Spartanburg Historical Association Roundup – Hub City Railroad Museum – Seay House
Sign up for our South Carolina Genealogy newsletter:
I’ve got a few news items from the Spartanburg Historical Association Roundup over the last few days. First off, the Hub City Railroad Museum seems to be a big hit!
The Hub City Railroad Museum opened this past Saturday and was a big hit! They will continue to be open on Wednesdays from 10-2 and on Saturdays from 8-2. This is an entirely volunteer organization and they are looking for volunteers who can welcome and inform visitors to the museum. Even if you don’t know a lot about Spartanburg’s railroad and industrial history, they are ready to teach you and you will work with an experienced railroad history volunteer. The goal is to have 2 people each time the museum is open.
To volunteer or for more information, please contact Craig Myers (salrwy@me.com) or Frank Ezell (fezell@charter.net).
Even if you aren’t available to volunteer, be sure to drop in and see this exciting new museum at the Magnolia Street depot in downtown Spartanburg!
===============
The Preservation Trust of Spartanburg is seeking a new Executive Director. The application deadline is the 13th (tomorrow). More details may be available from Kristi Webb kwebb@preservespartanburg.org
===============
The Seay House will be open to the public this Saturday from 11am-5PM:
Saturday at The Seay House
May 15, 2010
11:00-5:00
Join us this Saturday at The Seay House, Spartanburg’s oldest home. Located at 106 Darby Road just off Crescent Avenue, this home showcases the dwelling of a local farmstead managed and maintained by three maiden Seay sisters in the late 1800s. Come relax for an hour or two on this historic property! Visit www.spartanburghistory.org, email seayhouse@spartanburghistory.org, or call 864-596-3501 for more information.
The Seay House is open by appointment year-round and on the 3rd Saturday of the summer months except July. Sponsors allow us to open at no charge to the public, though visitor donations help us maintain the property. Two local professors, Dr. Melissa Walker of Converse College and Dr. Charles Reback of USC Upstate, have sponsored May’s Saturday at the Seay House. The Seay House is one of 3 historic homes maintained by the Spartanburg County Historical Association.
General Information:
The Seay House is the oldest house in the city limits of Spartanburg. Although a definite construction date for the log portion has not been established, evidence indicates that it was built prior to 1850. Two of the frame additions made to the home in the late 19th century still remain. The oldest portion of the house is a typical Scots-Irish, one room, one-and-a-half story, log house. The logs are hand-hewn, and the foundation is fieldstone. The pipestem chimney, also made of fieldstone, is a style commonly found in Virginia but unusual for upstate South Carolina.
The Seay House is a modest home and reflects the kind of life that the majority of the settlers in Spartanburg County and the Carolina Backcountry lived. Interpretation at the Seay House focuses on the lives of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was a farmstead, and the three daughters of Kinsman Seay – Ruthy, Patsy, and Sarah – who lived in this house up to the times of their deaths lived a simple farm life. While today this home is largely surrounded by a modern neighborhood, when you step onto the grounds you can begin to imagine what it must have been like to live without electricity or running water, to grow and raise your own food, and to make your own clothing.
Sign up for our South Carolina Genealogy newsletter:
