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Sketches of South
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CAMDEN. S. C. About thirty miles northeast from Columbia, in the midst (if a sandy ridge on the "Wateree River, stands the historic town of Camden, the oldest inland settlement of the State, having been the spot chosen for their abode by a company of Irish Quakers, about the middle of the eighteenth century. About ten years after this, that is, in 1760, Col. Kershaw (after whom the county is named), who had prospered as a merchant in this section, laid out by lots the plan of a town, which he named in honor of Lord Camden. In the building of mills, stores and other enterprises he was assisted by his friend and partner Mr. John Chesnut. Flour in considerable quantity resulted from the establishment of the mills; likewise a potter}' and brewery were among the early commercial ventures. The Quaker element gradually disappeared with the growth of Camden and ceased to be a distinctive feature of the settlement a century ago. An extensive area carpeted with grass lying to the south of the modern town, terminated by a walled cemetery, indicated like "the wind)' plain of Troy," the site of an ancient and departed community. A conspicuous object and solitary reminder of dwellings that had long disappeared, was a tall structure of three stories in the substantial architecture of the Colonial period, known as the Cornwallis house, overlooked this wide expanse through all the long years of peace down to the year 1865, when Sherman's ruthless and pillaging hordes applied the torch and destroyed this interesting relic, which had survived the Revolution of 1776, in pursuance of the policy of havoc which had just laid the City of Columbia in ashes in their devastating march through the State. Leaving the plain just mentioned, the site of modern Camden is slightly elevated and undulating, the residences stretching out over the sandy formation of Hobkirk's Hill, the scene of Nathaniel Greene's defeat in 1781 by Lord Rawdon, and the death of the gallant Baron De Kalb, who is commemorated by a monument at the intersection of two of the principal streets. Another decisive battle, also adverse to the American cause, had already occurred in the previous year ( 1780) in this vicinity between Lord Cornwallis and General Gates, named from its proximity to a neighboring stream, the battle of Sanders Creek. Before the advent of railroads, located at the head of steamboat navigation, it enjoyed for a considerable period a profitable and direct intercourse with the City of Charleston, through the Santee Canal. Besides its natural resources in the staple products of the country, the balmy atmosphere of the winter season which it shares with Aiken and Summerville, has attracted latterly the attention of tourists seeking a more genial clime.FLAT ROCK, N. C. Nestled among the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina lies a little settlement, whose history may be worth relating. Somewhere between the years 1830 and 1835 it first sprung into existence, as up to that time the primeval forests had been undisturbed and nature reigned supreme in all her untouched majesty, but about the time above mentioned some one or two travellers in search of health resorts chanced upon the spot, which enchanted them from the beauty of the scenery, and the buoyancy of the atmosphere and they then and there determined to build themselves unpretending but comfortable houses in which to pass the summer months. A wealthy Englishman was one of the first, if not the first, to settle; and slowly following bis example, one by one, others came, until, by degrees, the giants of the forest yielded to the axe of the settlers, and it became a place requiring a name, which was immediately given it, and by which it has ever since been known, and has even established a reputation for itself.A large flat rock was discovered in the midst of the settlement, and the settlers thought they could not do better than call their new home after this rock; accordingly, Flat Rock it became, and has ever since remained. The early settlers numbered in their midst an English Consul, a French Count from Charleston, a wealthy Englishman of good birth, the rest of the community being composed of low country planters of South Carolina, and a few professional men from the cities of the low country. The difficulties of even building in those days would now seem almost insuperable, for carpenters or indeed, skilled workmen of any kind, were not to be found in this wilderness of woods. Each settler would have to supply his own workmen, tools and lumber, and railroads not even having been thought of in this part of the world, transportation of any kind was a very formidable matter, and the necessaries of life had to be hauled by primitive wagons over the mountain roads, which were often almost impassable, and weeks would elapse before any article of this nature would be received from the cities when ordered. When a family would move, to spend the summer in the new home, the heads of the household would have to look ahead and provide themselves with everything that could or would be needed for five or six months, in all departments of housekeeping, and as the change of climate was very great, and as families always remained through October, clothing and house linen for summer and winter had to be transported, thus making a move a great undertaking. Only people of means could have ventured on such a location, as the soil, too, was rocky and sterile, and, indeed, the settlers were all people of means; it was simply for health and pleasure that they were in search of, and they succeeded in finding one and securing to themselves both. Each family would have its wagon in which all their goods were stored, cavalcades of servants (who were as part of the family, being slaves in those days), horses, carriages, etc. Indeed the advent of each family was more to be compared to Jacob's journey into Egypt than anything else. By degrees a church was built, then a postoffice, then a a hotel, and after a time blacksmiths, carpenters and much like found it to their interest to put up sheds into which much custom came to them, yet the natives remained the same unthrifty, primitive people they ever were. Of course after erecting- a church (St. John in the Wilderness by name) a minister followed, and after a while there were settlers enough to fill the pews in the quaint little country church. For many years the homes of the settlers were crude in the extreme as to surrounding's, but by degrees an air of cultivation was acquired and some of the places were in time models of beauty. Each settler had his own orchard and vegetable garden, so that after a while by dint of much fertilizing there was no limit to his supply of fruit and vegetables; then the places, too, were stocked, and fine cows, sheep, etc., were to be seen grazing on the green lawns which gradually took the place of the original rocky, stumpy fields. The class of people who settled here being all cultivated and refined, and being pretty much all known to each other in the low country, there was a great interchange of civilities and a great deal of hospitality was shown, not only among themselves but to any strangers who came to the one hotel the settlement contained. The houses were all plain but comfortable, and apparently commodious, as they were usually taxed to their fullest extent by friends and relatives of each family who would invariably spend a part or whole of the summer with them. In this way the summer passed until the Civil War began, when most families remained all winter in the settlement, as their homes on the seacoast were broken up and it was impossible to travel back and forth any longer. During the war the "bush whackers'" or deserters from both sides gave the settlement no end of trouble, but by the time the men returned from the armies and the war was at an end they organized themselves for mutual protection-against these desperadoes, and their depredations were soon at an end. As a result of the war a few places changed hands, and new ones were settled by many wealthy newcomers from other parts of the country, and in some instances on a much grander scale. Since the advent of the railroad, transportation has become an easy affair from all parts of the country, and the fame of Flat Rock as a health and pleasure resort has become proverbial. |
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