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Sketches of South
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Of the three ports of entry in South Carolina, the
northernmost stands at the head of Winyah Bay on the Sampit
River, and near the confluence
of the majestic waters of the Waccammaw and Pee Dee, the
latter stream deriving" its sources near the borders of Virginia and
traversing North Carolina under the name of the Yadkin. Though coeval with
the settlement of Beaufort early in the eighteenth century, the records
are meagre and afford little more information than that its site was
originally granted to an ancestor of the Kinloch family, which grant was
afterwards set aside in favor of the Rev. William Screven. the first
Baptist minister in the Province, who proceeded to lay out a town with
reservations for churches—Episcopal, Baptist and Presbyterian. His title
being contested by Mr. Cleland, who had married a daughter of the first
grantee, the difficulty was adjusted and the superior claim satisfied by
his acquiescing in Mr. Screveu's deeds of lots on the payment of an
additional sum by each proprietor in the year 1737. With a rich timber
region for miles in its rear, unlimited in its supply of building material
and naval stores and the tidewater swamp lands of immense extent enriched
by the loam of ages washed down from the middle country and mountains
yielding the finest sample of rice produced anywhere as fast as the land
was securely banked and properly drained, the destiny of Georgetown as an
emporium of all this natural wealth asserted itself from its infancy, and
its stock in trade soon rested on a solid foundation far in excess of its
growth in population. Like its elder sister, Charleston, it was for a considerable period in the Revolution the headquarters of a British garrison, but subject to the eagle eye of Marion, who watched every opportunity to pounce on and capture any stragglers from the main "body venturing beyond the reach of reinforcements. He would dash in and out of the town with an alacity which earned for him the sobriquet of "Swamp Fox." his frequent encounters ranging all the way from White's Bridge (about two miles from the town) to numerous and scattered points in the interior, where he would unexpectedly appear and surprise relief parties of the enemy, retreating as suddenly to the security of his camp on Snow Island in a neighboring but inaccessible morass. Entering the Bay with the sandy hillocks of North Island on the one hand and the shady groves of South Island on the other, and turning a sharp projection of woodland on the right, known as Fraser's Point, a full view of the town is presented, conspicuous among the buildings being the rounded tower of the old Episcopal Church of Prince George Winyah, built of English brick about 1 1/2, and next to the oldest church building in the State. The streets, with Bay street as a base line, are broad and at right angles, beautifully shaded by oaks, some of them, especially those on High Market street, being of great size and age. The outline of the town is that of a rectangle and its greatest dimension east and west. Several years before the Civil War the project of a railroad from Kingstree was so far advanced as to be graded throughout and partly trestled at Black River; the rails were actually ordered from the North, but the shipment was interrupted by the approach of hostilities. In June, 1862, the Federal gunboats passed the coast batteries and opened fire wherever they suspected resistance, interrupting work and demoralizing the laborers, in some instances, as at the Dover plantation, robbing the proprietor of his hands before returning to their anchorage in the stream near the entrance to the Bay. The immense preponderance of the negro element, kept in a continuous ferment by the passage of the Civil Rights Bill and kindred acts of legislation by the Radical Congress at Washington in utter disregard of the efforts of Andrew Johnson to stem the tide of hostility against the white people of the South, which was then at its height, it is not surprising that the recovery of Georgetown was slow and for a long time doubtful. Since the resumption of better government Georgetown has conspicuously shared in the shoulder to shoulder progress of latter years and bids fair to eclipse her ancient renown, with the accomplished -fact of railroad facilities and deep water on her Bar in consequence of the successful result of the jetties which has opened the way for larger craft in addition to the present Northern Steamship Line. The only reminder of a long defunct industry survives in the Winyah Indigo Society, founded in 1756 for the two-fold object of fostering the culture of the staple which preceded rice and cotton and providing for the education of orphans. Honored by the presence of Washington on his Southern tour, it has in recent years attracted the attention of another President in quest of the game with which its waters and woods abound. With all the modern accessories of a progressive town grafted on the stock of its ancient and honorable traditions, the future is bright with the promise of a new lease of commercial and industrial prosperity. THE HIGH HILLS OF SANTEE These interesting formations of sand hills are remarkable objects of curiosity, situated not more than eighty or ninety miles from the coast, and properly belonging to the low country of South Carolina; in fact, they may be regarded as the memorial of work done by the waves of long past ages, as at their base the ocean once rolled. They lie in a ridge from three to five miles wide, and run in a direction from the Sautee River between north and northeast. Their greatest altitude is