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The 3rd Annual Historic Beech Island Tour To Be Held April 25, 2009! - Saturday, April 25, 2009 from 10:00AM to 4:00 PM  This self-guided, driving tour will begin at the All Saints Episcopal Church Parish House (Tour Headquarters) located at 1595 Williston Highway in Beech Island, SC (SC Hwy 278) where tour tickets can be purchased and tour information will be available.  Features of the tour will include:

  • All Saints Episcopal Church and Parish House
  • First Baptist Church of Beech Island
  • Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site
  • Rains House, owned by James and Sonya Rains
  • Oakwood Farms, home of Gary McElmurray
  • Beech Island Historical Society Visitor's Center and Barn
  • Silver Bluff Missionary Baptist Church and Schoolhouse
  • Swiss Settler's Farm and Home Site (New Windsor Excavation)
  • Zubly Cemetery
  • The River House, owned by Sarah and Leroy Simkins, Jr.
  • Jarrett Museum, owned by Kenny Jarrett
Walker-Hammond-Simkins House, one of the homes featured on the tour, was owned by Marty Reynolds and was built about 1800.  This beautiful, old home is hidden behind and amongst large Deodar Cedars and oak trees dripping with Spanish Moss on over five acres of lush grass and climbing jasmine.  With walls built four brick courses thick in the style of Williamsburg, VA, construction, the oldest on the right side dates back to around 1800 and was, perhaps, built by Richard Tutt, who constructed the house as two stacked rooms with an outside staircase.  In 1805, the double stack was built behind the first structure.  In 1843, Darling J. Walker built a frame mansion in front of the masonry building, and in 1890, that house burned and it was decided to use the older, existing structure in back as the primary residence.  In 1902, owner Annie Walker died and the house was passed to Georgia Hammond.  In 1906, she sold the property to L.H. Simkins II who lived there with his family until his death in 1987.

Lunch from 11:00AM to 2:00PM will be served at two locations in Beech Island.  An old-fashioned BBQ lunch, sponsored by Silver Bluff Missionary Baptist Church, will be served in the church's fellowship hall located beside the church at 360 Old Jackson Highway.  Cost will be $7.  The Beech Island Volunteer Fire Department will be serving a BBQ lunch for $7 a plate in the fellowship hall of the First Baptist Church located at 170 Church Road.

Tour ticket prices are $25, $20 in advance, $20 for senior citizens (children and students free) for the one-day, 13 stop tour.  Please call 803/867-3600 for purchase locations or email bdbartley@comcast.net

Movie Video Filmed in Beech Island - Filmmaker, Mark Albertin, filmed the music video that goes along with his new documentary, "Displaced - The Unexpected Fallout From The Cold War", at the home of Society members, Mary Schorsch and Les Bertrand on February 9, 2009.  Throughout the documentary, Eryn Eubanks and The Family Fold perform the score.  This documentary premiers March 20 at the USCA Etheridge Center in Aiken, SC.

Join the Allendale Paleoamerican Expedition - May 4 through June 6, 2009 volunteers are needed from the public, no experience necessary, to sign up for a week or more to help excavate ancient archaeological sites associated with prehistoric chert quarries.  To register for this adventure, please send a non-refundable check for $60 to USC Educational Foundation to the attention of Dr. Goodyear.  Please call 803/777-8170 for more details.

Society Awarded $31,500 in Grants for Museum Exhibits - The Society has been awarded an $18,000 Product Development Grant by the SC National Heritage Corridor and a $13,500 Accommodations Tax Grant by Aiken County to be used for the planning, design and fabrication of exhibits for the new Beech Island Agricultural Museum to be located in the Society's newly renovated, 1800's brick barn.  The $18,000 grant is a matching grant and it will be matched with the $13,500 A-Tax grant from the county.  A difference of $4,500 will have to come from the Society in order to get the full $18,000.  Both grants will be used to pay an exhibit design firm to plan and fabricate agricultural exhibits that will tell the story of Beech Island's long agricultural history.  Work on the exhibits will begin as soon as the Society receives the A-Tax grant funds.

The Battle of Aiken, a feature film which was partly filmed in Beech Island, is now available for rent from Netflix.  It is available for sale from the distributor's website for $9.98 - http://store.singahe.com/battleofaiken.html

Beech Island PBS Film - "History Detectives", a nationally-televised documentary was filmed in Beech Island last year.  The purpose of the documentary was to determine the authenticity of a document owned by the Beech Island Agricultural Club known as General Order #9  which was General Robert E. Lee's Farewell Address to his troops.  It was composed at Appomattox, VA in April 1865 along with the surrender of his troops.  The document was presented to the Beech Island Agricultural Club in 1909 upon the death of William H. Atkinson, the club's former secretary.  During the Civil War Atkinson served in the Judge Advocates Office attached to General Lee's Headquarters.  He was present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox. Lee presented Atkinson with a signed copy that he brought back to Beech Island and kept until he died on November 14, 1887.  After his death the original document was given to the Beech Island Agricultural Club. 

Beech Island Cemeteries Update - The Zubly Cemetery Association is now officially a non-profit organization. The application for non-profit 501(c)3 status has been accepted and this group now has a tax-exempt number. This means that any donation made to this Association is a charitable donation and can be a tax deduction. Other new progress includes a recent survey of the property, a recent appraisal of the property, a new deed that has been filed in Aiken County, SC (the 1855 one was filed in the parent county, Edgefield), legal easements to use Forrest Drive for access to the cemetery, a bank account, young cedar trees planted by Jackie & Benny along the road and young oaks  at some distance outside the wall, a plan to erect a marker for patriarch David Zubly and his wife Ann Meyer and a plan to have an annual meeting of directors.   To make your donation please make check payable to The Zubly Cemetery Association, Inc.  2190 Atomic Road, Beech Island, SC 29842.     

Redcliffe Plantation News

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-The Beech Island Historical Society is a 501-C Non-Profit Corporation

There is always work to be done for the Society.  If  you have a few hours you would like to donate or if you would like to participate in any of our projects, please contact Jackie Bartley at 803/867-3600, 803/827-0184 or email .

 

 

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