Happy Independence Day! Many of you will celebrate in some way today with family or friends, but you may not be as excited about it as you would have been had you lived in Kingstree 86 years ago. On Monday, July 4, 1932, the Town of Kingstree marked its 200th birthday with an all-day celebration.
The town had high hopes for its bicentennial. Planning began in 1925 when the Kiwanis Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and the seven ladies' clubs in town appointed seven men and seven women to a committee which expected to work for seven years to ensure that 1932 would be a "Jubilee" year for Kingstree. Some things were accomplished quickly. They decided that Kingstree would be known as "The Royal Town," and came up with the slogan, "A Royal Welcome to The Royal Town."
This faded sign proclaiming a Royal Welcome to the Royal Town was preserved
by Mrs. Woody Nexsen who recently donated it to the Williamsburgh Museum.
The stone marker commemorating the King's Tree was placed by the DAR
in preparation for the bicentennial celebration.
The Margaret Gregg Gordon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed the marker near the river on Main Street which tells the story of the King's Tree and how the town was named. By 1927, the committee was discussing permanent beautification plans to make sure that the town embodied the slogan, "The Royal Town," by 1932. Nell Gilland and Laura Hemingway, both talented writers, authored articles about the town and its history for newspapers throughout the state. Nell Gilland also edited a special bicentennial issue of The County Record, sponsored by the Council of Farm Women and published on June 30, which devoted its pages to the history of the town.
The best-laid plans, however, can fall victim to unforeseen circumstances, and with the stock market crash of 1929, followed by the Great Depression, the town's plans for a year-long celebration to tie in with the George Washington Bicentennial celebration and the 200th birthday of General Francis Marion were greatly reduced. By early 1932, the town had pared its celebration down to hailing the move of the Kingstree post office from its old building on the west side of Academy Street to the building of the failed Wee Nee Bank on the corner of Main & Academy and planning an all-day celebration on the Fourth of July.
The highlight of that celebration was a picnic to which descendants of the original 40 settlers who came with Roger Gordon in 1732 were invited as special guests. Those special guests included descendants of Roger Gordon, Edward Plowden, James Armstrong, Davis Johnson, Adam McDonald, William James, Archibald Hamilton, David Wilson, and John Scott. Camden resident Laurens Mills attended the festivities as he descended from at least 10 of Kingstree's earliest settlers including Roger Gordon, John Witherspoon, William James, Major John James, James Ervin, David Anderson, Major James Conyers, David Wilson, and Thomas Frierson.
A marker to Capt. Roger Gordon stands in the Williamsburg Cemetery.
The day began at the Courthouse where Kiwanis Club members served free lemonade to those who gathered to hear speeches from Judge Philip H. Stoll and Senator Emerson L. Ard. Mayor F.R. Hemingway served as Master of Ceremonies, urging members of the First Families to raise funds for a bronze plaque on the courthouse which would bear the names of the 40 first settlers. Judge Stoll urged that a permanently bound copy of the bicentennial issue of The County Record be preserved at the Kingstree Library. In his speech, titled "The Spirit of our Forefathers," he touched on the fact that Kingstree came into existence in 1732, the same year that both George Washington and Francis Marion were born. Senator Ard's speech primarily recalled the various crops that had brought prosperity to the community, touting the recent discovery that South Carolina-grown vegetables had high levels of iodine, believed to be conducive to good health and thought to be a new source of wealth to farmers in the state.
Kellahan Park as it looks today.
After the speeches, the crowd dispersed to several areas–Kellahan Park, Wee Nee Beach, Boswell's Beach, and the Red Hill Community Park–to enjoy basket picnics. In the afternoon, those who wished attended a baseball game while others participated in a tea dance and others viewed a three-act pageant sponsored by the DAR, The United Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Auxiliary of the American Legion. That evening residents danced the night away at the Wee Nee Beach Pavilion at the Main Street Bridge to the music of the Walter Speights Orchestra of Charleston, which also provided music for the program at the Courthouse.
The Town of Kingstree's tricentennial is now only 14 short years away. Maybe as we begin the serious work of revitalizing downtown through the Main Street program, we should keep in mind that the projects we choose to work on will go a long way toward making Kingstree's 300th birthday in 2032 an extra-special occasion.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
JULY 13: KINGSTREE LIVE AT THE DEPOT, 7-10 p.m., Music by Charlie Floyd. Food trucks, snow cones, face painting, corn hole.
JULY 14: BOOK SIGNING, WILLIAMSBURGH MUSEUM, 5-6 p.m. Sherman Carmichael will be signing his latest book, Mysterious Tales of Coastal North Carolina. Free Admission, Light Refreshments.
AUGUST 10: KINGSTREE LIVE AT THE DEPOT, 7-10 p.m., Back-to-School Bash. Music by The Band Punch. Food Trucks, Free Snow Cones, Face Painting.
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