Drayton Hall celebrates National Public Gardens Day!

Last weekend, Drayton Hall participated in National Public Garden Day at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. We were happy to share with the guests some of the activities we do at Drayton Hall that celebrate the joy of the natural world. Read on for a write up of the day from Tara White, Drayton Hall Interpreter.

Children at the Drayton Hall table experiment with pluff mud drawings.

Amid the spring blossoms and excited visitors, Drayton Hall’s education programs were on full display at the 2013 National Garden Day Exposition held at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. We set up a table to exhibit pictures, brochures, and educational activities beginning at 9:00 and lasting until about 2:00. With Drayton Hall’s participation, nearly 200 children created leaf rubbings and pluff mud paintings, two of the activities from our Marsh Madness program. We interacted with students enjoying a school field trip, homeschoolers with their parents, and even tourists that just happened to be visiting Magnolia on Garden Day!

Drayton Hall celebrates National Public Gardens Day!

Pluff mud finger-painting was by far the favorite activity, giving children a chance to dig their finger into a jar of the local marsh material, designing a painted masterpiece of their own. Many children excitedly told us how much fun it was to play with mud, something that was usually off-limits for them! Nearly all of the teachers and parents we spoke with knew very little about Drayton Hall’s educational programs, and eagerly wanted to learn about our standards-based curriculum. By talking to both the children and adults, the exposition provided Drayton Hall an incredible opportunity for education, outreach, and fun for all who visited Magnolia on National Garden Day!

Author: Tara White

Tara is an educator and interpreter at Drayton Hall where she leads public tours and educational school programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and art from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition to educating visitors at Drayton Hall, she is a teaching artist at the Gibbes Museum of Art. 

Christmas in Charleston…A Holiday To-Do List!

Every year, this week at Drayton Hall proves to be especially exciting. This weekend, for the 29th year in a row, we’ll gather in the raised English basement to enjoy a concert of African-American Spiritual music with three concerts by Ann Caldwell and the Magnolia Singers. Tradition and history is obviously important to all of us here at Drayton Hall. Seeing the same Friends come year after year to enjoy this special holiday tradition always gets us in the spirit of the holidays. If you’ve never been, you’re in for a treat. Click here to be redirected to our page and to buy tickets.

Our friends over at Charming Inns of Charleston compiled this wonderful holiday to-do list, and were kind enough to include the Spirituals Concerts in it. Click here to be directed to their page so you can check off some of the fabulous holiday events they’ve compiled.

Celebrating the National Day of Listening at Drayton Hall

Drayton Hall was proud to support the National Day of Listening! Haven’t heard about it yet? Head on over to Story Corps’ website to check it out and get in the know by clicking here. Our Executive Director, George McDaniel, has been a proponent of oral history for a long time- he loves getting out of the office and sitting down with people near and far to hear their story. We sat down with him for a cup of coffee yesterday and asked him some questions and heard why he decided to participate.

Q: Hi George! Thanks for taking the time to sit down and talk about Story Corps, and why you feel so strongly about recording oral histories. If you don’t mind sharing, can you tell us what you decided to record for the National Day of Listening?

A:  Of course I’ll share. I decided to sit down and really tell the story of my experiences in Vietnam from 1969 and 1970. I hadn’t ever taken the time to write down any of those experiences, and I wanted to record them for my sake, my kid’s sake, and for posterity. I only have a few pictures of my time there and I was beginning to worry that the story would be lost if I didn’t record it.

Q: Why is it important that these stories be recorded? Couldn’t you just email them to your kids or write them down somewhere?

A: You could do that- from my perspective it isn’t really important how you record them but that you record them at all. But when you record something, hearing that person’s voice really gives you a sense of the person themselves- oral histories have a power to them because of that. You get a fuller picture of that person, you hear their own pacing. It’s also an easier  process- recording something in this way allows the story to flow more freely than trying to write it down, and it comes out more naturally. Just sitting down to answer these questions is a whole lot easier than writing down my thoughts on paper.

Q: You’ve done so many oral histories over your long career. Are there any seminal moments you’ve had that really stick out when someone was telling you a story?

