Charleston Currents #12.03 | Nov. 18, 2019
HUGE HONOR. McLeod Plantation, above, and Caw Caw Interpretive Center won international recognition for confronting the past and making it relevant for today. Read more below in today’s Focus.
FOCUS: McLeod Plantation, Caw Caw park win international honor
COMMENTARY: Investing in prevention is investing in S.C.’s future
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Titan Termite & Pest Control
GOOD NEWS: Nonprofit engages community to improve literacy
FEEDBACK: Get it off your chest — send us a letter!
MYSTERY PHOTO: Not a house in a subdivision
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: Promised Land
CALENDAR: Special markets set for downtown, West Ashley, Mount Pleasant
McLeod Plantation, Caw Caw park win international honor
Rice canals at Caw Caw. Photos provided.
NOV. 18, 2019 | Two historic Charleston County parks are now internationally-recognized “Sites of Conscience” by a worldwide network of 230 sites in 55 countries.
According to a press release from the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, Caw Caw Interpretive Center in Ravenel and McLeod Plantation Historic Site on James Island are now part of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience — places that confront the history of what happened at the site and lasting impacts.
“You have done great work already reimagining the historic plantation experience and we are eager to be a part of your continued journey,” International Coalition of Sites of Conscience Executive Director Elizabeth Silkes wrote in a letter to the parks commission.
According to release, “Sites of Conscience ‘face all aspects of history and also activate the historical perspective with dynamic public dialogue on related issues we face today and what we can do about them.’ Sites of Conscience are places that interpret history, engage the public in programs that stimulate dialogue on pressing social issues, share opportunities for public involvement and positive action on the issues raised at the site, and promote justice and universal cultures of human rights.”
Caw Caw Interpretive Center, which opened in 2000, explores the impact of people from the rice-growing regions of Africa on the landscape, history and culture of the Lowcountry region. The site was once part of several rice plantations and home to enslaved Africans who applied their technology and skills in agriculture to carve the series of rice fields out of cypress swamps.
It also is a site of the 1739 Stono Slave Rebellion, the largest uprising of enslaved people in English North America, the commission said. Visitors to Caw Caw investigate the origins of Gullah-Geechee culture and the profound influence of Africa on the Lowcountry and Charleston. Caw Caw is currently undergoing evaluation for listing as a National Historic Landmark and inclusion as a central feature of Charleston’s application for World Heritage Site designation.
Exhibit at McLeod Plantation.
The commission opened McLeod Plantation as a public county park and historic site in 2015. Located on James Island, McLeod Plantation Historic Site is a former sea island cotton plantation and an important 37-acre Gullah-Geechee heritage site carefully preserved in recognition of its cultural and historical significance.
“After years of careful research and restoration, the historic site today is a living tribute to the men and women who persevered in their efforts to achieve freedom, equality and justice,” the release said. “Visitors are invited to embark upon an in-depth exploration of the lives of those people whose stories are essential to understanding Charleston’s complex past and helped shape who we, as a nation, are today.”
Shawn Halifax, cultural history interpretation coordinator at the commission, said the county’s park system has been a leader in interpreting slavery and African American’s ongoing quest for equality.
“Recognition of this work resulted in the park system’s ongoing collaboration with the Smithsonian‘s National Museum of African American History and Culture to deliver training designed to prepare museums and historic sites around the nation to ethically interpret slavery and its legacy.”
Other regional Sites of Conscience include the Museum of Education at the University of South Carolina, the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. For more information on McLeod Plantation Historic Site or Caw Caw Interpretive Center, visit CharlestonCountyParks.com/McLeod or call 843-795-4386.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
Investing in prevention is investing in S.C.’s future
By Joy Campbell, special to Charleston Currents | In fiscal year 2020-21, the state of South Carolina expects to have a $2 billion surplus and our policymakers face political challenges in determining priorities for the use of those funds. Unfortunately, some issues and agencies often have a tough time gaining their attention.
- RELATED: Editor and Publisher Andy Brack’s latest commentary is on a related subject: How to spend the state’s $1.8 billion tax windfall.
Campbell
The agencies that serve children don’t get what they need because they lack the powerful lobbying interests that others enjoy. Children don’t contribute to political coffers or go to the polls. Therefore advocates and social services agencies voices are drowned and children’s needs are subverted by the voices of well-funded special interest groups with powerful constituencies and capital to expend.
