Cyclones and Floods, Part I

Although Kingstree and Williamsburg County escaped Hurricane Florence's wrath, that has not always been the case. In the next two posts we'll look at some of the storms and accompanying floods that have long lived in the memories of Kingstree citizens.

Hurricane Hugo, September 1989

While historians most often write about the October 1893 hurricane which tore through coastal South Carolina, leaving many residents clinging to the treetops in an attempt to save their lives, when Kingstree residents later remembered the great storm of 1893, they were talking about the one that hit on Sunday, August 27. That storm became known as the Great Sea Islands Hurricane, a Catagory 3 storm that made landfall just south of Savannah with winds of 115 miles per hour. The 2,000 deaths attributed to the hurricane were caused largely by the 16-foot storm surge. This storm marked the beginning of the end of the phosphate industry in South Carolina.

In Kingstree, however, preparations were underway for the annual week-long Teachers' Institute, held each summer to bring new methods and information to the county's teachers. The two professors who were to direct the institute arrived that Sunday night in the midst of blinding rain and howling winds. Morning's first light revealed no major property damage or loss of life in Kingstree, but the streets were strewn with fallen trees, and all roads leading into Kingstree were impassable. The professors, realizing that county teachers were unable to get to town, postponed the proceedings until a later date.

Park Avenue, Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

On Monday, September 17, 1906, a Category 1 hurricane made landfall near Georgetown, and moved very slowly northwest, weakening into a tropical storm over Williamsburg County. Property damage in Kingstree was severe. Newspapers reported "wholesale destruction" in the town of Kingstree where buildings were demolished, fences blown away, trees uprooted, and residents suffered heavy losses of livestock. The entire cotton crop was destroyed with some farmers reporting that their cotton plants had been blown out of the ground. Every building in town was reported to have suffered some damage.

Main Street, Hurricane Hugo, September 1989

Louis Stackley was close to completing a handsome, brick store on the corner of Main and Academy streets (just across Academy from the building pictured above). As the winds reached their peak around two o'clock that afternoon, the new building collapsed from their force. A cotton warehouse, also under construction, across the street from the depot fell to the ground, as well, as did three dwellings in various stages of construction. The winds picked up the cotton hull warehouse at the cotton seed oil mill, located where Railroad Auction is today, and hurled it across the railroad tracks. The oil mill itself also suffered serious damage. The roof blew off the courthouse, and the graded school suffered damage, as well.

Main Street, Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

The streets were thickly strewn with debris from buildings and trees. One newspaper account noted, "The staunch oak trees that have for many years shaded the streets and added so materially (to the town) were wrenched from the ground or almost completely dismantled." There was, however, no loss of life in Kingstree, and townspeople began clearing away the debris as soon as the storm subsided.

Third Avenue, Hurricane Hugo, September 1989

In August, 1911, a Catagory 2 storm hit Hilton Head Island, SC, with 100 mile-per-hour winds, sending a significant storm surge up the coast. It destroyed most of South Carolina's rice crop, effectively ending rice production in the state. The storm resulted in 17 deaths, as it pounded the state for three days. The storm made landfall on the 18th anniversary of the Great Sea Islands hurricane of 1893.

Gale force winds began pounding Kingstree on Sunday night, August 27. The high winds lasted all day Monday, with torrents of rain falling all Tuesday, tapering off to showers which lasted until Thursday. While the damage in town was limited to roof damage and fallen fences, about a quarter of the cotton crop was destroyed. 

Academy Street, Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

According to The County Record, during the high winds on Monday night, Dr. E.T. Kelley kept hearing a strange moaning sound coming from somewhere in his yard. About 11:30, after he was unable to determine the cause of the sound, he called in his neighbors. A thorough search of his premises found an African-American man hanging by his foot from the fence. The man said he was from Sumter, but had found work in Kingstree as a painter. He said he had gotten drunk and disoriented in the storm, and while trying to climb the fence, his foot got stuck.

The State newspaper, however, printed an entirely different version of the story. In it, W.H. Carr had early that evening heard sounds as if someone were trying to break into his house. He checked all the doors and windows, finding them secure, but later heard groaning outside the house where he found his would-be burglar hanging by his foot from the fence.