not over three hundred feet above the level of the river, and affords a fine prospect of from twenty to thirty miles around. Excepting a narrow strip along the river, the lower part of these hills is a bed of barren sand. The best land on the hills is situated about ten miles below Stateburgh, and seven above it, but the extent is considerably diversified in respect of quality. There are several considerable streams which issue from the sides of the hills. As there is no stagnant water near, there is absolute freedom from the mosquito, and the nights are cool and pleasant. Springs of very palatable water abound, and fruits of various kinds are raised in perfection; the trees which flourish the most commonly are the oak, hickory and pine. The staples indigenous to the more fertile portions of the soil are cotton and corn. Vegetables also thrive in great variety. The first settlement was made about the year 1750 by a colony from the Old Dominion, so that even before the Revolution this locality was one of the most populous in the province.At this early period wealthy citizens of Georgetown established their summer residences among these famous hills. Hither in the old days resorted many people to recuperate their health, as the salubrity of this region was justly celebrated and as the mountains were almost unknown and practically inaccessible. Among the many distinguished patriots of this era who sought this place in search of health was the Rev. William Tennent, the compamon of William Henry Drayton (and member of the Provincial Congress) on his mission of reconciliation to the wavering elements of the middle and up-country. The present village of Stateburgh was settled about the year of the incorporation of Charleston (1783) by a company of which Gen. Sumter was the most influential member. The cultivation and refinement of this settlement are proverbial and need not be touched upon here. There were originally two Baptist churches and one Episcopal church in the neighborhood. The Baptist church was formed about the year 1770. Dr. Furman was the first minister and continued here from 1774 to 1787. The original settlers from Virginia were generally Episcopalians. It may be stated that a century ago the Santee Canal connecting the Cooper and Santee Rivers, was in active operation. As an interesting fact it may be further stated that this Canal was one of the first, if not the very first, in the whole country. There seems now to be a tendency to return to nature in the way of utilizing inland water transportation, as witness the widespread interest in deepening channels everywhere and removing obstacles to the navigation of creeks and rivers long since abandoned in favor of the quicker methods afforded by the numerous railroads, so that it is quite possible that this Canal may be rejvenated at no distant day. In these times of rapid transit to and from the mountains, it is hard to realize the difference of locomotion between then and now. when this region was the Mecca of the invalid from the heat and malaria of the lowlands. "The benign hills of Santee," as they were fondly designated by Gen. Henry Lee in the Revolution, appear to have well deserved this appellation, for this was the favorite camping ground of Gen. Greene during that early and critical period of the country's history. This elevated oasis formerly in such high repute among the dwellers of the surrounding plain, though unshorn today of its original attractions, has for many years been overlooked in the fashionable rush for distant resorts such as the increase of wealth elsewhere now offers the modern traveller and seeker after new and artificial environments. To people acclimated to the uniform temperature of the low country, the extremes between day and night in the mountains are often uncongenial and sometimes injurious to health; to such persons the equable conditions prevailing here are decidedly more conducive to comfort. The change to the mountains in the height of the summer season proves often a serious shock to those who have been enervated by long residence in the more torrid region of the low country. This observation applies more particularly to visits of too short duration for the system to become habituated to the rarer and cooler atmosphere of the mountain plateau, but in those days, down to the Civil War, many families resided continuously in one place in the winter and another in the summer, not returning to their plantations until after a heavy frost, known more commonly as "black frost;" in the case of those frequenting the mountains, thus enjoying the exhilarating influences of a Northern or European latitude and entirely exempt from the disabilities and drawbacks besetting their winter homes during the summer season, there were no climatic risks incurred throughout the year. It is not surprising, therefore, in view of these many qualities of soil, climate and social prominence, that this favored spot was seriously considered in the selection of a site for the capital of the State, losing the choice by the narrow margin of a single vote. SOUTH CAROLINA, PAST AND PRESENT. South Carolina, being one of the original thirteen, is richer in the domain of historic lore than the great majority of her sister States, though representing so small a fraction of the Union in respect to territorial extent. It may be surprising to many of its inhabitants to-day to know that a hundred and fifty years ago it was, in the interior, merely an extension of the conditions which we have been accustomed to regard as peculiar to the prairies of the wild West. Over its rolling hills and plains the buffalo, now all but extinct even in the West, afforded marks for the Indian's arrow and