South Carolina has lingered at or near the bottom of national rankings on child well-being every year since the first Kids Count report was released in 1990. With the exception of a 71 percent drop in teen births that has saved our state an estimated $6 billion, no other indicator has seen a remarkable improvement. Yet, even after 30 years of data indicating our failure to address the needs of children, we continue to ignore the simple fact that we can’t continue to grow the economy of South Carolina without first breaking the cycle of poverty and preparing all children to be the workforce of tomorrow.
The Kids Count report addresses four key areas of concern and ranks each state accordingly. This is the current state of S.C.’s children:
ECONOMIC WELL BEING: Rank 48: children in poverty (245,000, or 23 percent); children whose parents lack secure employment (331,000 or 30 percent); children living in households with a high housing cost burden (308,000 or 28 percent); teens not in school and not working (19,000).
EDUCATION: Rank 42: Young children (ages 3 and 4) not in school (62,000, or 53 percent); fourth graders not proficient in reading (71 percent); eighth graders not proficient in math (74 percent).
HEALTH: Rank 38: Low birthweight babies (5,506, or 9.7 percent); children without health insurance (60,000, or 5 percent); child and teen deaths (391, or 33 percent); teens who abuse alcohol or drugs (15,000, 4 percent).
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY: Rank 37: children in single parent homes (417,000, or 40 percent); children in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma (18,000/ 11%); children living in high poverty areas (130,000, or 12 percent); and teen births (3,408 or a rate of 22 per 1,000).
Children living in poverty represent a significant portion of our future workforce. Healthy and adequately educated, these children within two to 16 years could all become healthy, productive citizens who will contribute to the state’s tax base and economic growth.
Furthermore, there’s a compelling residual benefit of investing now: children who see no hope for a prosperous future are much more likely to end up in the state Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the S.C. Department of Corrections or addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. The need for state services would be decidedly reduced in the long run if we exercised foresight and implemented proven, effective prevention strategies to support children in staying healthy, getting through school and into self-sustaining careers. We can break the cycle of poverty now or it will continue to perpetuate.
This is an economic issue of gargantuan proportions that negatively impacts us all. Our state is one of the 10 poorest in the nation. Therefore, it would behoove cost-conscious, business-minded policymakers to pay attention to the voices who speak for kids. We can either heed their recommendations, invest now and reap the benefits or we will pay exponentially. When children don’t get what they need to help them succeed, our businesses, our state and taxpayers ultimately suffer the consequences. And the costs of ignoring the obvious are escalating every year that our leaders delay.
Joy Campbell of Columbia has served as a children’s advocate in nonprofit executive leadership for 27 years. She founded the S.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy that, with state support, has reduced teen birth rates by 71 percent.
- Andy Brack’s latest book, “We Can Do Better, South Carolina,” is now available in paperback and for Kindle via Amazon.
- Have a comment? Send to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com
Titan Termite & Pest Control
Titan Termite & Pest Control, headquartered in Charleston, is a full service residential, commercial and industrial pest control company serving South Carolina. It is a third-generation, family-owned company known for outstanding customer service. Each associate is dedicated to the customer and exhibits integrity and respect. Titan’s pest professionals can assist your commercial or residential location with general pest control, termite inspections, termite control, flea control, bed bug extermination, ant control and more. Titan Termite and Pest Control continues to set high standards so that its customers receive the best possible service. Titan’s technicians are knowledgeable of the latest in pest control techniques, which enables the company to customize effective treatment plans for every situation.
- Free estimate: 888-794-5603.
- Contact Titan online.
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Nonprofit engages community to improve literacy
Special to Charleston Currents | Reading Partners South Carolina provides supplemental literacy instruction for students struggling to read in 17 under-resourced, Lowcountry elementary schools by recruiting hundreds of community volunteers. Pairing each volunteer with a student and providing a research-based curriculum, Reading Partners enables each volunteer to produce measurable gains in their students’ reading test scores.
“Our volunteers are the heart of our work with our students, and our volunteers will tell you that it’s the highlight of their week,” says Kecia Greenho, executive director of Reading Partners South Carolina. “This is the best way to actively engage the community in helping to solve the education crisis we have in South Carolina.”
