Shelbia Trotter, Shamieka Johnson,
and Bonnie Myers. Volunteer slots are
needed for several hours to several days
each week, depending on how much time
can be given. Please contact Pelham at the
Museum if you can help. The work is fascinating and addictive.
APRIL 28, ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
FAIRFIELD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AT HONEYSUCKLE ACRES.
See information on the next pages.
Page 4
To Members of the Fairfield County Historical Society:
The Society and the Friends of the Museum have merged into one organization for primary support of the
Museum and its events. As of January, your membership renewals are due for the calendar year of 2011. If
you have already renewed since September, 2010 , consider your membership current until next year.
The Society has been very involved this past year with activities including an October ceremony for the
announcement of the deeding of the museum back yard lot to the County Museum and the establishment of
the Catharine Ladd Endowment Fund to benefit the interior of the building. On December 12 there was
record attendance at the traditional Christmas Open House with a variety of musical presentations. Also,
during the summer, the genealogical research collection was returned to the second floor of the Museum,
providing an active research facility for public use. The board meets on a monthly basis and if you have any
concerns that you would like to address, we welcome hearing from you.
On the opposite page, see information about the 2011 annual meeting to be held on Apr. 28 at Honeysuckle Inn. Please use the forms below for making your reservations and for your 2011 membership renewal.
______________________________________________________________
Detach and mail with your reservation before April 24 to: Pam Laird, 202 W. High St., Winnsboro, SC 29180
Name(s)____________________________________________________________________
Address________________________________City, State, Zip_______________________
Phone _____________________Email________________________________
Tickets: Number_____ X Ticket Price $25 = $___________Ck#____________
Membership Renewal:
Send or deliver to the Museum at PO Box 6, Winnsboro, 29180.
Name(s)______________________________________Today’s date_____________________
Address________________________________City, State, Zip_______________________
Phone _____________________Email________________________________
Individual Membership ($15)____ Family ($20)_____Corporate ($125)_____
Detach and mail your renewal to: Fairfield County Historical Society, PO Box 6, Winnsboro, SC 29180
“To identify and document historic
properties and sites within the
county.”
-Mission Statement
Fairfield County Historical Society
Page 5
Annual Meeting
Thursday, April 28, 2011
2 pm – 5 pm : Tour the Cathcart-Ketchin House Museum,231 South Congress St.,
Winnsboro, SC
6:30 pm: Reception, Awards, and Book presentation/signings
Honeysuckle Acres, 70 Honeysuckle Lane, Winnsboro SC
Wine, Punch, and Heavy Hors d’oevres
William Banks Patrick & Museum Volunteer Awards
Book Presentations and Signings- New Releases on Two Sons of Fairfield County
Faith, Valor, and Devotion: The Civil War Letters of William Porcher DuBose
W. Eric Emerson PhD, Director SC Department of Archives and History
A native of Winnsboro, South Carolina, William Porcher DuBose (1836–1918) was studying to enter the Episcopal priesthood when the war began. He was a Confederate officer in the Holcombe Legion and later a dedicated chaplain in Kershaw's
Brigade. Published for the first time, these previously unknown letters of DuBose chronicle his Civil War actions with these
two celebrated South Carolina units and make an important contribution to the literature and history of the war. They also
advance our understanding of DuBose's burgeoning religious ideals as a Civil War combatant who would later become one of
the foremost theologians of the Episcopal Church and a distinguished professor at the University of the South.
Adroitly edited by W. Eric Emerson and Karen Stokes, archivist with the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston,
the more than 150 letters collected here prove DuBose to be a man of uncompromising duty to his faith, fellows, and the Confederate cause. Also included here are DuBose's wartime courtship letters to his fiancée and later wife, Anne Peronneau
DuBose. Collectively these extraordinary documents illustrate the workings of a mind and heart devoted to his religion and
dedicated to service in the Confederate ranks.
The Heart of the Race Problem: The Life of Kelly Miller
Ida E. Jones PhD, Adjunct Faculty Member, Department of History, Howard University
Born near Winnsboro in July 1863 six months after the Emancipation Proclamation, Kelly Miller was a renowned educator,
author, lecturer, and columnist who sought to raise the moral consciousness and cooperative action of African American leadership. Miller, the first African American admitted to the Johns Hopkins University in 1889 to pursue a doctorate in mathematics, physics and astronomy, shifted his focus to the race problem in the mid-1890s to strengthen the African American community. Ida E. Jones examines Miller’s life in a triangulated scope: the private, the public and the polemic. Miller’s public and
polemic opinions are known; however, his private life has been shrouded in mystery until this work. Jones’s tripartite theory is
placed within the biblical context of a daysman. The daysman served as an Old Testament mediator seeking to reconcile disparate opinions. Jones believes that Miller’s entire life sought to harmonize divergent ideas and ideologies. Miller wrote: “It is not
sufficient for the leaders of the Negro race to rely upon denunciation of others, however deserved…there is also need of the
severe moral castigation…righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Supplies of both books will be on hand for purchasing and signing by the authors.
Fairfield County
Museum
231 S. Congress St.
POB 6
Winnsboro, SC, 29180
Phone: 803-635-9811
http://fairfieldsc.com/secondary.aspx?pageID=125
E-mail: [email protected]
Genealogy Research:
[email protected]
What on earth????...In Winnsboro???
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