A: Although there are many, I’d say the best involve Richmond Bowens (for new readers, click here to learn more about Mr. Bowens). One day we were out doing an excavation of his home site on the property, the actual site where he was raised as a child. According to the 1910 census report, there were 11 people living in the house at the site where we were digging. It said that the house was headed by his grandmother and that there were aunts, uncles, and cousins living there. During the excavations of the yard, the archaeologists had found very little debris or any remnants of material culture from the site- the most basic explanation and interpretation for this would have been that this large family lived in abject poverty. But Richmond was there and was able to tell us that the census taker had been mistaken- it was only he , his mother and father that lived in the house there. Furthermore, his mother was a stickler for cleanliness. At least once a day the yard was swept clean and their house was always neat as a pin. My other really special memory from that day was when we found a piece of a cut glass bowl during the dig. Richmond immediately recognized it as one of their nicer pieces that had held candies and goodies at Christmastime. This example shows how oral histories really give history a human dimension, and tell a more complete story.

Q: In this fast paced high-tech world, how important are efforts like Story Corps?

A: So important. They’re documenting the variety of the American experience by heading to different regions and getting a really good demographic cross-section. It’s also important because it prompts people to tell their stories to family members and others after they record it. After I did my recording, I was inspired to tell friends and family who I’ve never opened up to before about my time in Vietnam. In this way, Story Corps serves as a catalyst to get people talking. It creates storytellers who tell their experience to people. Then those listeners are prompted to become storytellers as well and tell their stories. It serves a great purpose.

Q: How important have oral histories been in interpreting Drayton Hall?     

A:   Oral histories have enabled us to record the history of this site from a variety of perspectives. We’ve talked to so many members of the Drayton family and the enslaved families that lived and worked on this site. We are also talking about starting to do oral histories of longtime staff members like Bob Barker who worked here from the first year the site opened to the public and just recently retired. We’re getting to a point where we need to start thinking about the history of the site and the history of the organization that runs it. One of the more powerful oral histories that we have from the Draytons is Charlie Drayton’s reflection on deciding to sell Drayton Hall to the National Trust after seven generations of ownership. (To see parts of the clip, click here. Fair warning: have a tissue handy) We also spoke to his daughter Anne Drayton Nelson about that decision, and she reflected on her Dad’s decision, calling it the courageous, right thing to do. Oral histories are powerful stuff.

George, thanks for sitting down with us, and thank you for preserving so much history for future generations!

A Tribute to Bob Barker

More than 60 friends gathered in Drayton Hall’s raised English basement and on the lawn outside on Sunday, October 21, to pay tribute to the man who for more than three decades was Drayton Hall’s senior interpretive guide.   Fortune favored A Tribute to Bob Barker with sublimely beautiful fall weather.  Halfway through the two-hour event, guests were invited into the basement for the singing of Happy Birthday to Bob (his birthday is October 20), a welcome by Drayton Hall Executive Director George McDaniel, and a series of brief, but heartfelt tributes from McDaniel, Charlie Drayton, Janie Clayton, Jill Foster, Merrill Benfield, and Gene Brown, who served as master of ceremonies.  Regrettably, Booie Chappell, one of Bob’s longtime colleagues in the ranks of interpretive guides at Drayton Hall, was unable to attend due to ill health.  Besides Drayton Hall, sponsors for A Tribute to Bob Barker included Carriage Properties LLC, Drayton Real Estate, Lois Lane Properties, and Thomas and Denzinger Architects, all of Charleston.

During his remarks, George McDaniel announced that Drayton Hall has created The Robert E. Lee Barker Endowment Fund for Interpretation.  The event program explained the purpose of the fund as follows:

In recognition of and gratitude for his remarkable service to Drayton Hall and the greater Charleston community, and wishing to establish a lasting tribute, Drayton Hall created the Robert E. Lee Barker Endowment Fund for Interpretation in the fall of 2012.  Annual income from this named endowment fund will honor Bob and help facilitate and enhance the interpretation of Drayton Hall throughout all future years.  Tribute gifts to this fund may be made out to Drayton Hall marked Barker Endowment Fund and mailed to 3380 Ashley River Road, Charleston, South Carolina 29414.

Scroll below for some pictures that captured the spirit of this very special afternoon:

Linda Bennett greets Drayton patriarch Charlie Drayton.