Last year, Reading Partners supported 925 community volunteers in serving 813 students, of which 91 percent met or exceeded their primary end of the year growth goals. Moreover, a two-year study with Child Trends indicates that the program’s success transcends literacy gains and notes Reading Partners students demonstrated significant improvement in early reading literacy and social-emotional learning skills, according to a press release.
Reading Partners tutor Jim Frye has been reading to students at Mary Ford Elementary for years and believes that “ in an era when reading achievement is a major factor in our learning community’s success, it is very important that we search for ways to assist our students in reading achievement. Reading Partners has a history of success with it’s students. This success is founded on a tested program and the bond formed between the student and the partner.”
For the last three years, Reading Partners South Carolina has been the top-performing region in the country thanks to the outstanding engagement of the Lowcountry community in serving as volunteer tutors, the release said.
However, as Reading Partners grows to serve 900 students, the corresponding need for volunteer tutors grows to 1,100. With its core values rooted in volunteerism and the idea that “together we are better” the Reading Partners program model is community driven and indebted to the efforts of its volunteer tutors. For just one hour a week, each volunteer is able to produce effective and long-lasting change in Lowcountry literacy rates.
- To get involved and to help supplement literacy education in under-resourced schools, prospective volunteers can go to https://readingpartners.org/volunteer-south-carolina/ to sign up today. Nationally, Reading Partners has mobilized nearly 55,000 community volunteers to provide individualized literacy tutoring to more than 50,000 elementary school students in under-resourced schools across10 states and the District of Columbia.
In other area news:
Aeronautical Training Center opens. Trident Tech on Nov. 8 celebrated the opening of its new S.C. Aeronautical Training Center with an event that included a ribbon-cutting by Gov. Henry McMaster and other dignitaries in one of the facilities’ two aircraft hangars, followed by a reception and a self-guided tour of the 218,000-square-foot facility. The $80 million project houses the college’s Aeronautical Studies programs and also provides classroom and lab space for training in other industrial and advanced manufacturing fields.
Education reform up for debate in January. The state’s first major education bill in decades is getting closer to the Senate floor, teeing it up for debate prior to the General Assembly’s slog as the two-year session ends in May, a key lawmaker last week told our sister publication, Statehouse Report. “It’ll be right across the desk on the first day with a favorable report,” said Senate Education Chair Greg Hembree, R-Horry. The session begins Jan. 14. The meandering and expansive package addresses a wide range of issues including bumping the starting pay of teachers, addressing how the state intervenes in failing schools and changing the state’s literacy program. Read the full story.
South Carolina has worst roads in the nation. Just two years after state lawmakers finally agreed to phase in a gas tax increase, the state’s roads are still in shambles, according to a survey from Consumer Affairs. The survey ranked the state as having the worst roads in the nation. Read more.
FBI report shows increase in hate crimes in S.C. In 2018, South Carolina law enforcement agencies reported 111 hate crimes — a big jump from the 87 reported in 2017. Most of the hate crimes were based on race, according to the statistics. See the data here.
Check coming? Check here. The S.C. Department of Revenue is offering a way to check on whether you will receive a $50 rebate check. Click here. In related news, Gov. Henry McMaster signaled this week he would push for an income tax cut in the state in light of a projected $1.8 billion boost in state revenues. Read more.
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Tell us what you love about the Lowcountry. Send a short comment – 100 words to 150 words – that describes something you really enjoy about the Lowcountry. It can be big or small. It can be a place, a thing or something you see. It might the bakery where you get a morning croissant or a business or government entity doing a good job. We’ll highlight your entry in a coming issue of Charleston Currents. We look forward to hearing from you.
Not a house in a subdivision
Here’s what this week’s mystery is not: A standard South Carolina subdivision house. But what and where is it? Send your guess to: editor@charlestoncurrents.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Nov. 11 mystery, “This puzzler might be impossible,” wasn’t impossible for one guy: Super sleuth George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
We had lots of great guesses of the photo of a graveyard through a second-floor window. Among the guesses were the photo showed a view in Charleston from the Circular Congregational Church, the Unitarian Church and First Scots Presbyterian Church. Another person guessed it was at Snee Farm in Mount Pleasant and another thought it resembled a house in Clemson at the S.C. Botanical Gardens.
