Two New Books with Kingstree/Williamsburg County Ties

This Spring, two new books with direct ties to Kingstree and Williamsburg County hit the bookstores. One is Homespun, the third and final novel in Sophia Alexander's Silk trilogy, the story of one family, living near Kingstree and Greeleyville from the late 1800s until World War II. The second, published last week, is a memoir by Kingstree native Joseph McGill, Jr., co-authored with veteran reporter and free-lance writer Herb Frazier. This memoir, Sleeping with the Ancestors, recounts how McGill began his Slave Dwelling Project in 2010; what he's learned from 13 years of sleeping in the dwelling places of the enslaved; and the awareness he believes the project is bringing to various groups of Americans.

Sleeping with the Ancestors by Joseph McGill, Jr., and Herb Frazier.

While his first night in a slave cabin was in May 2010, the seeds of the project were planted much earlier when Joe McGill was a military policeman in the US Air Force, stationed in Germany. During that time, he and other military personnel toured Amsterdam in the Netherlands. On the tour, they were able to visit the attic in which Anne Frank and her family were hidden from the Nazis. McGill writes that in that moment he realized how much places matter. 

McGill went on to work for the National Park Service; the Penn Center on St. Helena Island; The African-American Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the National Trust for Historic Preservation and at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. 

His project began as The Slave Cabin Project, and he expected it to last a year in which he spent a night in various slave cabins across South Carolina. However, it did not take long for him to realize that the enslaved were not limited to cabins on the large plantations of the South. They also inhabited quarters in urban areas and in states as far north as New England, many in the Midwest and a few in the Northwest. In fact there were slave dwellings in every state east of the Mississippi River. And so his endeavor was renamed The Slave Dwelling Project. Soon, he was being invited to spend the night in dwellings in a number of different states, and he realized this was not just a year's endeavor, but a long-term project in which he could make tangible that places do matter.

Joseph McGill speaking in Kingstree in February 2020.

In his book, he quotes Dr. Deborah Fripp: "Understanding the nuances in everyone's stories helps us avoid cardboard caricatures of complex people." And he also quotes Texan Donald Payton, who said, "You have to know your grannies and your great-grannies. You can't just go through life believing that you made yourself." 

Through the Slave Dwelling Project and now in Sleeping with the Ancestors, Joe McGill is telling the stories of enslaved persons whose voices have been silenced for too long, and, in so doing, he is helping others to see, in the stories of those who have gone before, the importance of remembering the lessons their lives teach us all.

Joe McGill is scheduled to participate in the African-American Heritage Celebration of the opening of the African-American Archives of Williamsburg County on Saturday, June 24, at 2 p.m. at the Archives on Hampton Avenue in Kingstree.

And speaking of "knowing your grannies and your great-grannies," Sophia Alexander's paternal roots are deep in the Greeleyville area of Williamsburg County, and although her books are fiction, the stories and characters in them are loosely based on her Williamsburg County family, including grannies and great-grannies.

Homespun, book three in the Silk Trilogy by Sophia Alexander.

In Homespun, as in Silk and Tapestry, she follows the lives of Vivian and Gaynelle, the daughters of Silk's main character, Caroline, as they make their way through life in Williamsburg County from the early 20th century through World War II. But Homespun also introduces us to new characters, such as Zingle Caddell, who one reviewer writes, "doesn't regret the destruction left in his wake so much as he is annoyed by it." Zingle in a dark character, but like all good stories, things turn out in the end.

The author, in an interview, describes Homespun as the story of trouble lurking "in the guise of a family feud, forbidden love, and a journalist hell-bent on uncovering corruption."

Author Sophia Alexander.

She credits her obsession with genealogy and poking around at her family's murkier roots as the basis for the stories she developed into the series of three novels. She also notes that Homespun is less romantic than the two earlier novels, with more of a thriller edge.

To learn more about Silk, click here and for more information on Tapestry click here.

Born in South Carolina, Alexander now lives in Savannah, GA, but still spends time in Williamsburg County at her grandparents' old home. Her parents and sister live in Greeleyville. Her father was in the military, and she grew up in Germany, which will be the setting for her next novel.

Exciting Times Ahead for Williamsburgh Historical Society

The Williamsburgh Historical Society held its 2023 Annual Meeting Sunday at Thorntree House.

