South Carolina Genealogy

Received this reminder via email:

The next meeting of the Spartanburg History Hub is scheduled for Thursday, May 27, 7:00 pm at 234 S. Spring Street, Spartanburg, behind the main post office. (This is one of the Preservation Trust’s renovated Hampton Heights homes and you can wander through it.) Parking is limited at the house, but you can park behind the National Beta Club office/Southside Baptist Church back lot a block or so down the street. If you have questions, feel free to call or email me.

There is no charge for attending meetings of the Spartanburg History Hub and we’ll wrap up promptly at 8:00 pm. There will be the opportunity for introductions and brief announcements. Feel free to bring fliers or brochures so you can give a short announcement and interested parties can pick up the detailed information afterward. Jack Parker will be with us from Camden to talk about and autograph his new book, Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina (http://www.screvwarguide.com/). Special thanks to members Bob & Christine Swager for luring him to Spartanburg by offering accommodations at their “B&B!”

Each of us involved with history has a unique set of skills, experiences, and resources related to preserving and promoting history. If we combine our strengths, we will take Spartanburg County’s history community to the next level which will benefit us as well as our communities at large. This Hub is designed to bring people and organizations with a commitment to Spartanburg County history together to share what they’re doing, hear what others are doing, and facilitate learning and collaboration. The Hub won’t work if you don’t come!

Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think may be interested or send me their contact information and I will send an invitation. Also, please let me know at any time if you would prefer not to receive Hub emails.

I look forward to seeing you on the 27th!

Sincerely,
Becky Slayton, Executive Director
Spartanburg County Historical Association, 864-278-9664

Spartanburg County Library, Barrett Room
May 24@7PM

Received the following invitation and wanted to pass it along:

Plan to bring your friends and join us this coming Monday evening, May 24, for an early performance of this year’s Chautauqua Spartanburg, as Caroline McIntyre portrays Mary Ingles at the Spartanburg County Library. Leading off our second year of Chautauqua in Spartanburg, this event will give you a glimpse of what Chautauqua is all about as we eagerly anticipate the 2010 schedule, which will take place June 18, 19, 21 and 22 (see attached schedule). All performances are FREE.

At the Monday performance, you will meet Mary Draper Ingles, a Southwest Virginia Frontierswoman (portrayed in James Thom’s book, Follow the River) captured by Shawnee Indians during the French and Indian War. Through the magic of Chautauqua we are transported back in time to 1755 to meet the real Mary Draper Ingles and learn from her the courage it takes to survive in the wilderness. Mary will start by telling us her story of the Massacre at Drapers Meadows, her escape from the Shawnee and eventual return home. Please take a few moments and look over the attachments with this email.

CHAUTAUQUA (pronounced Shuh – TALK – wa) is interactive theater presenting: History that just won’t stay in a book. The June Chautauqua programs will follow the theme – American Imagination and offer four nights other historic figures like Thomas Edison on June 18, Benjamin Franklin on June 19, Dr. Seuss on June 21 and Langston Hughes on June 22 as each comes to Spartanburg to talk with us.

We hope you will join us next Monday and for the summer programs.

Questions: Call Charlie Gray at 864-641-8378 or 864-597-4186.

The Spartanburg Downtown Airport will be the topic of discussion at Lunch & Learn Spartanburg on Friday, May 21, 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Spartanburg Regional History Museum at the Chapman Cultural Center. The speaker will be Maj. Gen. Darwin H. Simpson, Director of the Spartanburg Downtown Airport, which recently broke ground on a $4.5 million renovation project. The Spartanburg Downtown Airport was South Carolina’s first airport. This will be the first facelift for the facility in its 75-year history. Attendance is only $5, and you are welcome to bring your lunch. The meeting will be in the first-floor conference of the Moseley Building at the Chapman Cultural Center. It is being presented by the Spartanburg County Historical Association. For more information or reserve seating, please call 596-3501 or email njefferies@spartanburghistory.org.

For those of you in the Upstate….

The next meeting of the Spartanburg History Hub is scheduled for Thursday, May 27, 7:00 pm at 234 S. Spring Street, Spartanburg, behind the main post office. (This is one of the Preservation Trust’s renovated Hampton Heights homes and you can wander through it.) There is no charge for attending meetings of the Spartanburg History Hub and we’ll wrap up promptly at 8:00 pm. There will be the opportunity for introductions and brief announcements. Feel free to bring fliers or brochures so you can give a short announcement and interested parties can pick up the detailed information afterward. Jack Parker will be with us from Camden to talk about and autograph his new book, Parker’s Guide to the Revolutionary War in South Carolina (http://www.screvwarguide.com/). Special thanks to members Bob & Christine Swager for luring him to Spartanburg by offering accommodations at their “B&B!”

