"Once
you have traveled the voyage never ends, but is played out over and
over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off
from the journey.”
Pat Conroy.
Last
night I was telling a friend about the great day we had in Edgefield
and she said then we needed to go and check out Barnwell, S.C. We
researched the area a little before we left and headed into South
Carolina for our trek to Barnwell. Barnwell was established in 1829
and has much history. General Johnson Haygood was from Barnwell and
later became the Governor of South Carolina. When he became the
Governor he was asked what title he wanted to go by and he said,
“General as I fought for that whereas I begged to be the Governor.”
Another tidbit was that General Sherman hated this town and wanted
it to be burnt to the ground since the name of the town originated
from a prominent politician wanting the state of South Carolina to
pull out of the union.
On
the way there the road was very hilly and straight. We saw lovely
lush green pastures and large acres of farm fields growing various
vegetables, cotton just beginning to grow, and corn. There were
some very old, large and decrepit homes that must have been gorgeous
in their day. Imagine what life was like when they were new homes.
Intermingled with those homes were also some grand homes with huge
lots of land, some trailers, very small one story homes, and smaller
farm homes. We enjoyed seeing the ponds that were lily pad covered
with bright yellow blooming flowers and men fishing enjoying their
day. We saw groups of men sitting huddled under large live oaks
trying to find some shade and coolness on this day that is hotter
than blue blazes outside.
After
driving for near 46 miles, we pull into Barnwell and we were hungry
as it was near noon. We went to the Lakeside Grill, directly across
from Edgar Brown Lake on Gilmore Street. It doesn't look like much
and is very rustic on the inside and out. There is a sign with a
large fishing pole on it an a large fish on the hook. It was a
buffet style all you can eat restaurant and had fried catfish and
fried chicken with various sides. One of the ladies brought around
a chocolate pudding for dessert. The catfish was wonderful but the
rest of the food just okay. It was a reasonable meal and we were
satisfied. They serve different items every day of the week. We
loved watching the locals come in for food, which seemed to be the
place they usually came to as everyone seemed to know everyone.
There were a lot of workers and elderly that come to eat there. We
enjoyed the experience.
After
satisfying our pallet, we went across the street to look at Edgar
Brown Lake, a 100 acre lake. They have a nice walking area were you
walk between two bodies of water, one looked like it came from the
river on one side the lake. They have nice variety of fauna along the
trail was nice but just very hot so we didn't go as far as we'd have
gone on a cooler day. There were two fisherman in a boat we were
told it is good fishing there. The lake is beautiful with homes
dotting the banks around the lake.
Downtown
Barnwell was nice with a lovely park in the middle of the square with
a beautiful fountain. There are beautiful shade trees and looked so
green and beautifully landscaped. Across from the park is the grand
court house which was build in 1879. What a grand looking building.
History says this was the fourth building on that site before this
one dating back as early as 1789. Court originally was held in
various plantations in the area. In 1800 a wooden structure was
built but was built poorly so was torn down and a new courthouse was
built in 1848. In February 1865, General Kilpatrick's Union Calvary
burned the village and courthouse. For awhile court was held in the
Presbyterian Church till 1869 when Blackville took over the county
seat till 1873. Barnwell was reinstated the county seat and a new
courthouse was built. The building is an impressive white building
with large pillars adorning the front as well as wrought iron steps
on either side that grace the building. I love the intricate
ironwork and the balcony on the second story and is so full of
southern charm.
In
front of the court house is the Vertical Sundial Monument, built in
1858 D. B. Haselton, an iron dealer from Charleston, and given to the
city by Joseph D. Allen who was a senator from Barnwell and was
previously a soldier. This sundial is considered to be the only
free standing sundial as is said to be keeping perfect standard time
since before standard time was even a thing. Around the sundial
there is a cute smiling girl who is looking at the sundial, a little
boy playing, and the little boys shoes on the other side. I loved
that statues around the sundial as it is awe inspiring to see this as
an adult and it shows the amazement of a child seeing this and
figuring out how to tell time. What a fascinating find. Amazing to
think someone had the insight to do this so long ago, place it just
in the right position and have it work for 150 years. This monument
has stayed in the same place for all those years even when the court
house wasn't there. It is adorned with flowers in middle and is
quite attractive. The face has been restored in 2014
The
Bank of Barnwell is across the street from the court house and was
established in 1887. The downstairs was used as a bank and the
upstairs were law offices. It was the last bank to survive the
crash of 1929 but did close in 1932 to become the new Bank of
Barnwell. It is now the City Hall. It is a gorgeous two story
building and the way it is painted makes it stand out with the pale
yellow paint and bright red shutters and roof. It reminded me of
buildings we saw in Germany.