Park Avenue, Hurricane Hugo, September 1989

One Kingstree couple barely survived the nightmare of the storm while vacationing on Sullivan's Island. Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Swittenberg moved to a more substantial cottage on Saturday night as it became apparent that the storm would be a bad one. As it turned out, the cottage they evacuated was washed away, taking their luggage with it, while the one to which they moved was partially destroyed. They said it took six men to hold the door to the cottage closed after the wind broke the door fastenings. Despite the heavy rain, the Swittenbergs were able to return to Kingstree on Tuesday with quite a tale to tell.

Gilland Avenue, Hurricane Matthew, October 2016

Next week, we'll look at the devastating floods of 1916 and 1928.

Lighting Up the Dark

Hurricane Florence's slow meander across South Carolina spared Kingstree from serious damage. However, many of us experienced a period of no electric power at some point during the long, stressful weekend. It's during these times that we remember just how dependent we are on electricity and the comforts it makes possible. This year marks the 105th year residents of the Town of Kingstree have had access to electric power, and like many things, it was a struggle to get it up and going.

As early as 1904, The County Record agitated in its editorial pages for the town council to look at providing electricity to residents. The paper argued that the old gas-powered street lights did not always work, nor did they provide enough light for residents to see to get about at night. The dark streets were also havens for crime, the paper stated.

On March 15, 1906, town residents voted in a special bond referendum to issue $12,000 in bonds to build the infrastructure for an electric light system. The final vote tally was 44-6 in favor of issuing the bonds. Town council turned the project over to the Board of Commissioners for Public Works to ascertain the costs of building and maintaining such a system. By November, nothing had been done and at its November 20 meeting, council called for the immediate resignation of the members of the Board of Commissioners. 

By February, 1907, the town had employed C.C. Wilson, a Columbia architect, to work up a preliminary cost estimate for constructing an electric light plant to serve the Town of Kingstree. He came to Kingstree on several occasions, but somehow nothing ever happened, and in March, 1908, the newspaper noted that two years had passed since the bond referendum on electric lighting was approved, but Kingstree still spent its nights in darkness.

The town got a taste of what electricity could bring in December 1908 when Smith's Greater Shows, a carnival sponsored by the Kingstree Fire Department, arrived, bringing its own electric plant with it. "For the first time in its history, Kingstree is lit up with electricity," The County Record crowed.

H.C. Case of Philadelphia, PA, appeared at a special town council meeting in 1909 to propose that council give him a franchise to provide electricity to the town. He was already providing power to Georgetown and could easily expand his operation to Kingstree, he said. Council was willing, and in January 1910, the State of South Carolina issued a charter to the Kingstree Electric Company, with capital assets of $10,000. Case was president of the company, with M.V.B. Sickel of Newton, PA, vice president, and S.C. Case, also of Newton, the secretary-treasurer.

Just as architect Wilson had been seen in Kingstree several times after the town engaged him, so, too Case was in town, meeting with officials, on several occasions. However, 1910 turned in to 1911, and the Town of Kingstree was still without electricity. In February 1911, The County Record again equated lack of electricity with lawlessness. In response to a Saturday night shooting spree on S. Academy Street in which no one was arrested, the newspaper noted, "The greatest foes of lawlessness are light and publicity. Give us more and better lights!"

Several businesses and homeowners, tired of waiting for town-wide electric service, installed their own systems. The Williamsburg Oil Mill was fully electrified, as was P.B. Thorn's new residence, although Thorn hedged his bets by installing both gas lights and electric ones. P.S. Courtney put in a 5-horsepower International Harvester engine and dynamo to provide electric lights and fans for his restaurant/ice cream parlor. He also installed a steam-driven piano, run by the dynamo. Dentist Dr. W.L. Taylor installed an electric motor to power his drill.

The town's installation of a city-wide water system in 1912 seemed to give council the impetus it needed to move forward with electric lights. In July, 1912, shortly after the water system became operational, council granted a conditional right to three local men–M.F. Heller, R.H. Kellahan, and Dr. D.C. Scott–to construct and operate an electric lighting plant in Kingstree. These three men were chosen from several applications the town received.

In mid-September, books of subscription opened to raise capital for the Kingstree Electric Light & Ice Company. The ice manufacturing plant was added as a complementary business because Kingstree was at that time forced to get ice from Florence or Georgetown, and service was sometimes spotty. The company received its charter from the state in early November. P.G. Gourdin was president; T.M. Kellahan, vice-president; and D.C. Scott, secretary-treasurer. By the second week of November, 1912, workmen were raising cypress poles on the streets to hold the light lines. The townspeople were expecting electricity in about four months.