the rifle of the white settler, as many as twenty a day being sometimes the reward of a day's hunt by three or four men with their dogs. As for deer, four or five a day was a sure return for the expenditure of a little powder and shot by a single hunter. In the fall of the year one man could easily kill as many bears as would realize thousands of pounds of bacon. Wild turkeys were in the greatest profusion. In the low places and swamps, otters, muskrats and beavers-were numerous, as man as a score of the latter having been trapped in a certain neighborhood in one season. More formidable neighbors still were the wolves, wildcats and panthers'. The abundant growth of grasses and wild canes afforded tempting pasture for raising stock, which was the first step of the early settlers in availing themselves of the means of a livelihood. There being no market within several scores of miles, the cost of transportation almost swallowed up the profits accruing from the sale of whatever crops were planted.Naturally the first consignments were the skins of the wild animals mentioned, in which there was a considerable trade with the distant port of Charles Town. In addition to these, tallow and butter put in an early appearance as well as flour and hemp. On a larger scale indigo attracted general attention about this time, as many old plantation diaries afford evidence of, followed in the last decade of the century by the fleecy staple cotton, which down to the present clay, has constituted the chief article of export and the main factor conducing to a favorable balance of trade in the foreign commerce of the whole country. So important indeed had this become to the fabrics of the civilized world as to have won the sobriquet of "King Cotton." and the attempted erection of a separate Confederacy comprising the area of its production was based materially on this estimate of its financial value, which was ratified and confirmed by the report of Hugh McCullough, Secretary of the United States Treasury, at the close of the Civil War, stating that nothing but the cotton in the Southern States saved the National credit. So likewise in the rice industry, which rapidly with cotton grew to be the twin staple of the State, though having its origin in the narrow limits of a garden of Charles Town and though its prolific results were confined to the tidewater region, yet small patches were eventually cultivated in the upper districts, wherever irrigation was obtainable, so that these semi-tropical products, side by side with those of a higher latitude, soon revealed the versatility of the agricultural resources of the Province. In a state of nature the country appears to have been healthier; in the case of the first settlers diseases seemingly were rare, until the clearing of forests began and the breaking of the soil with probably very imperfect drainage, but a change for the better returned with the improvements of organized society. The sparseness of swamps and low places in comparison with the low country, and the consequent absence of moisture and the pests that accompany it, with high and salubrious spots in proximity to each other supplied with springs of excellent water, afforded assurance, with ordinary precautions, of a growing and healthy white population in the course of time. Schools which were only of the most primitive character were few and far between and limited in their attainments to the art of reading. After the return of the settlers to their homes from which they had been driven by the Indian War of 1755-1763. in rehabilitating their plantations they were not unmindful of religion, and near the scene of the first church service in 1754, there was soon a large congregation under the postoral care of a Presbyterian minister. To the coast region belongs the credit of entering the wedge of European civilization and turning the light on a hitherto dark and unknown continent. The Government of the Province naturally consisted of and received its impulse from the leaders of this its centre of population, the ruling element of which represented the restored Government of Charles the Second and the Established Church of England, which was correspondingly established here down to the Revolution, many official acts and records proving that the union of Church and State was almost as complete as in the mother country. The population of the back country, except for an occasional filtering from the low country, was derived from other sources and directions,from the North, following Indian trails and mountain paths; from Pennsylvania through Virginia and North Carolina, having little or no affiliation with the Episcopal establishment and jurisdiction. That influx gives support to the claim recently put forth in reference to the predominance of the Scotch-Irish element in the development and subsequent formation of the State. In after days (and strikingly so at present) the tables were completely turned; the political and social power of the coast region having been swept away with the peculiar institution on which it rested, and vast tracts of abandoned plantations having been converted into hunting preserves by Northern syndicates and capitalists for the diversions of the winter season. While the tide has not yet turned from its lowest ebb along the coast country, the interior presents a marvellous contrast in the multiplication of cotton factories besides the cultivation of the soil and a steady increase of population, so that the upper and lower sections of the State have exchanged places in many material respects, the ruling element gravitating to the transferred centre of prosperity and population. |
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