South Carolina State Museum

We had never been to this museum before so decided to make a stop. 

This museum is dedicated to the history of South Carolina and has four floors of permanent and changing exhibits.  It is the largest museum in the state, and is a Smithsonian Affiliate.  Positioned on an old shipping canal that dates back to pre-Civil War times, it is widely recognized as a resource for South Carolina history and lifestyle.  The museum opened in 1988 and is housed in what it calls its largest artifact, the former Columbia Mills Building which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.  When the mill opened in 1894, manufacturing cotton duck cloth (a canvas-like material), it was the first completely electric mill in the world.  

It was huge and our time was limited so we spent most of our time viewing Civil War era exhibits.  My 2x great grandfather served for South Carolina in the Civil War (more on that later) so I hoped I might see something about him or his military service.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen.  But we did see some interesting exhibits.

There's some history in this desk.

Few planters could afford lots of land and slaves.  Many began to develop expensive tastes.  Because South Carolina's antebellum economy was geared to cash crops, most manufactured goods came from outside the state.

Carriages were made in South Carolina, but wealthy planters often preferred Northern ones.  When John L. Manning of Sumter County wanted transportation befitting the splendor of his new home, Milford Plantation, he bought this carriage made by Collis and Lawrence in New Haven, Connecticut.

When the first State House was finished in Charleston in 1758, a chair for the royal governor was ordered from Thomas Hutchinson and Thomas Elfe, local cabinetmakers.  The governor used it when he presided over the Royal Council, the upper body of the legislature.

The chair was given to University of South Carolina library in 1856 by William C. Preston, a former U.S. Senator from South Carolina and a former president of the school.  No one knows where the chair was from 1776 to 1856 or how or when Preston got it but recent research has authenticated it.

This outhouse came from the Tabernacle Methodist Church in Spartanburg County.  It replaced an earlier outhouse in the 1940s and was removed in 1982 when plumbing was installed in the church.  The Rev. Benjamin Wofford, founder of Wofford College, worshipped at this church in the late 1700s as a youth.

The outhouse got its name from its location in regards to the main building.  At least 20 yards was a safe distance from one's house and water supply.  Bitter cold or extreme heat could make a trip to the outhouse very uncomfortable. (no kidding!)

Toilet paper was almost unheard of in the 1800s.  Efforts to introduce individual sheets of toilet paper as early as 1857 failed because it was more economical to use old newspapers, and later, large mail order catalogs.

Frederick Douglass came to South Carolina for the first time in early March, 1888.  A Black militia unit calling themselves the Douglass Light Infantry welcomed him to the city.  They escorted their namesake to Mt. Zion AME Church and presented him with this walking stock.  It is engraved with his name, their company's initials, the date, and strawberries, which is a symbol of righteousness.  The trip had a strong impact on Douglass.

This pitcher commemorated a new monument to the Washington Light Infantry's Civil War service erected in 1891.  Confederate memorials across the South celebrated wartime victories and sacrifices, but obscured the service of black soldiers and the cause of the conflict.

One exhibit really caught our attention as it related to recent history that we actually remembered.

In March, 1962 to commemorate the Civil War centennial, the South Carolina General Assembly agreed to fly a version of the Confederate Battle Flag on the dome of the Statehouse.  The House and Senate placed the flag in their chambers in 1938 and 1956 respectively.  

In the 1970s, the flags began to draw strong criticism.  Over the next 20 years, groups of supporters and protestors debated the fate of the flag.  In 2000, the General Assembly voted on a compromise.  They ordered the flags to be removed from the dome and chambers and "placed permanently on display in a suitable location in the State Museum."  The compromise also ordered the smaller, Confederate battle standard raised at the Confederate soldier monument in front of the statehouse.

Calls continued to remove the flag from statehouse grounds completely and a tragic event in Charleston brought the discussion front and center.  On June 17, 2015, a white supremacist murdered nine worshippers at "Mother" Emanuel A.M.E. Church after posting images on social media prominently displaying the Confederate flag.  In the grief that followed, Gov. Nikki Haley called for legislators to pass a bill removing the flag.  After weeks of debate, the Assembly voted to remove the flag.  

About 8,000 people gathered on statehouse grounds on July 10. 2015 to witness the South Carolina Highway Patrol Honor Guard take down the flag from behind the Confederate memorial.  They presented the flag to the South Carolina Relic Room and Military Museum where it is now on display.

There was much more to see but, unfortunately, we ran out of time.  We had more adventures in South Carolina coming up.

Columbia, South Carolina

We spent a couple of days visiting downtown Columbia and while we'd been there before, it had been years and it was a nice refresher course.

First stop was the University of South Carolina.  

 Of course it was tough to park so we really just drove through.

But we did find our way to an off campus book/fan store.

I just can't get past the name of the mascot.