Graf said close examination of the two obelisks gave away the location as Second Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, 342 Meeting Street, Charleston.
“I believe the two grave obelisks are the Rev. Thomas Smyth and his wife Margaret Milligan Adger. According to presbyteriansofthepast.com, ‘Shortly after Rev. Smyth’s arrival in Charleston, he married Margaret Milligan Adger the daughter of James Adger who was a prosperous local businessman that made his sizeable fortune via Charleston’s harbor and its busy docks. Currently there are two cobble-stoned roads off of East Bay Street in Charleston, “North Adgers Wharf,” and “South Adgers Wharf,” which are reminders of the Adger era of Charleston shipping. Margaret and Thomas were married on July 9, 1832.’
“‘Though Dr. Smyth was loved by his congregation, it does not mean they were happy with every aspect of his ministry. He had a habit of preaching too long. In order to address this problem, a speaking tube was installed from the choir loft to the pulpit so the violinist could speak to Dr. Smyth and let him know he was preaching too long. Despite the warnings echoing through the sound tube’s horn so that they were loud enough for people in the front pews to hear them, he paid no attention and continued to proclaim the Word at length.’”
Great work, George — and thanks to everyone else for what was probably the hardest mystery we’ve ever offered!
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send it along to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.
Promised Land
S.C. Encyclopedia | Located just off S.C. Highway 10 south of Greenwood, this rural African American community was created by freed slaves in the early 1870s. Before Promised Land, the 2,742-acre tract of land belonged to the estate of Samuel Marshall, a white plantation owner. Marshall’s heirs sold the land to the South Carolina Land Commission in 1869 at a rate of $10 per acre.
The commission divided the property into fifty lots of approximately fifty acres each and then sold them to freed African Americans. Eleven families purchased lots in Promised Land in 1870; by 1872 some forty-eight families resided in the community. The name derived from their “promise” to pay the commission for the land. The sale of the Marshall property gave blacks in the upstate a rare opportunity to acquire land, which to most symbolized the essence of freedom in the post–Civil War years. Descendents of these original purchasers occupied the land continually throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.
From its inception, residents of Promised Land exerted a significant influence over the political, economic, and social life of rural Abbeville and Greenwood Counties. During Reconstruction many of the men served as Republican Party officials. Seven Promised Land residents were delegates to a county Republican convention in 1872. Two men served on Abbeville County’s first integrated jury. Many of Promised Land’s residents shared family or kin ties, and few households were untouched by an overlapping network of in-laws and cousins. Churches provided the foundation for the community’s leadership. Leadership within the churches was carefully controlled from each generation within the same kin groups.
World War I, the boll weevil, and the Depression stimulated migration from Promised Land. Begun as a push by landless youths, migration was an outgrowth of community dynamics, peonage agriculture, and the maturation of blacks. The trend began to reverse itself by the end of the twentieth century, as new residents moved to the community. Many residents remained, however, tied to the land and community that had provided independence for hundreds of African Americans in the upstate for more than a century.
— Excerpted from an entry by Robert Ashton Cobb. This entry may not have been updated since 2006. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia, published in 2006 by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
Special markets to be downtown, West Ashley, Mount Pleasant
Staff reports | Putting a jingle on your stocking is just around the corner with three special holiday markets.
From noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24, the West Ashley Farmers Market will return for a special Thanksgiving Market in Ackerman Park, 55 Sycamore Ave. It will feature fresh local produce, prepared and packaged food products, food trucks, free kids activities, live music by the Bluestone Ramblers, free parking and a blood drive with The Blood Connection. The Thanksgiving market will be the site’s last for the season.
Then on Dec. 1 at Park Cafe on upper Rutledge Avenue in Charleston, the Holy City Vintage Market is back from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It plans to get festive with hot Charleston Fogs and delicious brunch, tarot card readings, vintage vinyl, vintage winter coats, sweaters, holiday party wear and lots of holiday spirit. Featured vendors include Runaround Sue Vintage, Grease Kelly Vintage, fk vintage, Tinted Saga, Third Eye Vintage, Second Line Vintage, Threads Todisco, Reflections African Jewelry, Ancien. Vintage, Frenchie Vintage, Malted Mutts, Haus of Hygiene, and Graveface Records.
