#9: A concert at Woodrow Wilson's childhood home, eating historically-ground oatmeal, and ancient rock art
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #10 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
I’d like to welcome “dclinch38” and “haflingergirl” to our community! I’m so grateful you all decided to subscribe.
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions for future newsletters. I’m only a click away. Additionally, please join us & keep the conversation going by becoming a member of our SC History Newsletter Facebook Community here! I can’t wait to meet you.
And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
3 ➳ Upcoming SC History Events
To celebrate Black History Month, each newsletter in February highlights one Black History focused event. The Black History events will be listed first below.
While I have curated the following 3 events below to feature in today, please click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the events I have featured in the newsletter to date, as well as others I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the list! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
I.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHT: Wednesday, February 28th, at 4:00 pm | “Keeping the Peace in Reconstruction Era South Carolina” by Nathan Betcher | Edisto Island Library, Edisto Island, SC | FREE & Open to the public
II.
Saturday, March 2nd at 2:00 pm | “Author Talk with Lindy Keane Carter” | Baxter-Patrick James Island Library | Charleston, SC | FREE & open to the public
“Author Lindy Carter reads from her historical novel, The Ricebirds, the sweeping saga of two sisters immigrating from Ireland to Charleston in 1849. Lindy will also discuss the history of Irish immigrants in Charleston.”
III.
Thursday, April 4th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm | “Concert in the Gardens with the South Carolina Philharmonic” | Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home | Columbia, SC | Tickets (in-person): $20 per person
“Performers from the South Carolina Philharmonic will join Historic Columbia to present a beautiful concert of light classics in the gardens at The Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home. Please plan to arrive any time after 6:00 p.m. The concert will begin at 7:00 p.m. and last an hour. Bring your own blanket or chairs, and pack a picnic if you'd like (alcohol is permitted). No food or beverage vendors will be on site. Tickets are required and space is limited. Please note that this event is for those 21 & over. The Museum of Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home is located at 1705 Hampton Street. Please enter the venue via Henderson Street. In the event of inclement weather, this concert will be moved indoors to the Boyd Horticultural Center greenhouse on the grounds of the Hampton-Preston Mansion (1615 Blanding Street, 3 blocks away).”
2 ➳ SC History Fun Facts
Yesterday, my family took a fun visit to the Hagood Mill Historic Site in Pickens, SC (note their website is currently down, so I’ve linked to Trip Advisor above) and it did not disappoint. Between the historic mill (still in operation), working blacksmith forge, historic cabins, live chickens (and a sleepy black cat), live history demonstrations & musical entertainment, and more, I highly recommend it as a fun historical day trip. Here are some fun facts we learned as a family:
I.
Did you know that in 2003 at the Hagood Mill Historic site, an archaeologist found ancient petroglyphs (rock art) buried underneath an old road from the 1820s?
That’s right! The petroglyphs were discovered on a large, sloping granite rock, just a stone’s throw from the Hagood Mill site — by Michael Bramlett, a volunteer with the South Carolina Petroglyph Survey, headed by archaeologist Tommy Charles. The petroglyphs were obstructed by an old road dating back to the 1820s, so Bramlett and Charles received permission from Pickens County to excavate the covered portion of the rock. What they found are the best (and most accessible to the public) petroglyphs in the state of South Carolina! There are 32 rock art carvings (including 17 human figures) that are now housed within a barn-museum. Visitors can observe the petroglyphs within the museum, which offers an interactive light show that illuminates the petroglyphs and takes the visitor back in time. My family and I had no idea what to expect when the museum volunteer said, “Would you like to come see the show?” I simply through it was going to be a video of the discovery. Little did we know that we were actually looking at the rock face itself, which was covered in the ancient rock art. The image below of the figures, known affectionally as the “refrigerator people,” really ignited my imagination. Archaeologist Tommy Charles narrates the museum’s light show, and he believes that the figures shown are in rectangular dwellings. But we can’t know for sure. Per Tommy Charles, there is more mystery than fact to these figures. I, myself, wondered if the figures were within larger figures, as if to suggest pregnancy. Or perhaps, this is an alien encounter (ha)? What do you think they could mean?
Learn more about the discovery of the petroglyphs through this YouTube video below:
II.
Did you know that you can buy corn grits, corn meal, rolled oats, whole wheat flour, and more that has been ground in the historic method at the water-powered Hagood Mill, built in 1845 and still operating?
Yes indeed! We came home yesterday with rolled oats, white corn meal, and yellow grits to cook with (see photo below). This afternoon I made oatmeal with the historically-ground rolled oats and it was delicious! It was exciting to eat the oatmeal knowing that I had just visited the very mill where it was ground. In fact, mills have existed at the Hagood site since the 1790s, and the mill we know today was built in 1845 by James Hagood. During the mill’s “heyday,” the mill had a neighboring store (no longer exists) and was a gathering place for the community. The mill is an unpainted wooden structure with hand-hewn logs covered in clapboard siding. The mill’s water wheel is 20 ft in diameter (really impressive in person!) and the two granite millstones weigh approximately 1,600 pounds each.
And here is a fun video that takes you inside the mill - well worth a visit!
1 ➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
Since I purchased grits yesterday on my adventure to Hagood Mill, I thought it would be fun to feature a quote about the dish. Little did I know, I would find a government bill…
I.
“TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 1-1-703 SO AS TO RECOGNIZE GRITS AS THE OFFICIAL FOOD OF THE STATE.
Whereas, throughout its history, the South has "relished its grits", making them "a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality"; and
Whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grist mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its products; and
Whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and
Whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if, as The Charleston News and Courier proclaimed in 1952: "An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace". Now, therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 1-1-703. The official state food is grits.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.”
— South Carolina Genera Assembly, 113th Session 1999-2000, thereby making grits South Carolina’s State Food
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
View Fascinating Ancient Rock Carvings in the Upstate’s South Carolina Petroglyph Site
Bill to recognize Grits as South Carolina’s official state food
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