In 1900, the football team was first referred to as the "Gamecocks" in reference to the fighting tactics of General Thomas Sumter, the Revolutionary War hero known as the Fighting Gamecock.  Given that garnet and black were already in use and also the dominant colors on a gamecock, the university gradually adopted "Gamecocks" and garnet/black as the official nickname and colors for its athletic teams.

We then moved on to the State House.

The old State House was constructed between 1786 and 1790.  James Hoban, a young Irishman who emigrated to Charleston shortly after the Revolution, was the architect.  He was then engaged by President Washington to design the executive mansion in Washington.  Old pictures of the two buildings show architectural similarities.  The Old State House,, which was a small wooden building just west of the current State House, was destroyed during the burning of Columbia in 1865.

Construction on the current State House began in 1855 and exterior walls were almost complete when work was suspended in 1863 during the Civil War.  In February, 1865 Union troops burned the Old State House, shelled the unfinished "new" State House, and raised the United States flag over it.

We walked around this beautiful building.

We went inside to look around.  There was some sort of media event going on.  

They seemed to be waiting for the Governor but no sign of him emerging while we were there.

I love seeing the different chambers.

House of Representatives

Senate

Meeting area

From there we headed back to the truck and saw this beautiful church along the way.

Trinity Episcopal Church, now known as Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, is the oldest surviving sanctuary in Columbia.  It is a Gothic Revival church modeled after York Minister in York, England.  It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

At various times in the history of the parish, three live oak trees were planted in the churchyard.  The Sire Oak was planted in 1841 after the first church was built.  The second was planted in 1900 after finishing the church and the third was planted in 1925 when the Parish House was finished.

The churchyard is the burial site for many noted South Carolinians - American Revolutionary War soldiers, a veteran of the War of 1812, Confederate generals, six South Carolina governors, and eight bishops.

With that we moved on to the South Carolina State Museum - coming up in my next post.

Augusta, Georgia

After leaving New Bern, we headed south for a stop in Holden Beach for a visit with a friend from high school and her husband (hi Kathy and Greg!).  Why didn't I take any pictures?  And then south with a stop in Myrtle Beach (again, no pictures) before we stopped in Columbia, South Carolina.  Our main reason for stopping there for a week was truck and RV maintenance and few points of interest.

We knew that Augusta, Georgia was only 75 miles away and since we love to watch the Master's Golf Tournament, we headed out.  We knew we would not be able to enter the course, but we were hoping we'd be able to see it from the road, see a sign, or even find a shop or two in town that catered to the golf enthusiast.  Unfortunately, we were wrong.

We first drove to the course based on our GPS and ended up here.

No, that's not the course you see but more of a buffer to shield the course from the road.

We drove around what appeared to be from GPS the course boundaries.  We saw a gate or two but no way to access any of them.

Gate 10 - we pondered moving the cones

After driving by Gate 6 several times (no cones), we decided to get bold and drive in.

As we expected, there was a gate and guards.  But we visualized each of the golfers coming in on tournament days.

So we turned around :-(

We felt like we couldn't drive all that way for a few pictures (no signs, no shops, no nothing) so we drove into historic Augusta and found a few things of interest.

The Signers Monument recognizes the state's three signers of the Declaration of Independence - George Walton, Lyman Hall, and Button Gwinnett, all of whom are considered founding fathers of the United States.

The monument, dedicated in 1848, is located at Greene and Monument Streets in front of today's Augusta Municipal Center, which at the time was the location of City Hall.  It is made from granite and measures twelve feet square at the base and tapers to a height of fifty feet.

The remains of Walton and Hall lay beneath the monument, while Gwinnett's have not been located for certain.  But we had seen a monument honoring him in Savannah last summer - you can read it HERE - and seeing these two signers was a BONUS!

We continued and came upon a beautiful church.

There was a car parked in front so I had to crop it out

In 1798, the Methodist Church was incorporated in Augusta and known as the "Augusta Station".  St. John Methodist Episcopal Church was the mother church formed out of this movement and St. James Methodist Church was created in 1854 as an outgrowth of St. John.  St. John secured the lot for the new church in 1855 and by 1856, a two-story brick building was completed at a cost of $9,661.  St. James was named in honor of Reverend James E. Evans, its founder.  In 1886, the church building was enlarged, a belfry erected, and the facade improved.

President and Mrs. Eisenhower worshipped here in 1954.

The marble monument across the street was erected by a St. James Sunday School class in memory of those who had lost their lives in the Civil War.  24 church members and 261 other Augustan's names are inscribed on the monument.  The cenotaph (new word for me - "an empty tomb or monument erected in honor of a person whose remains are lost or interred elsewhere") - was unveiled on December 31, 1873.

One last point of interest in this charming city.