The company contracted with General Electric of New York in December to provide equipment and machinery. The equipment arrived in March, and as installation of it began, citizens who were interested began wiring their homes so they'd be ready once electric power was available.

The April 10, 1913, issue of The County Record noted, "A force of electrical engineers and other workmen are now engaged in stringing the transmission wires for the Kingstree Electric & Ice Company. It is hoped that electric street lights are not far off for Kingstree. What a difference there will be then in the old town at night!"

There seems to have been little or no fanfare when the system actually went into service. On May 15, 1913, The County Record stated in its local news column, "The electric 'juice' has been turned on, and (on) these dark, cloudy nights Main Street suggests a 'great white way.'"

Apparently, the system needed some adjustment in those early days, as in June of that year, the paper made note that town residents were once again enjoying their electric lights which had been shut down for some days while repairs were made to the generating system.

 All photos taken September 15, 2018

Bessie Britton told this story about the coming of electricity in a column published in The County Record in 1952. Adolphus McFadden was a deaf-mute who was well-loved in Kingstree. She described him as a "small black man who, although he couldn't speak a word, could utter weird sounds, and his gestures were most eloquent." Sometime before electric lights became a reality in Kingstree, Dolphus had been helping to unload a rail car near the depot. Unable to hear the train coming, he stepped back onto the track and was hit by the locomotive. His injuries were severe, and he was taken first to the railroad hospital in Florence, and then on to Rocky Mount, NC, where he stayed for some time. During his absence, the power was turned on in Kingstree. Miss Bessie noted that when he returned, "all dressed in a snow-white suit, he stepped off the train expecting to see the village in darkness as usual. The blaze of lights almost threw him for a loop." He immediately trotted off to visit Mayor W.R. Scott, with whom he had grown up. However, when he got to Thomas McCutchen's home and saw the family sitting on the front porch, he began jumping up and down on the sidewalk, squealing as if he were in mortal agony. Mr. McCutchen rushed to help him, only to discover that Dolphus was overjoyed to see that Kingstree now had lights just as bright as Rocky Mount's.

According to the 1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, the Kingstree Electric Light and Ice Company was located on the north side of Scott Street near the railroad, the same location that for many years after was the site of Southern Cities Ice Company.

Tobacco: The Early Years

July 20, 1909. Although it's mid-morning, downtown Kingstree is strangely quiet. Strange because it's a Tuesday in the middle of summer. However, not far outside the city limits, wagons loaded with cured tobacco are making their way to one of two warehouses that will today oversee the first tobacco auctions ever held in Williamsburg County. It's a banner day for Kingstree, and downtown stores have closed for the morning so that everyone can attend the sales at the Banner and Farmers Warehouses, both located on what is now Third Avenue on the property now home to Kingstree Junior High School.

Someone could well write a book about the history of tobacco in Williamsburg County. Today, we'll look at the very early years of the growth and sale of the "golden weed" in Kingstree. Farmers in Williamsburg County first began looking at tobacco as an alternative to cotton in 1895. Even at that early date, there was talk of building a warehouse in Kingstree.

Former Williamsburg County Sheriff Joseph E. Brockinton led the charge on tobacco culture. On June 17, 1895, he had already cured his first barn of tobacco. This was believed to be the earliest tobacco ever cured anywhere in the United States. Brockinton laid claim to the development of a new method of curing tobacco by using a furnace instead of the traditional flues. With his method, he said he could direct the heat at an even temperature for 10 to 12 hours. That year he gathered 1750 pounds of tobacco from one acre, which he sold for $326.

In 1900, the high prices offered for cotton drove down the number of acres of tobacco planted in Williamsburg County, but a poor cotton crop in 1901 again heightened interest in tobacco culture. That year P.B. Thorn grew tobacco on acreage he owned in the town of Kingstree. In 1903, talk of building a tobacco warehouse in Kingstree was renewed. But it was not until October 1908 that Kingstree residents formed the Kingstree Tobacco Warehouse Company in order to sell stock to raise money for building a warehouse. They raised enough to construct two warehouses on the property just outside town, now Third Ave.

Construction began on the two 60'x150' warehouses in March. It was noted as a point of pride that neither warehouse had any columns, leaving lots of open space to hold the cured tobacco. By June, the warehouses were completed, and J.G. Slaughter, D.J. Epps, and W.P. Baller had leased the Banner Warehouse, with W.K. McIntosh and J. Moore leasing the Farmers Warehouse. That first year, the Kingstree tobacco market sold $1.5 million worth of tobacco, and the Kingstree Tobacco Warehouse Company was able to declare an 8-percent dividend at the end of the year.