From L-R, the man of the hour Bob Barker, Kit Bennett, and Merrill Benfield smile for the camera.

From L-R, Robert Bruner, Linda Bennett, Mike Shewan, Judi Purches, Bob Barker, Pat Patrick, Sharon Bruner, and Ian Purches.

Drayton Hall interim museum shop supervisor Janie Clayton and longtime supporter and volunteer Ian Purches.

Janie Clayton makes some remarks during the ceremony about friend and colleague Bob Barker.

The Jubilee Project

Drayton Hall is absolutely thrilled to be involved in the Jubilee Project, a collaborative and fascinating project that includes celebration, education and inquiry related to the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Movement  - read the official Jubilee Project flyer below and follow the links to learn more. We hope you’ll mark your calendar and join us on some of these dates!  

To mark the publication 150 years ago, on September 22nd, 1862, of the Emancipation Proclamation, the College of Charleston’s program in the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World (CLAW) is pleased to announce the launch of the Jubilee Project, 2013. As a spin-off from the CLAW program’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the Jubilee Project is a collaborative academic and cultural project extending across the College and City of Charleston, the Carolina Lowcountry, and beyond. The project celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of public education in South Carolina, and commemorates other key events both of 1863 and of the Civil Rights movement in 1963. The coincidence of the anniversaries of these two significant events also prompts us to ask what happened in the intervening century, and to what extent emancipation and equality of opportunity have been achieved up to this day.

Partners in the year-long project include colleges, historical sites, and city, county, and state agencies up and down the coast and across the state, from the Penn Center on St. Helena’s Island, to various Charleston sites, to Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet. In addition, university and college partners will include Claflin, Clemson, Furman, and South Carolina State, as well as the University of South Carolina. The Project’s formal opening will take place on New Year’s Eve, 2012, with a special City of Charleston sponsored New Year’s celebration followed by an Emancipation Day Parade in downtown Charleston on New Year’s Day, 2013. The Project’s closing event will take place on November 19th, 2013 (the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, in which President Lincoln spoke of “a new birth of freedom”) at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Public commemorations and exhibitions between those two dates will address historic events such as the Battle of Gettysburg and the attack on Fort Wagner, as well as key moments in the Civil Rights era, such as when Clemson admitted its first African-American student in Spring 1963, and when both USC and Charleston County public schools followed suit in the Fall.

Jubilee Project highlights also include an exhibition of Civil Rights era photography at the Gibbes Museum, an exhibition of African art at South Carolina State University, the southern regional conference of the American Studies Association, the annual conference of the African Literature Association at the College of Charleston, and a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers at the Avery Research Center.

In addition to these one time public and academic events, the Project aims to have a lasting impact on the way in which South Carolinians think about the history of emancipation and educational access. To that end the Project will collaborate with the Lowcountry Digital Library (lowcountrydigital.library.cofc.edu) in developing long-term digital history projects and online archival collections. We also welcome public participation in the Project. If you or an organization you represent have a suggestion for an event that you would like to stage or would like to be involved in or affiliated with the Project in any way, please contact Simon Lewis at 843-953-1920, or e-mail him at lewiss@cofc.edu.

For information about individual events, please call the event organizer directly. For further information on the Jubilee Project as a whole, please call Simon Lewis at 843-953-1920, or e-mail him at lewiss@cofc.edu.  A complete listing of Jubilee Project events and partners is available at the Jubilee Project website: www.jubileeprojectsc.wordpress.com

Preservation Wednesday celebrates 3rd Anniversary!

Three years ago, in August of 2009, the Drayton Hall Preservation Department was faced with a back-log of artifacts to process from the 2008/2009 archaeological field work; over forty bags of artifacts sat waiting to be washed. Having noticed the enthusiasm that our Drayton Hall Friends displayed over all things archaeological, the Preservation Department created an opportunity for the Friends of Drayton Hall to volunteer alongside the Drayton Hall Preservation Department staff. “Preservation Wednesday” was the result and is a hands-on experience open to Friends of Drayton Hall.

The inaugural meeting of Preservation Wednesday, August 2009. Washing artifacts clockwise from bottom left, Jessica Garrett, Charlotte and Bill Collier, Peggy Reider, Betsy McAmis, Jackie Bowe, Leilani DeMuth and Rita Wilkie.

