Pendleton & 29th Anniversary April 2015

Thursday we took a ride to Pendleton, a town about 15 miles northeast of us.  The city was founded in 1790 by General Andrew Pickens, and is celebrating its 225th anniversary with a host of events throughout this year.  The town has many historic buildings, two of which are old plantations that we want to visit, but they are open only on weekends.  I stopped at a little gift shop where to my surprise they were having a variety of crafting lessons.

We were planning to go to dinner at The Galley (the lakeside restaurant we had gone to when my brother and sister-in-law visited) on Sunday  to celebrate our 29th anniversary, but when I called to make reservations, I was told they are closed Sundays and Mondays, so we decided to go Saturday evening.

Sunday we returned to Pendleton to take a guided tour of The Woodburn Plantation.  It was built in 1830 by the Pickney family who used it as a summer residence.  At that time, Pendleton was the Charleston of upstate South Carolina, in other words, a coveted resort area due to the cool winds that would blow down from the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The plantation was about 1000 acres and the home had about 18 rooms. The Adgers family bought the plantation, and lived in it year round, turning it into a self sufficient farm.  Later, Augustine Smythe took possession of the property and made a lucrative living out of raising livestock.  A lot of the land is now owned by Clemson University, although the house and some grounds are in the hands of the Pendleton Historic Foundation. 

 

 The 1826 a restaurant in Farmer's Hall in Pendleton's village green.

Hunters Store now houses tourism and historical services

 

 

 The Mercantile Emporium

Crafters...some were working on beaded jewelry, one was making a book jacket, another was doing metal work.

Pendleton Branch Library

 

Portman Marina on Lake Hartwell outside The Galley Restaurant

We had a table with a view of the lake

 

Outside  Woodburn.  The portion on the left is actually the back of the house.  No photos were allowed of the inside.  The tour started in the basement where the families had most of their informal meals since it was the coolest part of the house, although the entire structure was designed to be "air conditioned".  The top floor was the children's dormitory, but it could get very hot up there during the day, and children were consigned there if they misbehaved.  The ceilings on the porches were painted blue, some say for a cooling effect, others say to keep away the haunts. One of the more interesting items on the tour was the "jogging" or "jostling" board which is a long flexible pine board supported on a frame.  According to the tour guide, the purpose of the board was to aid digestion by sitting on it and bouncing.  It was also used in courting.  A young man and a young lady would sit at opposite ends and bounce their way towards each other.  When they met in the middle, the date was over, and if the chaperone wasn't looking, a kiss could be stolen. 

The building behind me was only one section of a  sharecroppers home that was moved from a different site.  

Outside the wagon barn

 A Conestoga wagon, the SUV of the era

This town carriage was supposedly owned by Thomas Greene Clemson, founder of Clemson University.  Plans are to restore the carriage to its original condition.

A duplex for either slaves or sharecroppers

The interior of one side of  the duplex.

A portion of the back view of the house, including one of the cellar windows.

T

The original stone steps.