By 1911, Kingstree had three warehouses. W. Koger McIntosh continued to lease and operate a warehouse here, but after the season ended in October, he spent the rest of the autumn in Clarksville, Virginia, where he ran a warehouse on their tobacco market.

In 1912, The Kingstree Tobacco Warehouse Company moved its operations downtown. They tore down one of the old warehouses and used the material to built a new warehouse on Hampton Avenue, where the Williamsburgh Museum Annex is today. It was to be called Gorrell's Warehouse, as three men from North Carolina, two of them Gorrells, had leased it for the season. The Central Warehouse was located across the street on the corner of Hampton Avenue and Mill Street. Nelson's Warehouse was on the railroad track where Family Dollar is located today. Opening day of the market was July 11, and that evening D.J. Epps entertained the out-of-town tobaccomen who would be Kingstree for the summer with one of his famous pine bark stews at Nelson's Warehouse.

Gorrell's Warehouse on Hampton Ave in 1913.

The summer of 1912 saw the old Kingstree Board of Trade rejuvenated as the Kingstree Tobacco Board of Trade. It was formed to regulate and uphold the by-laws of the tobacco market. G.W. Swain was elected president, with Henry Woods, Jr., as vice president. In 1913, the Tobacco Board of Trade launched an aggressive advertising campaign, touting Kingstree as the best place for farmers to sell their tobacco. That summer, the old cotton warehouse across the street from the depot was converted into a prizery, a building in which large presses, called prizes, compacted the tobacco leaves for shipment to manufacturers. Another prize house was built behind Gorrell's Warehouse in what is now the downtown parking lot.

Nelson's Warehouse on Main Street in 1913.

The first sale of 1913 was at Nelson's Warehouse on July 11. Wagons loaded down with tobacco poured into town all morning for the 11:15 sale. The second sale was at the Central Warehouse, sometimes called Morgan's Warehouse in 1913 as E.L. Morgan of North Carolina had leased it that year. The final sale of the day was at Gorrell's Warehouse. The County Record noted that many ladies were present at the sales that day to hear the auctioneers. A band also entertained a each of the three sales.

As had become the custom, a reception was held at the end of the first sales day for the tobaccomen from North Carolina who would make their homes in Kingstree for the summer. These men formed their own baseball team in 1913, beating the Kingstree High School team 4-1 in their first game.

Full page ad run in 1913 by the Tobacco Board of Trade promoting the Kingstree market.

In February 1914, Gorrell's Warehouse collapsed under the weight of a heavy snow. At a meeting the next week, shareholders of the Kingstree Tobacco Warehouse Company decided not to rebuild at that location and offered that lot, as well as the one on Third Avenue, for sale. Gorrell's opened for the 1914 season in a warehouse to the rear of Vause's Shop on Main Street, and R.H. Kellahan built a brick warehouse on the site of the old Gorrell's Warehouse. I've always heard that the current Museum Annex was built with brick from the old Kellahan warehouse after it was torn down.

Pawleys Island Once Called "Suburb" of Kingstree

An affinity for Pawleys Island seems inbred in many Kingstree residents. So much so that a Kingstree correspondent to The State newspaper in 1935 dared called Pawleys a "suburb" of Kingstree, primarily because so many local businessmen were commuting to and from the island that summer while their families enjoyed extended vacations.

Surf breaks on the rocks at Pawleys Island.

Flash forward 83 years. Lee Gordon Brockington, senior interpreter at Hobcaw Barony and a year-round Pawleys resident with deep roots in Kingstree, signed her latest book, Pawleys Island, August 26 at the Williamsburgh Museum. The book, co-authored with journalist and political commentator Steve Roberts, who along with his wife NPR and ABC News contributor Cokie Roberts has vacationed on Pawleys for the past 40 years, looks at the island's history from the early days until the mid-1950s in both pictures and prose.

Lee Brockington holding a copy of Pawleys Island.

Kingstree residents have long appreciated what Pawleys Island offers. Even in the 1890s and early 1900s, a number of intrepid souls each summer undertook the adventure of traveling from Kingstree to the island, even though it meant crossing the rivers at Georgetown, first by boat and later by barge or ferry. 