In the three years that have passed, our Preservation Wednesday volunteers have washed thousands of artifacts, learned the differences in ceramic types, enhanced their archaeological vocabularies, separated and bagged clean artifacts and helped sweep the cobwebs out of Drayton Hall. They also get an occasional behind-the-scenes peek at the larger archaeological collections and come behind the ropes during archaeological excavations for a closer look.

When we began this volunteer program, the Drayton Hall Preservation Department had no idea what a success our experiment would become. It has been a delight to get to know such a wonderful, dedicated group of Drayton Hall Friends! In addition to their continual support of the ongoing preservation efforts at Drayton Hall, they are willing to literally get their hands dirty (make that very dirty!) in order to keep the many Drayton Hall archaeological projects moving along.

During the past year 22 volunteers have contributed 174 volunteer hours to Drayton Hall’s Preservation Wednesday program—2 more hours than the previous year and that was even with breaks in February and July! Over the past three years we have had the pleasure of having 36 different individuals volunteer for Preservation Wednesdays for a grand total of 610 volunteer hours! Upon marking our third anniversary recognition was given to three volunteers who have each volunteered over 50 hours each to the Preservation Wednesday program- Mrs. Jackie Bowe and Mrs. Leilani DeMuth each volunteered 52 hours, and Mrs. Rita Wilkie volunteered 54 hours.

From left to right we have Sarah Stroud, Drayton Hall Archaeologist, Leilani DeMuth, Jackie Bowe and Rita Wilkie. These three ladies are “Preservation Wednesday Stars.” They have each volunteered over 50 hours since the program began.

Our “Preservation Wednesday Stars” were presented with reproduction plaster stars, modeled after the stars found in the cast-plaster ceiling of the lower great hall of Drayton Hall. These stars are created by students from the College of the Building Arts for the Drayton Hall gift shop. Each and every volunteer at Drayton Hall is incredibly valued and the members of the Drayton Hall staff are continually thankful for all of the work that is accomplished with such enthusiasm and enjoyment!

Preservation Wednesday members enjoying lunch at Bishop Gadsden with Mr. Charles H. Drayton III and Porter Smith (d. 2012). From left, Jackie Bowe, Bonnie Sykes, Leilani DeMuth, Gail Morrill, Rita Wilkie, Maryjane Islan, Tony Islan and Sarah Stroud.

If you are a Friend of Drayton Hall and are interested in participating in future Preservation Wednesdays, please contact Sarah Stroud by e-mail (Sarah_Stroud@draytonhall.org) or by phone 843-769-2637. If you would like to become a Friend and participate, you can join on-line through our website.

News from the Education Department!

This spring marked the third year that I have worked with students in The Citadel’s Teacher Education Program. Cadets and veterans trained with Drayton Hall educators and took part in presenting two of our programs, A Day in the Life of a Plantation and The Civil War, Soldiers and Civilians to our visiting student groups. Our partnership with The Citadel gives the student teachers an opportunity to have a teaching experience that is outside of the usual classroom setting and to learn ways to integrate historic sites into their own curriculum.

We got some great feedback from the program:

(L to R) Deb Miera, Wes Mitchell, Joseph Crossno, Jesse Presson, Julie O’Meara

“Teaching outside of the classroom allowed me to be more myself and more confident in my teaching.” Jesse Presson

Veteran Wes Mitchell grinds herbs while teaching students about colonial cooking.

“I really enjoyed seeing how the Drayton Hall educators made the students part of the lesson.” –Joseph Crossno

Cadet Deb Miera explains the different types of Civil War uniforms for soldiers.

“I liked seeing how all of props, models, and interactive activities build up the students’ enthusiasm.” –Julie O’Meara

Rikki Davenport is the Curator of Education at Drayton Hall. Reach her at rikki_davenport@draytonhall.org. 

Vitruviana 2012: An Overview By Carl Gable

Architecture enthusiasts from across the southern United States converged on Charleston in mid-April for VITRUVIANA 2012: Charleston and the Development of American Architecture.  The purpose of the 2-day program was to explore how Drayton Hall, the second St. Philip’s Church, and other landmarks in Charleston and the Carolina Lowcountry, were architectural pioneers in Colonial America and influenced building design throughout the colonies.

