We're aware that in the late 1920s and 1930s, Kingstree became a destination for northern industrialists who came here to hunt. However, according to an article in the February 28, 1888, issue of the The Morning Journal Courier, published in New Haven, Connecticut, at least one of their residents had discovered the hunting in Kingstree as early as 1888. The article is reprinted below:
The headline reads: FINE QUAIL SHOOTING, with a subhead of Down in the Palmetto State–a New Havener's Sojourn at Kingstree, S.C.–Shoots about Five Hundred Quail During a Four-Week's Stay–a Pleasant Spot.
"Mr. Edward Malley returned Saturday from South Carolina. Mr. Malley left New York for North Carolina January 12. He went to Garysburg, NC, to shoot wild turkeys and deer, which abound in that vicinity, but owing to exceedingly inclement weather, there not being a day in his week's stay there when shooting could be indulged in with any degree of comfort, he went on to Kingstree, SC.
"Kingstree is a sparsely settled village of about five hundred inhabitants. Here he put up at the hotel of mine hosts Lee & Kellahan, the Coleman Hotel, an inviting inn where the comfort of the inner man is attended to in a manner that leaves most pleasant impressions.
"He at once established his headquarters at this hotel for the season, and the shooting in the immediate vicinity was all that heart could wish. Good teams in plenty were to be had in the place and splendid quail shooting abounded within a half-hour's ride in almost any direction. On almost any day the dogs found from ten to twenty coveys of quail, and often the coveys were discovered in quick succession so that the sport was both plentiful and exciting.
"In all, Mr. Malley shot during his four weeks' stay nearly five hundred quail, and his friends in New Haven, New York City, and other places have had ample proof of his skill as a sportsman and tested the toothsome quail with many wishes for long life and prosperity for their kind and generous friend and many happy hunting seasons in the future.
"He found most genial companions and excellent marksmen in Captain John Kelly, a prominent lawyer of the place and ex-Confederate soldier, and in Dr. Pendergrass, one of the old planters of the Palmetto State, who resides about three miles out from Kingstree center. Both of these gentlemen showed every courtesy to their northern visitor, and of them and their kind hospitalities and friendships he retains vivid and most pleasant recollections. [The Dr. Pendergrass mentioned here is likely to be Samuel Fulton Pendergrass.]
"Mr. Malley brought home with him a pair of quails, which are now caged and domiciled at his residence and act as if well-content already with their new home and their new companions, the house canaries.
"Mr. Malley is warm in praise of the Coleman House and intends organizing a party of friends from New Haven to go there next winter and spend a number of weeks in the best shooting season. Mr. Lee, the active owner of the Coleman, is a most genial host. His partner, Mr. Kellahan, is a retired and wealthy gentleman, and the two partners are reckoned among the wealthiest now in that section.
"Mr. Malley having tried both parts of the country much prefers the climate, shooting, and accommodations in Kingstree to those he found in Florida. There are no fogs as on the gulf and at Georgetown, SC, where he was three winters ago. Kingstree is on the Atlantic Coast Line railway. It is fifty miles from the sea and in the northern part of South Carolina."
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Edward Malley died in 1909, but the department store that bore his name, The Edward Malley Company, was a part of New Haven, CT's downtown, selling clothing, housewares and books, until it closed in 1982. The building housed several other businesses until the 1990s. It was torn down in 1997.
No comments:
Post a Comment