Thorntree House was the site of the Williamsburgh Historical Society's 2023 Annual Meeting.

It has been a busy year for the society as it prepares for the June 23-24 ribbon cutting and grand opening of the African-American Archives, located in the building next door to the Williamsburgh Historical Museum on Hampton Avenue in Kingstree. Society president C.M. "Bubba" Hammet, Jr., said much hard work has gone into the creation of the Archives and gave special recognition to former society president Beth Horton during whose tenure plans for the African-American Archives began.

He also recognized retiring recording secretary/treasurer Rosa Cherry for the many years of dedication and service she has given to the Historical Society. Museum Director Wendell Voiselle also thanked Mrs. Cherry for the hours she has put in working with the society's finances.

Bubba Hammet and Rosa Cherry compare notes before the annual meeting.

Over the last year, the society has hosted the Smithsonian Exhibition, Voices and Votes, and in March of this year held a movie night for the screening of Hidden Figures to honor Women's History Month. Also during the past year, the organization has overseen repairs to Thorntree House, the 1759 Witherspoon home that was re-located to Nelson Boulevard in Kingstree 54 years ago, and painted both Thorntree and the Museum. Hammet noted that another "Monuments of Stone" cemetery/graveyard tour is in the works, with more information to be provided later.

Board members re-elected for two-year terms were Billy Jenkinson, Archie Ward, Lynn Wilson, Joanne Brown, Irma Brockington and Sam Clarkson. Two new board members, Fran Clowney and Lane Mayor Charlie Fulton, were also elected. Other members of the board are Bubba Hammet, Darby Ward, Harriet McIntosh, Helen Tyler McFadden and Margaret Chandler. Society and Museum Director Wendell Voiselle also serves on the board as an unelected member.

Hammet was re-elected president of the board, with Margaret Chandler to serve again as vice-president. Harriet McIntosh will take over the duties of recording secretary, and Lynn Wilson agreed to serve as treasurer for a trial period. Rosa Cherry promised to be available to answer questions she might have.

The speaker for the afternoon was Pineville resident Keith Gourdin. Although he lives in Berkeley County, he has deep family ties to Williamsburg County and has long been a member and supporter of the Williamsburgh Historical Society. Gourdin is one of the organizers and leaders of Berkeley County's 250 Committee. Counties in the states which represent the 13 original colonies are forming 250 committees to plan ways each county can recognize and commemorate the 250th anniversary of the colonies' fight for independence and the founding of the United States. These events began in 2020 with a commemoration of the Boston Massacre and will continue through 2033, the 250th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris. Most of Williamsburg County's events will take place in 2031-32.

Keith Gourdin

Gourdin said that he had been talking to Camden Revolutionary War historian Charles Baxley for about four years, looking at how counties can best memorialize the events of the American Revolution. He felt the best way for him to start in Berkeley County was to identify the existing historical markers in the county that were tied to the American Revolution. This led to three years of putting together a book in which all historical markers in Berkeley County are pictured and the story of their significance is told. He later converted that book into a pocket-sized guidebook, in which those interested can check off each marker as they visit it. 

He said that for the 250 Committee, though, he is working on the RIMM theory, which means he Researches, Identifies, Marks and Maps each of the "action sites" that have Revolutionary War significance. He initially found approximately eight historical markers identifying Revolutionary sites, but he has now been able to identify over 30 documented sites with Revolutionary War ties. 

He then began looking for an economical way to mark these sites as official South Carolina Historical Markers cost over $2,600 a piece. A local sign company gave him a good price, and he was then able to get the support of the Berkeley County Council. The County Supervisor has assured him that as funding becomes available, the county will systematically replace the cheaper signs with official historical markers.

He has, however, run into some difficulties with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. SC-DOT no longer allows such signs in its rights-of-way, and private landowners are wary of allowing the public access to their properties to view markers. He said he hopes that perhaps the SC Legislature will be able to work out some sort of provisions, particularly as the 250th anniversaries of various events associated with the American Revolution approach. 

In his introduction of Gourdin, Museum Director Wendell Voiselle noted that the South Carolina Legislature will again provide funding for the Francis Marion Trail Commission, which was established in 2005, but which lost state funding several years ago.

Gourdin noted that he has been able to identify more sites associated with the Revolution by seeking help from Berkeley County residents. "I know my area of the county, but I realized that others know more about other areas of the county and could help us identify more sites," he said. 