Each of us involved with history has a unique set of skills, experiences, and resources related to preserving and promoting history. If we combine our strengths, we will take Spartanburg County’s history community to the next level which will benefit us as well as our communities at large. This Hub is designed to bring people and organizations with a commitment to Spartanburg County history together to share what they’re doing, hear what others are doing, and facilitate learning and collaboration. The Hub won’t work if you don’t come!

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.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Lauren Ponder, Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau
864-594-5051-phone, 864-594-5052-fax, lponder@visitspartanburg.com www.visitspartanburg.com

Hub City Railroad Museum Grand Opening.
Spartanburg, SC, April 19th, 2010 – The Hub City Railroad Museum is planning its Grand Opening for Saturday, May 1st. Kicking off National Transportation Week, the grand opening will be from 8am through 4pm in and around the Magnolia Street Train Station (298 Magnolia St.) where the museum is housed.
Activities include tour rides every hour and a half running at 8:30am, 10am, 11:30am and 1pm that will take you on the Main Street Trolley through the City of Spartanburg detailing the historical spots that made Spartanburg known as the Hub City. Trolley tours will be $5 per person with all proceeds going back to the museum and are first come first served.

A videographer will also be on staff between the hours of Noon and 2pm to create a living history of the rails in Spartanburg County in hopes of showing the final piece inside the museum once it has been compiled.

Lil’ Pigs BBQ will provide lunch with 20% of the earnings going back to the museum as well.

Classic cars and trucks and possible orchard tractors will be displayed to show machinery from a specific time period and how things were transported from the trains once delivered.

Donations will be accepted as there will be no charge to enter the museum. Small gift shop items will also be available. The Museum’s normal hours will be Saturdays 8am – 2pm and Wednesdays 10am – 2pm with group tours by appointment.

The Hub City Railroad Museum is a collaborative effort between the Spartanburg Convention & Visitors Bureau, the National Railway Historical Society and the Spartanburg County Historical Association.

Once again – I wanted to pass this along for the Spartanburg County Historical Association:

Don’t miss this Friday’s Lunch & Learn Speaker Series. Dr. Tracy Revels of Wofford College presents “The Cult of True Womanhood” discussing the 19th Century ideal which American women aspired to achieve. BYOL (that’s bring your own lunch) and be ready to discuss how modern media influence our understanding of gender roles today.

Lunch & Learn is from 12:30-1:30 in the 1st floor Conference Room in the Moseley Building of the Chapman Cultural Center. That’s the same building as the History Museum and Art Museum. $5 at the door. Contact Nannie Jefferies at 864-596-3501 or njefferies@spartanburghistory.org for more information.

The Lunch & Learn Speaker Series is organized by the Regional History Museum, one of four sites operated by the Spartanburg County Historical Association. The Association’s mission is to explore and preserve our region’s history by collecting and sharing the stories and artifacts of the people who shaped that history. We do this by engaging visitors in unique living history programs in the city and county of Spartanburg, by inspiring learners of all ages to investigate the history that begins in their own backyard at our Regional History Museum and at our three historic sites – Walnut Grove Plantation, Price House, and Seay House, and by involving the community in the preservation and promotion of our shared past through the Spartanburg History Hub – a network of people and organizations committed to Spartanburg history.

There is a great exploration of Spartanburg, SC in the Washington Post. They look at the history of the area, up to the present and explore reasons for visiting the area. Nice highlight for Spartanburg!

I received this and was asked to share…. quick summary from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 24, Walnut Grove Plantation presents “Childhood on the Plantation”.

Childhood on the Plantation Explores Children’s Lives during Peace and War in the Late 1700s

Roebuck, SC, April 15 — Living at the time of the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, children of the late 1700s, particularly in frontier areas like the South Carolina Backcountry, were directly and intimately affected by war. Boys–teenaged and younger–served in armies and militia companies in both combat and non-combat roles. Some even worked as spies. Wives and children followed their husbands and fathers to war, performed many domestic duties in army camps, and at times picked up arms in battle themselves.
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For your information – I was asked to share this….

PRESS RELEASE

Living Green at the Seay House
Saturday, April 17, 2010, 11:00 am -4:00 pm (Rain or Shine)
106 Darby Road, Spartanburg
Admission is free, but donations are welcomed.

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