Lance Hall, Circular Congregational Church, Charleston, S.C.

The Drayton Hall leadership is always alert for opportunities to educate about the place of Drayton Hall in the context of American architecture.  George McDaniel, Drayton Hall’s Executive Director, responded quickly when the chance arose to partner with the Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc., Clemson University, and the College of Charleston in presenting VITRUVIANA 2012.  Carter C. Hudgins, Drayton Hall’s Director of Preservation and Education, teamed with Randy Boone, Director of Development, to lead Drayton Hall’s participation.

More than 90 people converged on the Circular Congregational Church’s Lance Hall for the kick-off event on April 13—an all-day symposium with distinguished speakers from Washington, D. C., Richmond, Williamsburg, Charlottesville, Atlanta and Savannah as well as Charleston.  South Carolina attendees were joined by sizeable contingents from Richmond, Atlanta and elsewhere.

The Bingham House (1793, burned 1847), Philadelphia, influenced
Charleston’s noted Joseph Manigault House (1803).

Calder Loth opened the program with a fascinating review of the way Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio has influenced architecture from 16th-century Italy to 18th-century Charleston—and ultimately to the present day.  (Loth co-curated the landmark exhibition on Palladio which opened at the Morgan Library in New York in 2009.)  Emilie Johnson of UVA traced Palladio’s influence in Jamaica and the Caribbean, and Carter C. Hudgins showed Palladio’s imprint on Drayton Hall.

The second St. Philip’s Church (c. 1721-1723; burned 1835, Charleston,
introduced the central steeple to America’s churches.

Prof. David Gobel of Savannah College of Art and Design told the remarkable story of how the second St. Philip’s Church (c. 1721-1723; burned 1835) introduced the central steeple to American churches, and Prof. Cynthia Kaye Fischer showed how Charleston’s famous Joseph Manigault House (1803), and other residences from Boston to Baltimore, were influenced by Philadelphia’s Bingham House (1793; burned 1847).  Prof. Ralph Muldrow of the College of Charleston and Clemson’s Carter L. Hudgins added fascinating papers on Palladian motifs and on James Island’s Fenwick Hall near Charleston.

 Charleston’s mayor, Joseph P. Riley, arrived to welcome the participants and to offer his insights on the preservation challenges facing Charleston in the 21st century.  The day ended with a reception at the nearby Charleston Library Society, where staffers displayed beautiful 18th-century treatises and patternbooks from the Society’s own collection.

The second and final day of VITRUVIANA 2012 was devoted to a marathon bus tour visiting six of the historic 18th-century parish churches in the region surrounding Charleston.  Tour leader Jonathan Poston set the tone.  “I don’t think anyone has ever tried to do this,” he said.  “I once visited five in one day, but never six.”  The sold-out bus group was not daunted, and set off in festive spirits—which continued throughout the day.  The churches all proved to be hidden treasures, tucked away in architectural splendor down narrow and obscure roads, often virtually unmarked.

St. Stephen’s Church (1767-1769), Berkeley County.

St. John’s Parish Strawberry Chapel (1740s), Berkeley County.

St. James Goose Creek Church (c. 1707-1719), Berkeley County, was a sophisticated Palladian surprise.

Carl Lounsbury of Colonial Williamsburg, who lectured on the churches at the symposium the previous day,  joined Jonathan in explaining the churches, their furnishings, and the political context which led to their construction.

The recently restored St. Thomas and St. Denis Parish Pompion Hill Chapel (1763-1765), Berkeley County, has a breath-taking site on the bank of the Cooper River.

It was a weary group of architecture buffs who descended from the bus at the end of the day, but they were happy in the knowledge that they had completed a truly extraordinary tour of precious but little-known gems of 18th-century America.

St. Thomas and St. Denis Church (1708; burned 1815; replaced 1819), Berkeley County.

St. James Parish Santee Chapel (1768), Charleston County.

 In fact, all of VITRUVIANA 2012 received superlative marks from those who attended, virtually ensuring that VITRUVIANA 2013 will soon be in the works for next spring!

Carl Gable is the president of The Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc., and is a member of Drayton Hall’s Advisory Council. He divides his time between his home in Atlanta, and his Palladian villa in Italy. 