Williamsburg County, like Berkeley, likely has far more sites associated with the American Revolution than have been formally identified. If anyone has information about such sites, please consider contacting Williamsburg County 250 Committee chair Margaret Chandler at margaretchandler15@yahoo.com.

Kingstree and Williamsburg County residents have much to look forward to in the coming months and years as this year marks the 200th anniversary of the construction of the Williamsburg County Courthouse and 2032 will mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Kingstree, as well as the events in between that commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.

Williamsburg County's Civil War Before the Civil War

The last post ended with Kingstree citizens riding two itinerant printers out of town on a rail in late 1859. While these two appear to be the only ones to suffer that particular indignity, two school teachers were also believed to be abolitionists sent to rile up the enslaved population, and they, too, were harassed by local citizens until they left the area.

Dr. James Brockinton's home at the head of Academy Street served as an early school.

In those days before public education, many of the more well-to-do families pooled their resources to hire a teacher for their children. The teachers would board with the families, with each family providing room and board for a time commensurate with the number of children in the family.

In 1857, the Rev. James A. Wallace, who was then minister at Williamsburg Presbyterian, placed an ad looking for a teacher. It's not clear if the ad was for Wallace himself or for members of his congregation. He received a number of applications and after hiring one of the applicants he passed the resumé of  Richard Patterson Ashbridge Hamilton on to S. J. Bradley and four other families who were also looking for a teacher. Hamilton was the son of a Virginia minister, who had most recently answered a call in Pennsylvania.

In a letter published in The Charleston Mercury in late December 1859, Wallace, who by then had left Kingstree to pastor a church in Georgia, noted that it was not at all unusual for local families to hire teachers from the North. Wallace noted that the families who employed Hamilton considered him to be a good teacher. However, there were others in the community who were suspicious of him simply because he had come from Pennsylvania.

At some point, Hamilton submitted an article, which seems to have been about religion, to The Kingstree Star, which was not accepted by editor Richard Columbus Logan. Instead, Logan penned an editorial in which he made derogatory remarks about Hamilton and his views. Hamilton protested this in a letter he hand-delivered to Logan. According to Wallace, Logan "disliking some portion of it, commenced a personal attack on Mr. Hamilton." 

Richard Columbus "Lum" Logan

No one was injured, but it was hardly a fair fight as Hamilton had a physical disability. In fact, this disability kept him from presiding over a larger school and was the major reason he had applied to teach at a small country school.

Hamilton charged Logan with assault and battery, but the Grand Jury refused to indict Logan. Hamilton then published a circular, detailing his issues with Logan, and Logan began to editorialize on a regular basis about the dangers of hiring northern school teachers.

At the time this was going on, H.D. Shaw had hired William Joseph Dodd from Jersey City, NJ, to teach his children. Dodd had only been in Williamsburg County for 10 months, living with the Shaws for the entire time.

Once Logan began his editorial campaign against teachers from the North, citizens began harboring suspicions about Dodd, as well as Hamilton.

 William J. Dodd

Source; Findagrave.com

After the altercation between Hamilton and Logan, some of Hamilton's patrons withdrew their children from his school without notifying S.J. Bradley or the other parents. This created strong tensions among many families in the area.

But some of the families who had hired Hamilton, as well as Dodd's employer, H.D. Shaw, supported the teachers, noting they had seen no signs that either of them held abolitionist views. Feelings were running high in the community with at least one demonstration near the courthouse where demonstrators called for men like Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter to rise again to defend the county.

A group of men opposed to Hamilton and Dodd met at McClary's store about three miles from Kingstree, where they agreed that the teachers must be forced to leave the community. Of all people, R.C. Logan was named chairman of a committee of 12 men who were given the task of informing the two teachers of the community's decision.

Dodd, for his part, approached Dr. Samuel Davis McGill, who had taught school before becoming a physician, and asked him to intercede with the community on his behalf. Dr. McGill chaired a meeting at the courthouse where he attempted to, as he wrote in his reminiscences, "appease the tumultuous cry against these foreigners." Drs. James S. Brockinton and S.D.M. Byrd quickly let Dr. McGill know that there would be no appeasement, and he hastened to tell William Dodd to leave town immediately.