Pawleys has always been a place for families to gather and relax, but in the 1920s and '30s, several groups from Kingstree traveled to the island for outings. In July 1927, county agents from Clarendon, Georgetown, and Williamsburg counties held a two-day 4-H camp for boys on the island. Approximately 30 young men from Williamsburg County attended the camp. Then in the summer of 1930, the association of Williamsburg Farm Women spent August 6-8 on the island where the participated in learning handwork and group singing, as well as enjoying the beach. Thirty-six women arrived on the island in the Cedar Swamp School Bus, with a few additional automobiles, for this time of fellowship and fun.

Pelicans have long been called the "Pawleys Island Air Force."

With the opening of the Lafayette (now Siau) Bridge in 1935, travel to and from Pawleys Island became easier. Kingstree residents took full advantage of the easier access that summer, with many families spending a month or so on the island while the menfolk commuted back to Kingstree to take care of their business interests. 

On July 21, 1935, Carrie Sparks Douglass, news editor for The County Record and local correspondent to the state's daily papers, wrote a piece in The State which stated, "Scores of businessmen have moved their families to one of the several beach resorts and commute back and forth to their work here in town for a period of from a few days to several weeks."

Sea oats have become an emblem for Pawleys Island.

Carrie Douglass then went on to describe what she called the "Kingstree Colony," the nucleus of which was five cottages, built within a 400-yard radius of each other, all owned by Kingstree residents. Two of the cottages had been there for some time, although the Dick Blakelys had recently built an addition to their beachfront cottage, and W.N. and Freda Jacobs had completely remodeled their cottage, "FreMaNap," located directly behind and across the road from the Blakelys. 

In 1934, Erban Kennedy had built the "Kennedy Kottage," beside the Jacobs cottage, and on a lot adjoining the Kennedys, N.L. Williams had built two cottages and the Beachnut Grocery. Williams' son Norman and some of his high school friends were running the grocery store for the season.

Watching the shorebirds is an entertaining part of any visit to Pawleys Island.

In the summer of 1935, Kingstree residents exclusively occupied those five cottages, and as the cottages had a total capacity for 15 families at any given time, the town had been well-represented on the island. Other Kingstree residents came to the island for weekends, spending them in one of several boarding houses available. The Kingstree folk were particularly partial to the boarding house run by Mrs. T.R. Owens, whose husband was connected to the W.E. Bynum Lumber Company in Kingstree. Bynum, Carrie Douglass noted, was also a member of the Kingstree Colony, although his house was located in another group of cottages on the beach. She went on to name some 80 families and individuals from Kingstree who had spent time on Pawleys in July 1935.

Not everyone from Kingstree had access to a cottage or stayed in a boarding house. One Kingstree resident took his accommodations with him when he went to the beach. Lindsey H. Cromer, Jr, editor and publisher of The County Record and the Lake City News, had once owned a lot on Pawleys but sold it, opting instead to, along with a local carpenter, design and build a trailer he pulled behind his automobile. The trailer had four bunk beds, a water tank and a refrigerator. Mr. Cromer claimed that he was not that partial to the beach, and with his trailer he could just as easily spend time in the mountains.

The south end at Pawleys Island in 2017.

The adventure of a beach vacation did not end with the building of the Lafayette Bridge. On August 11, 1940, a Category Two hurricane made landfall near Beaufort, SC, packing 100-mile-an-hour winds and a 13-foot storm surge. A group of 12 to 15-year old girls from Kingstree was enjoying a house party on Pawleys when the weather got rough. Carrie Douglass, back in Kingstree, received a phone call at 3:30 that Sunday morning, informing her that the group was moving to Georgetown for the rest of the night. It was only later that parents found out the girls had spent the remainder of the night in the lobby of the Lafayette Hotel and in the offices of Dr. Assey, who not only opened his office for them to use, but also had a Georgetown restaurant supply them with breakfast the next morning at his expense. By daylight on Sunday, the winds had calmed enough for the girls and their chaperones to return to Pawleys to pick up the luggage they had abandoned in their middle-of-the night flight and come home to Kingstree.

Patricia Smiley and Lee Brockington discuss Lee's new book.

While Lee Brockington and Steve Roberts' book on Pawleys Island doesn't contain any references to the Kingstree Colony, there are three etchings by Williamsburg County artist the late James Fowler Cooper. Mr. Cooper owned a house at Pawleys and sold much of his work at The Hammock Shop. Lee says the 100 plus photographs in the book were chosen with an eye toward those that had not been published before.

Lee Brockington signs a copy of Pawleys Island.