“Our Barbadian Connection” By Phoebe Willis

For many years the Barbadian Consulate General has organized an event in US cities that are significant to Barbadian heritage. This year they came back to Charleston, South Carolina for the Barbados Comes (Back) to Charleston  festival, a four-day event that was held September 1^st through the 4^th. 

Left to Right: Joe McGill (Southern Regional Office NTHP), Sarah Stroud (Archaeologist), Mrs. Stroud (volunteer), Phoebe Willis (interpreter).

 On September 3^rd, Drayton Hall participated in the Bridgetown Market that was held at Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site.  Organizers of the event picked the site because Bridgetown is the capital of Barbados and Charles Towne Landing is located on the site of the first settlement of the Carolina colony in 1670.  Vendors representing Barbadian event sponsors, American cultural and historical organizations, and West Indian food and drink all enjoyed the day listening to calypso music from several bands.

 Sarah Stroud, our Drayton Hall Archeologist, and I staffed the Drayton Hall exhibits in the booth housing the Ashley River historic sites with Barbadian connections. Drayton Hall, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, and Middleton Place all participated. Each site had different displays which complemented one another and gave the visitors a well-rounded plantation experience.

 Drayton Hall displayed artifacts including probable Barbadian Red Ware, Native American pottery, and Colonoware (pottery made by enslaved people using African, Caribbean, and Native American methods).  Our largest artifact was a cow’s head which lead to discussions about early enslaved Africans being cow hunters, the first real “American cowboys.”  We also had hands-on activities: one was grinding spices using a mortar and pestle to determine what foods common in our country today came from Africa.  Originally designed for children, the

Caleb Davenport grinding herbs and looking at the display board

activities were enjoyed by adults as well.  Almost all the Bajan visitors smiled and remarked that they had ground spices when they were children.  Some even gave grinding another try just to prove they still knew how!

 Magnolia Garden’s display focused on the Drayton family, cow hunters, and the Lowcountry Africana project whose goal is to collect and make available African-American history in the Lowcountry.  Middleton Place had two costumed interpreters explaining rice and sugar cane processing and pottery making.  The show stealers, however, were two Guinea piglets bred at Middleton.  Their little squeals garnered tons of attention!

 The turnout was large and we had a steady flow of visitors who had many questions and insights into our display.  We learned a great deal from them and from our colleagues in the booth.  Visitors to the booth enjoyed every aspect of our displays and we had wonderful interaction with them.  Sarah and I learned that cutters are sandwiches; that Flying Fish really are edible; that modern Barbadians have a pottery tradition of making “monkey” jars which resemble the Colonoware artifacts we brought; and that Barbadians say “ya’ll.”

 If you would like to attend next year’s festival, it will actually be in Barbados- check out this link for more information: www.barbadostocharleston.com.  For those of “ya’ll” who would like to learn more about the Barbadian-Charleston connection, here are some options:

 Walter Edgar’s South Carolina: A History., Chapter 3, “The Colony of a Colony”.

 www.LowcountryAfrican.com

 South Carolina National Heritage Corridor web site:  http://www.sc-heritagecorridor.org/the_barbados_connection/

Phoebe Willis, Drayton Hall Interpreter and Educator

Rosebrock Park: Your Park By George W. McDaniel and Norm Brunswig

An integral part of Drayton Hall’s mission is to protect the context of the iconic main house and grounds. We’ve worked for over 20 years to conserve and protect the beautiful land surrounding the Ashley River. We are happy to report that our efforts led to this Friday’s opening of a new c.90 acre forested park that serves as the northern gateway to the Ashley River Historic District. Read more about the collaboration that created the park here:

http://www.journalscene.com/column/Rosebrock-Park–Your-Park-

Rosebrock Park: Your Park
Published Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:15 PM
By George McDaniel and Norman Brunswig
Summerville Journal Scene ®

The opening of Rosebrock Park Friday, September 16th, marks a significant day for the future of Dorchester County’s citizens. Located on Bacon’s Bridge Road, the park provides picnic shelters, scenic nature trails, and rare public access to the upper Ashley River for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. 