A newspaper article published in Maine, stated that Dodd grew disgusted and left Williamsburg County; however, it seems likely that he simply listened to Dr. McGill's counsel and departed. Hamilton, on the other hand, stayed in Williamsburg County until the deadline he had been given before taking his leave.

I wondered what happened to Hamilton and Dodd after their tumultuous stay in Williamsburg County. While it's not always the case, the news stories surrounding these events gave me the gift of plenty of clues to attempt to trace their histories.

Both of them, it turns out, lived long lives, but neither of them married.

Hamilton, on leaving Williamsburg County, attempted to secure a teaching position in Sumter. However, his "reputation" in Williamsburg preceded him, and the people of Sumter also sent him packing. He then returned to his father's home in Pennsylvania.

In the 1870s, he moved to Chicago, where he first worked as a clerk in a store and later sold fire insurance. He died in Bremen, IL, a suburb of Chicago, in July 1918, at the age of 85.

William Dodd seems to have emulated Dr. S.D. McGill in that on returning to Jersey City, he entered medical school.  During the Civil War, he was a US Army Surgeon aboard the hospital steamer Ben Deford. He later worked for several years at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

Dodd died in 1909 at age 80. This interesting article appeared in several newspapers across the county shortly after his death. "Dr. William J. Dodd, a New York physician, who left an estate of $250,000, feared he would be buried alive, and in his will requested that his radial artery be cut before his burial. The administrator in probating his will said the artery was cut as requested."

It seems a few lines from Jan Richardson's poem "Eucharista" offers a fitting benediction for this sad moment in our community's history:

You whose names

have been lost to the winds,

whose stories

have been turned into scraps,

whose voices

echo through the ages

and beckon us to listen,

we give thanks

and we remember you.

The Coming of the Railroad

The coming of the railroad in the late 1850s brought a new "lease on life" to Kingstree and Williamsburg County. In addition to increased access to advanced medical care, the railroad gave farmers an easier way to get their crops to northern markets and also gave merchants an easier way to bring more choices of products to their customers.

The 1905 depot brought even greater access for farmers to get their crops to market.

But like many other advancements, it took a long time to get rail access into the area. On July 23, 1846, the New Orleans Picayune reported that on July 6, citizens of Williamsburg County held a mass public meeting with citizens from adjoining districts to discuss the feasibility of building a railroad from Charleston to Wilmington, NC.

Six years later, in February 1852, The SC Legislature appointed a commission composed of John Ravenel, Robert Hume and James Gadsden, to oversee the sale of capital stock in the North Eastern Railroad Company. Subscription books for the purchase of capital stock would be open in Charleston, Georgetown, Pineville, Kingstree and Cheraw. The article in The Charleston Courier noted that while Charleston had looked to expand westward with the Charleston to Hamburg railroad line, it had completely overlooked the importance of the city's connection to areas to its north but now sought to remedy that.

Two routes had been suggested for the proposed North Eastern Railroad. One ran from Charleston to Moncks Corner to Pinewood and on an "airline from there to Kingstree in Williamsburg District" and from there to the most eligible place to tie into the Wilmington to Manchester line, probably at some junction west of Florence.

The second proposal ran from Charleston to Lanneau's Ferry on the Santee, then on to Kingstree and to the same terminus with the Wilmington to Manchester as the first proposal.

The Courier noted, "Both will intersect with Williamsburg, a district which, from the last census, has increased in population and resources, at a ratio greater than most others in the state; an iron railway coursing through its center must stimulate into existence many new sources of agricultural wealth."

Amtrak still stops in Kingstree daily.

To build the railroad, $200,000 was needed for the charter and an additional $400,000 to $500,000  from the capital stock subscription drive would be needed to rapidly complete construction. The bridge over the Santee River would be the most expensive part of the railway's construction.

After due consideration the first option was chosen to build the railroad from Charleston to Moncks Corner, to Pineville, Kingstree and Florence. In reality it became a 103-mile, five-foot gauge railroad which ran from Charleston to a connection with the Wilmington to Manchester line two miles east of the city of Florence.

The farmers of Williamsburg District especially looked forward to the construction of the railroad as their produce could be shipped to Charleston in a matter of hours rather than a wagon journey of several days.

William Willis Boddie claimed in his history of Williamsburg County that several lives were lost in the construction of the railroad, and that a number of railroad employees were killed in accidents. Boddie wrote that the supervising contractor of the Santee trestle was killed before the job was completed.