The
Confederate Monument was erected in 1900 and is a pretty statue
commemorating those who died during the Civil War. It stand 24 feet
tall and there were Confederate flags surrounding it. The engraved
pictures on it were impressive.
Berkley's
Parmacy, established in 1979 and is on the square and was a neat
place to see with an oldfashioned ice cream fountain as well as over
the counter medications and pharmacy. The bright red colored bar area
was beautiful.
That
was all the time we had for exploring Barnwell today but it is
another sleepy town we would like to come back to visit. The people
were all very friendly and welcoming. We left Barnwell to go see
God's Acre healing Springs in Blackville. On our drive there we
stopped in Windsor, SC to take a picture a bright red caboose with a
marker in front. It stated it was dedicated to Thomas B. Yonce Sr
stating: “A man who loved his family, his country, and community.”
I'm not sure who he was but his memorial was lovely and I had to get
a picture.
God's
Acre Healing Springs had quite the history. We pulled into the
driveway and didn't think it looked like much with pipes sticking up
from the springs. There were people around dosing themselves with
water and drinking. I heard it was a mineral spring so I thought it
was like in Germany were they would be carbonated. No, it wasn't
carbonated at all. It is artesian well and the water does have a
slight mineral taste but is very pure. The story has it the Indians
in the area during the Revolutionary War brought wounded British
soldiers there to drink and bath in these waters that were sacred
Indian Grounds. Even though these soldiers were seriously injured
the waters healing powers made them whole again and they would go
back to their camps healed. On July 21,1944, L. P. “Lute”
Boylston deeded this sacred spot to God. It is a beautiful spot and
people come from all over to go there. The stream behind it is
lovely with beautiful forest surrounding it.
After we filled up our jugs, we drove out to the Mennonite Country Store where you can get sandwiches, honey, novelty items, and unique food items like Pickled Buffalo Style Quail Eggs. Sounds Yummy doesn't it. No we didn't buy them or even try them. They might be really good. We ran into a tour bus of people on their way to see the springs.
Our
last stop of the day was Aiken, SC. We went there solely to get a
brew for Joe. We stopped at the Aiken Brewing Company on Laurens
Street owned by Jennifer and Rob Pruiett. The restaurant and
Brewery oped in 1997. They have wonderful brewed ales as well as
root beer which I drank and loved. We sat at the bar and spoke with
some locals who were members of the mug club and had a nice relaxing
time. The atmosphere is great and it was a nice way to end our
outing. It was another wonderful day out exploring with my man.
But it
didn't end there. For dinner we ended up meeting up with our
daughter, Jeannine and her husband, Darren for dinner in downtown Augusta at
Beamie's At the River, established in 1994 for a lovely seafood
dinner to celebrate Fathers Day. They have a great menu and the
super large aquarium is relaxing to watch. A storm blew through and
it was nice sitting there looking out at Reynolds Street and watching
it rain while enjoying a great meal with great people. The service
was top notch.
Our
last stop of the night was to go to the Fox's Lair on Telfair Street
and enjoyed a couple drinks in this lovely downstairs pub that
reminds me of “Cheers.” Before you leave you will know just
about everyone and everyone will know your name. It is small with
brick facade with a pretty bar. Judy, is the bartender and is
amazing at what she does and is special, funny lady and is a joy to
be around. She along makes the trip worth it. There is live
entertainment most nights and last night was Jeff Johnston, a
wonderful entertainer (guitar and singer). He was wonderful and what
a treat for us. Tuesday night is a fun night to go with Dr. John
Fisher and the boys who play Irish music and is a sing along event. Foxslair.oldtowninn@gmail.com.
It was an amazing day the God graced up with. Thanks be to God.
Pages: Heather's Post or Joe's Post
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