Left to right, George W. McDaniel, Dick Byrd, Richard Rosebrock and Norm Brunswig

The development of this c. 90-acre park (25-acres of which CPW leases to the county) is the hard-won result of community persistence. For decades, it served as a swimming hole created by a dam built near the current location of the bridge and was enjoyed by scores of people. After the dam gave way, people continued to come there and fish by the bridge. In the 1990s a “people’s park” was proposed for the location but failed to find sufficient public and political support. When the Ashley was designated a State Scenic River, a management plan published by the Ashley Scenic River Advisory Council (ASRAC) in 2003 built on these efforts. After two years of careful study and the input of approximately 500 members from the community, the plan called for the tract to become a public passive park. In addition to possessing key natural and historical characteristics, the area serves as a northern gateway to the celebrated Ashley River Historic District, entered by thousands of locals and tourists every year to experience the historic plantations and gardens. 

Longtime Ashley River supporters Sue Wehman and George Neil

Despite the prescience of the passive park concept plan, the Dorchester County Council had voted not to purchase the property when offered to them for sale by Charleston Southern University (CSU). After chancing upon a small article in the newspaper announcing the council’s decision, Summerville residents Lucy Anne Cathcart and Heyward Hutson and ASRAC members George McDaniel, George Neil, and Howard Bridgman drove to council’s meeting in St. George to voice their concern and to urge the council to reconsider. They were told it was too late, the council had rejected the offer, but as a result of their persuasion, councilmen like Richard Rosebrock, Larry Hargett, and others moved for reconsideration to purchase the area as a park, and at the next council meeting in January of 2005 over 150 people, young and old, gathered to press the council to purchase the property for public use. Working behind the scenes, Richard Rosebrock provided critical leadership and deftly used his persuasive abilities.

Also providing leadership was Summerville conservationist Coy Johnston who, working with the Lowcountry Open Land Trust, was able to step up at the outset of the council meeting and announce that the Land Trust was going to buy the land from CSU, using SC Conservation Bank funds. The Land Trust would hold the land and see that it was developed as a passive park, in keeping with the proposed 2003 plan from ASRAC. After winning a costly lawsuit with CSU, the Land Trust did secure title and soon transferred the property to the newly formed Dorchester Trust Foundation. Its trustees consist of Coy Johnston and the two of us. We have now leased the land to the county as a passive park and are pleased with the county’s work and commitment, along with the team of volunteers they assembled to contribute to what you see today.

We are also pleased because this park stands as a symbol of citizen commitment. Time after time, this golden opportunity would have been lost, had it not been for the leadership and cooperation of councilmen like Richard Rosebrock and individual citizens who took the time and effort to step up, to act upon their beliefs and to make a difference. Thanks to those efforts, you will not see housing or commercial developments the next time you drive along this tract on Bacon’s Bridge Road. You’ll see green space. It may well appear as if “nothing happened.”

Dorchester County Councilman Larry Hargett, Dick Byrd, Councilman Richard Rosebrock, and Norm Brunswig

As many people know, we enjoy places like Rosebrock Park because they offer something wholly apart from the city and ubiquitous subdivisions. They give us a chance to breathe. They give our children a chance to learn. An integrated and accessible rural experience like that provided by the park is essential to understanding not only our American heritage but also our fundamental connection to the lowcountry’s forests and waterways. Rosebrock Park will enable students from nearby Windsor Hill Elementary School and Ashley Ridge High School, as well as families from across the county, to appreciate these relationships first hand.

The culmination of Rosebrock Park also resonates with the widely publicized Watson Hill story, as it is another case in point of the positive impact public and private partnerships can have in protecting our irreplaceable rural areas. This park, along with thoughtfully designed developments, like Mead Westvaco’s East Edisto Project which encompasses Watson Hill, will help sustain cohesive and long-term efforts for the entire region that support tourism, recreation and quality of life.

In light of Rosebrock Park’s opening ceremony for the public this Friday, we are reminded, as a community, of how much of a role we actually have in preserving our region’s priceless history and natural resources. Now is the time to continue planning just as wisely for other areas throughout the Ashley River Historic District and Dorchester County. Building upon the longstanding leadership of Richard Rosebrock, we can continue to come together and press the needs for securing green space, local parks and conservation-minded developments in order to enhance outdoor family recreational opportunities, to nourish and educate our children and to secure a brighter future for posterity