It is likely that the first train came to Kingstree in 1856, although the line from Charleston all the way to Florence was not completed until October 1857.

Boddie wrote that many of Kingstree's older residents in the early 1920s well remembered the day the first train came through town. He wrote that there were celebrations at several stopping points with brass bands, barbecues and multitudes of people turning out to view the train. His father-in-law, Dr. D.C. Scott, was a wide-eyed six-year-old from Cedar Swamp, whose father, John Ervin Scott, had brought him to town for the occasion. His father had also bought him a hobby horse that day and cautioned him to hold his "horse" while the train was passing to keep it from bolting at the train's noise. Boddie added that all the real horses in Kingstree were tied well away from the railroad for the momentous event.

Dr. D.C. Scott many years after the first train roared through town.

Capt. Conrad Constine also told a story about the first train's arrival. He wrote that a large crowd had gathered on Main Street to watch for it. Capt. Isaac Nelson, whose home was on the southeast corner of Main and Academy streets, joined the throng gathered under a number of umbrellas as it was raining. Capt. Nelson cautioned them to put their umbrellas down as they didn't want to frighten the engine and was rewarded when several immediately complied, while others snickered at their neighbors' gullibility.

Boddie also noted that Railroad Avenue became a prime residential street as those who lived there enjoyed seeing the trains pass. However, he stated that half a century later, many residents of Railroad Avenue were given to complaining about the number of trains that passed by their homes every day.

In Dr. S.D. McGill's reminiscences of Williamsburg County, he wrote that the first depot was located on a public road near the Kingstree Branch. This would be today's Brooks Street which dead-ended at that time at the branch, which is today's canal. Dr. McGill noted that for many months a railroad boxcar was used as a depot, with Peter B. Mouzon the first railroad agent for Kingstree, a position he would hold until his death.

The location of the depot so far away from the business district was a major complaint for many years,  which was not fully resolved until the present depot opened on Thanksgiving Day 1905.

Dr. McGill also noted that the railroad brought new life to the community although he quoted one old citizen as saying, "Charleston is now too convenient; we must have a beefsteak every day for dinner."

Some Kingstree ladies like "Miss Lou" Gilland would often take the morning train to Charleston to shop, returning on the afternoon train.

While freight trains no longer stop in Kingstree, much freight passes through each day.

As railroads increased throughout the country, a saying came into existence about undesirable elements being "ridden out of town on a rail." Kingstree, unfortunately, was not exempt from this practice.

R.C. Logan, editor of The Kingstree Star, printed this in December 1859: Two straggling printers from the North were caught at the depot last night in the company of some negroes and rode out of town this morning on a rail. We intend to exterminate all such characters from our community.

In a more detailed story, the Charleston Courier noted that Edmund O. Daly (in other publications spelled O'Daly) and Andrew Dunn were arrested in Charleston and committed for examination as suspected abolitionists. The Wellsboro (NC) Gazette's story indicated that the people of Kingstree, suspecting the two men–one an older man and the other a young man, both of good personal appearance–had abolitionist tendencies and were in the community to stir up trouble, decided to rid themselves of the two. While no evidence was given, the citizens placed the two on rails, carried by several of their enslaved men, compelling their two suspects to sing while being transported in this manner all around town. They were then turned loose at the depot and placed on the noon train to Charleston. 

The other passengers, however, refused to ride in the same car with them, causing them to be put off the train at St. Stephen. They then walked on to Charleston and were immediately arrested as suspected persons

O'Daly (or Daly) was a native of Dublin, Ireland, where he served an apprenticeship as a printer. He had been in the United States for 10 years at the time of his deportation from Kingstree. Andrew Dunn was from New York, but had worked in the printing office of James Phynney in Charleston for a time in 1847.

O'Daly and Dunn were not the only people driven out of Kingstree under suspicion of abolitionist tendencies but that is a story for next time.

Williamsburg County Memorial/Williamsburg Regional Served Area for 58 Years

As medical technology improved over the years, the board of directors at Kelley Memorial Hospital began to realize that the community needed a more modern medical facility.

Williamsburg Regional Hospital as it looked before it was forced to close after the 2015 flood.

