South Carolina Genealogy

Saturday at The Seay House
September 18, 2010
10:00-4:00

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Another upcoming event passed along from Dr. Paul Grady via the Spartanburg History Hub:

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to share the exciting news that Dr. Walter Edgar, one of the most prominent historians in South Carolina and a National Public Radio personality, has agreed to speak at USC Upstate this year in commemoration of Constitution Day. Constitution Day, and corresponding activities during that week, is a national effort to increase the public and our students’ knowledge and understanding of the United States Constitution. Dr. Edgar will be giving a presentation entitled “South Carolina and the Constitution” that will discuss the importance of South Carolina in the process that gave shape to our modern nation and society. His talk will be held from 7:00-8:00pm in the Campus Life Center Ballroom on Tuesday, September 14th and will be open to the public. A selection of his most popular books on South Carolina history will be available at the event for purchase through the courtesy of the Hub City Bookstore and Dr. Edgar will be available for book-signing after his speech.

Read the rest of this entry »

Join us Sunday, September 12, 2:00-5:00 pm

The Spartanburg County Historical Association has put together a wonderful tour of 5 homes designed by architect J. Frank Collins. This is the first Tour of Homes that has taken place in the Converse Heights neighborhood in years. This will be an enjoyable and informative tour. You will be able to visit 5 homes – including ones built for James F. Byrnes and Dr. Sam Orr Black – and learn about others. The homes on the tour are 520 Glendalyn Avenue, 576 Otis Boulevard, 615 Palmetto Street, 509 Sherwood Circle, and 516 Sherwood Circle. Main Street Trolley will run the tour route continuously between 2:00 and 5:00.

Read the rest of this entry »

Season’s Final Friday Campfire at Walnut Grove Plantation Focuses on Archeology and Native Americans

Roebuck, SC, September 7, 2010 — For one final time this summer, bring the family, gather ‘round the fire, toast marshmallows, and hear exciting stories of the Upstate’s past! The Spartanburg County Historical Association’s summer Friday Campfires Series wraps up this Friday, September 10 at Walnut Grove Plantation. Join Lamar Nelson and others from the Foothills Chapter of the Archeological Society of South Carolina as they share stories and artifacts of our region’s Native Americans from prehistoric days to European contact. Walnut Grove Plantation is located at 1200 Otts Shoals Road in Roebuck. Gates open at 7:30 p.m. for self-guided tours of the site and the campfire program begins at 8:30 p.m. Admission is adults $5.00; ages 6-17 $3.00; ages 5 & under free. Bring lawn chairs and/or blankets. Bug spray encouraged. The event is rain or shine! Although this will be the final Friday Campfire of the season, the series has been a big success and will continue next year!

Read the rest of this entry »

The Spartanburg Regional History Museum Presents Lunch & Learn Spartanburg:

Dr. Jeffery Willis with “Frank Collins’ Works”
Friday, August 27, 2010, 12:30-1:30 pm

Bring your lunch; Limited seating; $5.00
Chapman Cultural Center, Moseley Building, 1st floor Meeting Room; 200 East St. John Street, Spartanburg, S.C. 29306
Reservations Requested: Reply to this email or 864–596-3501; njefferies@spartanburghistory.org

Dr. Jeffery Willis, Converse College Archivist and President of the Spartanburg County Historical Association, will discuss Collins’ life and work at the Spartanburg Regional History Museum’s Lunch & Learn, on August 27, 2010, 12:30 until 1:30. James Frank Collins was perhaps Spartanburg’s leading architect during the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the beautiful homes and public buildings he designed still stand, offering glimpses into one of the most dynamic periods in Spartanburg’s history. Dr. Willis will focus on the history related to Collins’ architecture. Mr. Collins designed several prominent houses in the Converse Heights neighborhood, such as the James Byrnes home on Otis Boulevard. The houses feature a range of historical styles, from Georgian and Greek revival to English Tudor and Dutch Colonial. Dr. Willis said, “He left quite a lasting mark.”

Here’s another good upcoming event in the Spartanburg area: This time it’s at the Price House!

The Thomas Price House, built in 1795 at a critical north-south road junction in lower Spartanburg County, is a product both of the vision and financial commitment of the founders of the Spartanburg County Historical Association (SCHA). In 1969, the association purchased not only the site of the homestead, but also 101 surrounding acres of farmland as a future public green space and outdoor educational center. In the last few years, SCHA has worked with the Spartanburg Area Conservancy (SPACE) to place all of the Price House property under a permanent conservation easement.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is another event sponsored in part by the Spartanburg Historical Association…

The Spartanburg County Historical Association, The Spartanburg History Hub, and Wofford College cordially invite you and your friends to meet Dr. Eric Emerson, Director of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

We plan to discuss the agency’s mission, the services that its offers, and the challenges that it faces in the future.

5:30 p.m., Monday, August 23, 2010
The Montgomery Room, Burwell Building
Wofford College (864) 597-4182
429 North Church Street
Spartanburg, SC 29303

No RSVPs are required; casual attire.
The meeting will last approximately one hour.
Latecomers arriving from work are welcome.

The Historic Seay house is open this Saturday (tomorrow) to the public.

Saturday at The Seay House
August 21, 2010
10:00-4:00

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. Special thanks to Linda Bilanchone for sponsoring August’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.

This looks like an eventful weekend in the Spartanburg area…. this is scheduled for the 14th and 15th of August (this weekend!)

History Comes Alive at Musgrove Mill State Historic Site

CLINTON – Musgrove Mill State Historic Site will host its Anniversary Celebration on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 14-15. Reenactors and historians from around the Southeast will demonstrate what it was like to live and fight in the South during the American Revolution.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tomorrow (August 14th) at 5PM in Duncan Park there will be a re-dedication of a 100 year old monument….

Children of the Confederacy
South Carolina Division
and
Sons of Confederate Veterans
and
Oliver E. Edwards Chapter 1998
United Daughters of the Confederacy
will present a

100 year Monument Re-dedication

August 14, 2010
5:00 p.m.
Duncan Park

This monument was originally dedicated August 17 – 19 , 1910, when the cornerstone was laid.. It was erected in honor of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors from Spartanburg City and County. The erection of this forty-foot monument was was sponsored by the Spartan Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

The Monument is now located in front of the American Legion Hall in Duncan Park, Spartanburg, S.C.

All interested persons are welcome to attend this Re-dedication.