In Mount Pleasant, you can show at a special Dec. 7 holiday market and craft show by the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market at the market pavillion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. Time: 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Free parking. Lots of activities. More info.
Also on the calendar:
Holiday Festival of Lights: Opens 5:30 p.m., through Dec. 31, 2019, James Island County Park. Now in its 30th year, the Holiday Festival of Lights is open every evening, rain or shine, with closing set for 10 p.m., except Fridays and Saturdays, which close at 11 p.m. The show returns to make merry magical memories with its vibrant light show is one of Charleston’s most cherished holiday events, featuring an estimated two million dazzling lights. More.
Lights of Magnolia: 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., through March 15, 2020, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, West Ashley. Enjoy nine acres of Chinese lanterns, dragons and more at the venerable garden’s new evening attraction. The lantern festival includes custom-designed installations of large-scale thematically unified lanterns, a fusion of historic Chinese cultural symbols and images that represent the flora and fauna of Magnolia. Learn more online. Tickets are $11-$26. On-site parking is limited, but shuttles are available. For more information and frequently asked questions, click here.
Coming to the Gaillard. Check out these awesome coming events at the Charleston Gaillard Center, 95 Calhoun St., Charleston:
Goo Goo Dolls: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 17. Charleston is one of 20 cities in which the band is performing on its tour in support of its 12th studio album, Miracle Pill. Formed in Buffalo, N.Y., during 1986 by John Rzeznik and Robby Takac, Goo Goo Dolls quietly broke records, contributed a string of staples to the American songbook, connected to millions of fans, and indelibly impacted popular music for three-plus decades. Tickets start at $25. More.
Rach 2: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 22 and 23. The Charleston Symphony Orchestra will present Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, which may have been early music therapy for the composer. The Gaillard explains: :”Rachmaninoff was in the midst of a four-year long depression, caused by the near-universal excoriation of his first symphony and the death of his musical idol, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. He found the treatment so helpful that he wrote Piano Concerto No. 2 in only a matter of months, and even dedicated it to the doctor who treated him.” Tickets are $25 to $114.
CofC Orchestra: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 25. The College of Charleston Orchestra will perform a fall concert conducted by Yuriy Bekker. The program will include Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final scene from “Eugene Onegin)”, J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Astor Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteño and Primavera Porteña from “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on the Bald Mountain,” and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnole.” Free, with a suggested donation of $20. More.
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 26. You can celebrate 35 years of holiday magic as the groups bring its annual holiday tour to fans throughout the country. Experience the performance of the #1 Christmas music artist in history and for the first time ever, hear the entire album that started it all, LIVE!” Tickets are $49.50 to $89.50.
Early morning bird walks at Caw Caw: 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday, Caw Caw Interpretive Center, Ravenel. You can learn about habitats and birds, butterflies and other organisms in this two-hour session. Registration is not required, but participants are to be 15 and up. $10 per person or free to Gold Pass holders. More: http://www.CharlestonCountyParks.com.
AREA MARKETS
Holiday markets are springing up all over. Click here to read where you can find 20 area holiday markets so you can buy local and be local. More: Charleston City Paper. In other regular markets:
- FRIDAYS/SATURDAYS: Night Market. Every Friday and Saturday from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. for the rest of the year, you can shop with 108 vendors, including artists and craftsmen, at the night market on Market Street between East Bay and Church streets. It’s more than four blocks of local shopping and fun. Free.
- SATURDAYS: Johns Island Farmers Market operates each Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. year-round with more than 50 local farmers and vendors, food trucks, music and more. The market is located on the campus of Charleston Collegiate School, 2024 Academy Road, Johns Island
- SATURDAYS: The Charleston Farmers Market is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Marion Square each Saturday through Nov. 30. More info.
MARKET NOTES: To help you keep up:
- The Mount Pleasant Farmers Market weekly market on Tuesdays finished in September. The next opportunity to shop is a special Dec. 7 holiday market and craft show at the market pavillion at Moultrie Middle School, 645 Coleman Blvd., Mount Pleasant. Time: 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Free parking. Lots of activities. More info.
- The West Ashley Farmers Market, typically held every Wednesday, had its last regular event of the year in October. More.
- If you have an event to list on our calendar, please send it to feedback@charlestoncurrents.com for consideration. The calendar is updated weekly on Mondays.
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