In early March of 1962, the Williamsburg County Legislative Delegation announced members of the board for a proposed Williamsburg County Memorial Hospital. Board members were David S. Epps, Basil Ward, P.A. Thompson, A.W. Ragsdale, C.A. Coleman, H. Fox, and Jack McFadden, representing a wide area of Williamsburg County. Epps, who had chaired the Kelley Memorial Board, was also elected chair of the new board of directors.

Monies from the federally-funded Hill-Burton Act had already been approved for the construction of a new hospital in Kingstree. 

By November, 1962, the proposed $1 million hospital was in the final planning stages. Local architects Clark, McCall & Leach had almost completed the blueprints. The site for the hospital between SC-377 and SC-527 had been secured. Hill-Burton monies would fund two-thirds of the cost of the hospital. The board still needed to raise $150,000, however. The hospital was described as a "60-bed hospital built on a 100-bed chassis."

The rest of 1962 was devoted to fund-raising. Dr. Michael Holmes of Kingstree and Merritt Morris of Hemingway led the fund-raising efforts throughout the county. Local civic organizations, including the Pilot Club and the Lions Club raised money for the venture, as did other organizations, with employees of Santee Electric Cooperative, the local Post Office and the County Courthouse, donating a day's pay toward the construction of the new hospital.

Ground was broken for the new Williamsburg County Memorial Hospital on April 22, 1963, and by the fall of that year, Gordon S. Crispin was named its first administrator. The hospital opened to patients in early 1965.  A new wing was added in the early 1980s, named for Dr. Michael Holmes. In the early 2000s, the hospital's named was changed to Williamsburg Regional Hospital. It remained in operation until the Flood of 2015 forced it to close its doors and move into a mobile facility located in the parking lot. This unit served the community until MUSC Health-Black River Medical Center at Cades opened to patients earlier this month.

Hospital History In Williamsburg County, Part 2

The destruction of Kelley Sanitorium by fire in November 1938 may have played a role in Dr. Allen Johnson's decision to build a hospital in Hemingway. At that time, Dr. Johnson was practicing in Marion, but in 1939. he began construction of a 152-foot by 33-foot hospital between South Main and Lafayette streets in Hemingway.

Johnson Memorial Hospital in Hemingway.

Source: Johnsonvilleschistory.org

The new hospital opened in the Spring of 1940. It was named Johnson Memorial Hospital in memory of Allen Johnson's father, Dr. Liston B. Johnson, who began his medical practice in Kingstree before eventually settling in the Rome Crossroads area of Williamsburg County, where he practiced medicine for close to 30 years.

Dr. Liston B. Johnson

George Creighton was architect for the $60,000 facility which had 42 beds for white patients, two operating rooms, an emergency room, X-ray department, laboratories and a nursery. A 40-foot by 40-foot building on Lafayette Street served as a Negro hospital. It held 24 patient beds. Worth Powell was contractor for the construction of the hospital.

This facility served the Hemingway area from the Spring of 1940 until the late 1970s or early 1980s. In early July 1981, the Wilson-Huggins Agency ran an ad in The Columbia Record offering the hospital for sale. Today, the Hemingway Food Lion occupies the site of the old hospital.

About a year before Kelley Sanitorium burned, it had converted from a private sanitorium to a non-profit hospital with a board of directors. W.E. Jenkinson was president of the board, with the Rev. E.W. Cantwell as vice-president. Dr. E.T. Kelley was secretary/treasurer of the board. Other board members included Tom Rowell, Thomas McCutchen and David S. Epps. The non-profit hospital's mission was to "relieve human suffering and to supply adequate hospitalization for all classes without respect to persons..."

When Kelley Memorial Hospital was built in 1940, following the fire, the board remained in place at the new hospital. 

The first floor of the new hospital contained a lobby, receptionist area, filing secretary's office, X-ray department and exam rooms. The second floor was devoted to patient rooms, delivery room, operating room and doctors' lounge. The third floor contained apartments for the hospital superintendent and assistant superintendent. The heating unit, laundry chute, refrigeration plant and cold storage were housed in the basement. The east wing of the hospital held a solarium on the third floor and provided a nursery with 12 bassinets. 

The one-story annex west of the main building was added in 1953, and an open front porch was enclosed in the late 1950s or early 1960s. A building which provided housing for nurses was built to the north of the hospital in 1956 and has since been torn down.

