I can’t believe my last post here was January! I had tried to keep up with a post a week for my sites for quite a while and managed it, but frankly it’s just too fast a pace with work and everything (and about 10 sites!). So, I won’t be posting as frequently as that in the future. I hope to be putting out a post once a month, but to be honest, it could be every other month, or two or three in a day and then nothing for a month or two. I do try to keep updating the pages behind the scenes so hopefully our resources are getting a bit more complete as time goes by. Hopefully the less ambitious posting will mean that when I have time I will be able to put out better in depth posts and devote more time to the real heart of the site which is our county resource pages.

So, the last few weeks have been quite hectic. To start out with I had a project to work on a web site for a place that does self storage in Greenville, SC and that was closely followed by its sister site that also does self storage in Greenville, SC. I seem to recall several weekends that I worked through with one computer issue after another. including two hard drive replacements over one weekend… then after those projects we started passing a nasty bug around our family and as we recovered, then had to get everything together for our scheduled trip to the beach.

Somewhere in all that I thought about posting here several times. I had done a bit of research of where we were heading and the things we could go and see there. We had a Surfside Beach, SC family vacation during the school’s spring break week. Of course we went to see many things (including the beach) while we were there, but the highlight for the viewers of this site I think would have been Brookgreen Gardens.

Brookgreen Gardens is just a little south of Murrell’s Inlet on highway 17. The property originally was a rice plantation (in fact it was originally 3 rice plantations.) When the civil war ended and the plantation society collapsed the properties eventually were abandoned and a couple (Huntington was their last name) retired to the area purchasing ~9100 acres of three plantations as a showcase for Mrs. Huntingtons sculptures. (*If I heard correctly they paid in the range of $125,000 for the 9100 acres.) The state leases a parcel from the nonprofit that operates Brookgreen Gardens and operates it as Huntington Beach state park.

Brookgreen Gardens though has developed into one of the largest statuary collections as well as taking advantage of some of the original plantation gardens (and live oak alley). They also have done some archaeological work related to the original plantations that stood on the grounds. There are boat tours and there is also a zoo area. All in all, it was a fascinating stop and we could have spent all day (or a couple days) if we hadn’t had a 7 year old and 14 month old to try to keep entertained. (The zoo helped, as did the Children’s Discovery exhibit they had, but frankly it’s hard to entertain a 14 month old unless you’re red, furry and talk like Elmo and even that wears thin after a short time.)

Anyway, the tickets that you buy for Brookgreen Gardens are good for 7 days, so if you’re in that neck of the woods plan on going near the beginning of your visit and plan to go back! It would be well worth it. They also have picnic areas and if you live locally it would be worth being a member to visit anytime and walk, read, paint, etc.

We also passed by Camden on the trip and I would have loved to stop and look around there, but we just didn’t have the time. Maybe another trip we will be able to take more time with some “sidetrips” like that.

It’s a somber switch to write one week about independence and the next to write about slavery. Such is the dichotomy of the history of our country. Freedom was established early for some, but not all. We can take pride and solace in the fact that over the generations that idea of freedom has been expanded to all citizens. It’s a somber feeling to be in the Old Slave Market of Charleston. I remember visiting there about 12 years ago. It’s very humbling and there is a sense of heartbreak and pain in every stone. I seem to recall being left speechless just being there.

If you are visiting Charleston, South Carolina, make plans to visit the Slave Market and plan on being deeply moved by the experience.

Today, The Old Slave Mart Museum is now open at 6 Chalmers Street in Charleston, SC. The Old Slave Mart Museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The museum will be closed on Thanksgiving day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Sundays. (Hours taken from the website at the link above).

It is a strange and surreal experience to consider what it might have been like to live during that time in our country in which one person could buy and sell another as they would cattle. What is most frightening is that the human heart may not have changed much in the last 150 years. Slavery is still practiced in some places in the world, perhaps not in the same scale as we imagine from the Ante-bellum days in the United States, but it is no less jarring to a sense of equality and fairness.

May we always remember the lessons learned and not return to relive the anguish of those days.

I ran across this listing at about.com and thought you might find it interesting. I wish everyone a happy and thoughtful observance of our Nation’s Birthday.

South Carolina 4th of July Events.

Also… I have made a habit in recent years of listening to a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July. I’m particularly fond of the reading by the Jefferson interpreter at Monticello. Scroll down on Monticello podcasts page to Jefferson’s Words: Two Declarations and hear Bill Barker’s reading of the Declaration of Independence. (Direct mp3 link here.)

One of the notable places in South Carolina worth visiting is The Abbeville Opera House. It is approaching 100 years old. It seems strange to think of, but Abbeville was a stopover between Atlanta and Richmond for many of the New York based companies that took their shows “on the road”. Community members decided that if there were a facility in Abbeville that could stage productions, then they could sponsor showings.

There were a great variety of shows from musicals to vaudeville, minstrel and burlesque shows. The Great Divide opened the theatre in October of 1908. Some famous names such as Jimmy Durante graced the stage in Abbeville. With the advent of motion picture there were showings of silent films between 1914 and 1930. When the first “talkie” “The Jazz Singer” was first shown in 1927 it marked the beginning of the end for the “road shows”. From that time the Opera House became more of a movie theater.

During the 1950s there was a revival of the building for live theater. That tradition continues through this day. (The Wizard of Oz was playing in March…)