#19: A Hollywood star at Greenville Little Theatre, movies filmed in SC, and a tour of Congaree Creek Civil War Battlefield
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #19 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
Welcome “gspires” “jm13travel” “cindahickman” and “wesleybanderson66” to our SC History Newsletter community! Woohoo!
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions on South Carolina history you’d like to learn more about. I’m only a click away.
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And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
3 ➳ Upcoming SC History Events
While I have curated the following 3 events below to feature in today’s newsletter, 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.
Saturday, March 2nd at 1:00 pm | Tour of Congaree Creek Civil War Battlefield | Meet in front of the Cayce Tennis Center | Cayce, SC | FREE & Open to the public to attend
“Tour the Congaree Creek Civil War battlefield! Sherman's army will have 45 firefights with Confederate forces between January 1, 1865 and the capture of Columbia on February 17. The battle at Congaree Creek will be among the 3 largest battles involving Sherman's forces during this time frame. Join us as we walk the battlefield and visit the earthworks, learn about the strategies and tactics used by both sides as Sherman marched through South Carolina on his way to Columbia. Meet on Saturday, March 2nd at 1:00 PM in front of the Cayce Tennis Center located at 1120 Fort Congaree Trail in Cayce. This free tour is nearly 2-miles long and will take about 2 hours. The tour is sponsored by the City of Cayce.”
II.
Saturday, March 2nd at 1:00 pm | “Jason Flynn: Native Plant & Organic Vegetable Gardening” | Horry County Museum, McCown Auditorium | Conway, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“The Horry County Museum presents a program by Jason Flynn on creating and caring for a multi-species beneficial garden space on March 2nd at 1 PM. With the promise of spring around the corner, now is the time to understand that gardening can provide a multi-layered experience of understanding and growth. Jason will discuss the basics of planning and caring for a native plant garden and an organic vegetable garden. Understanding how these two types of gardens can be inter-designed to benefit not only humans, but also the environment will help provide a deeper understanding of the correlations found in nature that humans are a part of.
Jason Flynn is a horticulturist at Brookgreen Gardens with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and a lifelong interest in understanding the interconnections found within the natural and manmade world. In addition to creating the South Carolina Geologic Garden at Brookgreen Gardens, he cares for the native garden, a display of plants that grow in the wild of South Carolina, with ecologically friendly practices. Jason also cares for Bethea’s Garden, an organic vegetable garden that utilizes sustainable practices, and has a strong emphasis on educating on the diversity of vegetables grown in the south and their importance to a healthy community and ecosystem.
The lecture will be held in the Museum’s McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway, SC 29526. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about programs for 2024, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.”
III.
Wednesday, March 6th, 2:30 - 3:30 pm | “Moreland Plantation and the Heyward House Connection with Katie Epps” | Coastal Discovery Museum | Hilton Head Island, SC | TICKETS: $7 per person
“The history of Moreland Plantation reaches beyond the boundaries of Palmetto Bluff to historic Bluffton. Join Palmetto Bluff Conservancy’s Assistant Archaeologist, Katie Epps, as she shares the history of the Corley and Cole families of Moreland Plantation, the enslaved families who worked at Moreland and who reside at The Landings Cemetery, and the connection shared with the Heyward House in Old Town Bluffton.”
2 ➳ SC History Fun Facts
I.
Did you know that Academy Award-winning actress Joanne Woodward (also wife of Paul Newman) spent her high school years in Greenville, SC?
Joanne Woodward’s family was originally from Georgia, but moved to Greenville when Woodward was a junior in high school. She attended Greenville High School and also performed at Greenville Theatre (then called Greenville’s Little Theatre). Before Greenville Theatre was in its current location on the city’s Heritage Green, the company performed plays at the Greenville High School Auditorium. This is where Joanne Woodward was discovered by Robert McLane, head of Speech, Art, and Drama. In 1946, McLane directed a show called I Remember Mama, which featured a young Joanne Woodward. A local critic wrote of her performance: "I don't know what Joanne Woodward's artistic ambitions are, but she is a born actress."
Indeed, Joanne Woodward’s star rose quickly in the “Golden Age of Hollywood.” She astounded audiences in the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve where she played the role of a woman with 3 distinct personalities — “a southern housewife, a sexually voracious ‘bad girl’, and a normal young woman.” Woodward’s performance in the film earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. See film poster below!
Joanne Woodward had won her Academy Award and was at the height of her fame when her old drama teacher at Greenville High School (now full-time director of the Greenville Theatre), Bob McLane, convinced her to return to Greenville to play Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie. The production “was a huge hit for the theatre and proved integral in retiring the debt on the 9-year-old building.” Click here for a video of Joanne Woodward discussing her return to the Greenville Little Theatre. And below is a photo of Woodward returning to Greenville — to much fanfare! In some news articles I’ve seen, they call Woodward “Greenville’s gift to the Golden Screen."
What famous movies have been filmed in South Carolina?
After writing about Joanne Woodward above, I’m in a bit of a Hollywood mood and wanted to research which famous movies that have been filmed here in South Carolina. Here’s a curated list of some of the top movies I found!
Forrest Gump (1993) - Filmed in Beaufort, Colleton, and Hampton, South Carolina.
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) - Filmed in Berkeley, Charleston, and Colleton Counties in South Carolina
The Legend of Bagger Vance (1999) - Filmed in Beaufort and Charleston, South Carolina.
The Patriot (2000) - (We covered this in the newsletter a few days ago!) Shot entirely on location in South Carolina, including locations in Charleston, Rock Hill and Lowrys, SC, as well as nearby Fort Lawn. Other scenes were “filmed at Mansfield Plantation, an antebellum rice plantation in Georgetown, Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Cistern Yard on the campus of College of Charleston, and Hightower Hall and Homestead House at Brattonsville, South Carolina, along with the grounds of the Brattonsville Plantation in McConnells, South Carolina.”
Cold Mountain (2002) - Filmed in Berkeley, Charleston, and Edisto Island, South Carolina
The Haunted Mansion (2003) - Filmed in Beaufort, South Carolina
The Notebook (2004) - Filmed in Charleston
Steve Martin & Martin Short’s Comedy Special: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018) - Filmed at Greenville’s Peace Center
1 ➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
I.
“We left Georgia. My mother felt she could not live there as an unmarried woman in those days. It was shocking, so we moved to Greenville, South Carolina. "
— Joanne Woodward, Academy Award-winning actress and alumna of Greenville High School and Greenville Little Theatre
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
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