Shortly after the hospital opened, the country was plunged into World War II. The Rev. Mr. Cantwell, who was by then chairman of the hospital board, resigned his pastorate in Kingstree to serve overseas. Dr. Kelley also resigned as chief surgeon in 1942 to join the medical corps. He, however, ended up remaining in Kingstree as the recruiting board found that his service to the area was essential. 

It's unclear what happened in the years following World War II, but there was much upheaval at Kelley Memorial during that time. It appears that Dr. Kelley, who had been the sole authority at the hospital since its inception in 1919, struggled to adapt to working with a board of directors. This resulted in disputes with the board, the staff, and former board member E.W. Cantwell, who was by that time State Senator. The situation came to a head in February 1947, resulting in Dr. Kelley's being charged with assault and battery with intent to kill after a physical altercation with Senator Cantwell on February 24. Dr. Kelley posted a $1,000 bond, and the charges were withdrawn before the case was taken to the Grand Jury.

The board, however, barred Dr. Kelley from entering the hospital he had founded 28 years before. He protested his banishment, insisting that he had acted in self-defense. Dr. Kelley had strong support from  the community, a group of whom tried to find a way to smooth things over. However, the group was unsuccessful in getting Dr. Kelley and the board together for discussion of the issues. 

Oddly enough, the Rev. Mr. Cantwell, who was involved in the physical altercation with Dr. Kelley, later served as legal counsel for the group lobbying for Kelley's reinstatement. Cantwell had his own issues with the board of directors, which may have played a role in this turn of events. 

Dr. Kelley was not reinstated and eventually set up a practice in Georgetown. Many Williamsburg County residents continued to use Dr. Kelley as their physician after his move. 

However, on March 29, 1948, The Benevolent Societies Hospital opened its doors to Kingstree's African-American residents, and Dr. E.T. Kelley was to play a role in the beginnings of this hospital, as well.

The Benevolent Societies organization was formed by representatives from eight African-American organizations in Williamsburg County. The group began a subscription drive to develop a hospital for African-Americans to which both black and white residents contributed. 

The building which once housed the Benevolent Societies Hospital as it looks today.

For $41,000 they acquired and remodeled the home of Mr. and Mrs. H.T. McGill on East Main Street into a hospital by adding a second story to include three three-bed wards, one four-bed ward, one semi-private room and one private room. Flora Nesmith was named hospital superintendent, Dr. E.T. Kelley was director of surgery, and Dr. J.A. Mason was medical director. The hospital also included a dining room, kitchen, operating room and a three-room suite for Dr. Kelley.

Officers of the Benevolent Societies at that time were E.W. Lawrence, president; W.W. Smalls, vice president; I.E. Lawerence, secretary; and Samuel Pressley, treasurer.

As it had done for Kelley Sanitorium when it opened, the community came together to help outfit the Benevolent Societies Hospital, as well. Morris Schrieberg, Harry Marcus, Jack Lybrand, and F. P. Seignious donated flood lights for the operating room. Kitty Marcus provided chandeliers for the hall, dining room, lobby and bathroom, while Isadore Goldstein presented the hospital with a library table. 

Historical marker at the site of the old Benevolent Societies Hospital.

The hospital served Williamsburg County's black residents for over 20 years. It underwent considerable remodeling in 1965, with further additions in 1970-71. It closed in the mid-to-late 1970s. The building later was used as a funeral home by Dimery & Rogers. 

The building still stands, although it needs considerable attention. A historical marker was unveiled at the site on October 9, 2021.

Next time we'll look at Williamsburg Memorial Hospital's founding.

Hospital History in Williamsburg County, Part 1

MUSC Health's new Black River Medical Center at Cades opened to patients yesterday, and it seems an appropriate time to take a look at the history of hospitals in Kingstree and Williamsburg County.

MUSC Health - Black River Medical Center at Cades.

From the first settlement in 1732 until the railroad came through Kingstree in the late 1850s, residents depended on the general practitioners living in the area for all their medical care. After the railroad came, patients with very serious injury or illnesses were taken by train to the medical college in Charleston or to McLeod's Infirmary in Florence. Some also went to Sumter to Mood's Infirmary, and some who were very well-off financially traveled to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins for treatment.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, Dr. Edward Theron Kelley moved to Kingstree from Timmonsville to practice medicine with Dr. W.L. Wallace. From the beginning, Dr. Kelley made it plain that his dream was to open a hospital to serve the people of Kingstree and Williamsburg County. Described by newspapers as a "stocky, energetic" fellow, he soon realized that there was an immediate need for better medical services than had been offered in the past. And so he set up an emergency operating room in his office behind his home on the corner of Mill and Academy streets in Kingstree. There he performed 490 operations in the 13 years prior to opening Kelley Sanitorium on that spot in 1919. 