The Old Government House, also called the Old Richmond County Courthouse, was built in 1801 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.  It was originally a public building and the seat for the local government, but in 1821 the house became an upscale residence.  In 1951 the building was used as a reception facility for the Augusta Junior League and in the 1970s Historic Augusta organization bought it.  Finally, in the 1980s the city bought the historic building to preserve it as well as rent it out as a public building once again.

What started as an interest in a golf course brought us to this historic city.  I guess if we ever hope to see Augusta National Golf Course we'll have to get on a waiting list for tickets or get a lot - and I mean A LOT - better at golf.  

New Bern, North Carolina

Next stop as we headed south was New Bern, North Carolina.  Coincidentally, I was there about 20 years ago as my company had an operation there and I was responsible HR wise.  However, I didn't remember it well and since I was there for work, I didn't really have time to explore the city.  But there were a few things we wanted to see so we made it a point to get there.  

First stop was the New Bern Battlefield.

On March 13, 1862, 11,000 Union troops, along with 13 heavily-armed gunboats, landed at Slocum's Creek, now part of the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station.  Their objective was to capture the town of New Bern because of its strategic position and the fact that the Atlantic and North Carolina railroad was located there.  Union strategists hoped to use New Bern as a stepping off point to cutting off the main Confederate north-south railroad supply line at Goldsboro.

Awaiting the Union forces were about 4,500 inexperienced and ill-equipped Confederate troops commanded by General Laurence O'Bryan Branch, a politician with virtually no military experience.  

The battle began at 7:30 a.m. on March 14th and raged for nearly six hours.  The Battle of New Bern was the baptism of fire for the 26th North Carolina.  Later, in July, 1863, the 26th lost 588 of 800 men at the battle of Gettysburg - sustaining the largest numerical losses of any unit, North or South, during the entire course of the war.

Estimated casualties for the Battle of New Bern was 1080 total.  The battle proved to be a major victory for the Union and led to the ensuing occupation of New Bern for the remainder of the war.

The Visitor Center was not opened and it was a self-guided tour.  There was an audio tour of the battlefield but we walked through the display without turning it on.

The park is in nearly pristine condition.  Unmarked by development or agriculture, the "redans" or fighting positions remain as they were a century and a half ago.

Redan

We went downtown to see the Tryon Palace which was the official residence and principal workplace of the British governors of North Carolina from 1770 to 1775.  You can read Governor Tryon's involvement at the Battle of Alamance HERE.  But once we arrived, we decided to take a picture and move on because we learned of something else interesting to see.

Tryon Palace

You might be wondering what could be more interesting than visiting a palace - how about the birthplace of Pepsi?

Bradham's Pharmacy

I prefer Diet Coke but it was fun to see where Pepsi was first invented.

Caleb Bradham dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in about 1890 due to his father's business going bankrupt.  After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year and soon opened the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain.  In 1893 he invented the recipe - a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils" - for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink" but on August 28, 1898 was renamed Pepsi Cola.

The drink was named after a combination of the terms "pepsin" and "cola", as he believed that his drink aided digestion much like the pepsin enzyme does, even though it was not used as an ingredient.  His assistant James Henry King was the first to taste the new drink.

The inside of the pharmacy is like a museum, retail store, and soda fountain all in one.

We bellied up to the bar and ordered an ice cold Diet Pepsi.

The fountain where the drinks are dispensed is, of course, Pepsi themed.

The next morning we headed out early so we could visit the cemetery (why do we like cemeteries so much?) where Caleb Bradham is buried.

Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, North Carolina

While we knew about where he was located, we were having trouble finding him as we were expecting a monument noting his burial site.  I finally turned on the GPS from findagrave.com and we found him.

What?  The inventor of Pepsi Cola and all he has is a dead grass covered stone?  Ron was really upset by this - couldn't someone have put up some sort of monument for him - and quickly took his shoe and brushed away the grass.

I guess the pepsi cap and the broken bottle is the memorial.  Sigh.

The cemetery, which was owned by Christ Episcopal Church until 1853 when it was transferred to the town of New Bern, was beautiful and we enjoyed our walk through the grounds.  

Confederate Memorial

Five years after the reconstruction era ended, the City of New Bern passed an ordinance that blacks and whites could not be buried in the same cemeteries owned by the City.  Cedar Grove Cemetery, founded in 1800, was the original burial place for the city's black residents.  But in 1882, Greenwood Cemetery was founded as a burial place for the city's black residents.  By 1913, Cedar Grove reported a shortage of space and City Aldermen recommended and the General Assembly approved all the remains belonging to people of color be exhumed and re-interred at Greenwood Cemetery.  The exact number of individuals moved was not reported, but 12 headstones were moved from Cedar Grove to Greenwood along with the remains.  There was nice plaque describing this and highlighted those individuals and families whose remains were removed and re-interred.

What a great surprise our visit to New Bern was!