He made the announcement of his plans to build a sanitorium in 1918. The 85-foot by 54-foot, three-story structure would face Academy Street and provide patient rooms, a sun parlor, and sleeping porches, as it was a widely accepted belief that fresh air and sunshine were necessary for the cure of most of life's ills.

Dr. Kelley bought the latest medical equipment and traveled to New York to attend special courses and lectures to learn to operate it. Charles H. Singleton, a local Kingstree contractor, was in charge of building the $30,000 structure.

The new hospital was dedicated in March 1919, and by year's end, 415 patients had received treatment there. Dr. Kelley, as head surgeon, and Dr. Cuyler Harper, house surgeon, performed a total of 141 operations during that first year. And patients had come not just from Williamsburg County, but also from across the state of South Carolina. According to The County Record, a sign hanging in the reception area stated: A Hospital is a Hotel for the Sick.

Kelley Sanitorium as it looked shortly after completion in 1919

The community showed its support for the new hospital by holding a linen shower, donating approximately $800 worth of bed linens and towels. The Kingstree Methodist Church placed Bibles in each of the patient rooms, and several families furnished rooms in memory or in honor of loved ones.

By 1921, Dr. Kelley realized there was a need for a facility to train nurses, and that year he opened the Kelley Sanitorium Training School. From 1921 through 1934 the facility trained 22 student nurses who received diplomas and passed the state boards.

By 1935, the hospital had undergone a renovation and now contained 16 rooms for white patients, some large enough to accommodate more than one patient. The Negro hospital attached to the main building contained 12 beds and employed one graduate nurse and two practical nurses. 

In the early hours of Sunday morning, November 27, 1938, nurses at the hospital noticed smoke pouring from the walls and floorboards. They evacuated the 20 white patients, transporting four to Lake City hospital by ambulance and taking the rest to neighboring homes until they could arrange transportation to their own homes. The patients in the Negro hospital were taken to the telephone company across Mill Street, where they were taken care of until arrangements could be made for them to also go home. 

Firefighters from Kingstree and Lake City fought the blaze from 2 a.m. until after daylight. They believed that the fire started in the basement near the furnace, and it appeared that the hospital's design acted like a chimney, funneling the flames upward to the third floor. While rooms on the first and second floors suffered severe smoke and water damage, the nurses quarters on the third floor were gutted, as was the two-story wing of the building which housed the kitchen, dining room, x-ray department and operating room. The separate Negro hospital was not damaged by the fire. Initial damage assessments of $15,000 quickly climbed to upward of $40,000 when it was discovered that almost all the hospital's equipment was destroyed.

Dr. Kelley was out-of-town at the time of the fire, and it took some time to reach him. He announced on December 2, 1938, that he had no plans to rebuild. This announcement caused a great uproar among area citizens, and several public meetings were convened to discuss ways to finance rebuilding the hospital. In August 1939, it was announced that $120,000 had been secured. Several of Williamsburg County's "winter colonists," most notably Bernard M. Baruch of Little Hobcaw and R.R.M. Carpenter of Delaware' E.I. DuPont Company, and the owner of Longlands Plantation in southern Williamsburg County, contributed to the hospital fund. Dr. Kelley and his adult children would retain two-thirds ownership of the hospital, and Dr. Kelley would remain chief surgeon. The hospital was named Kelley Memorial Hospital in memory of Dr. Kelley's wife, Lorena Ross Kelley, who had died December 2, 1937.

The Kelley Memorial Hospital building that opened in 1940.

Boyle Road & Bridge Company of Sumter was contractor for the new 42-bed hospital. Architect John F. Mullen of Washington, DC, chose a Colonial design for the three-story hospital to harmonize with the then new United States Post Office at the other end of the block on Mill Street. The main body of the building measured 167-feet by 30-feet with side wings. Unlike its predecessor, this hospital faced Mill Street. One stipulation was that a sycamore tree standing near Academy Street was to be left untouched. When Dr. Kelley bought the property from the Hon. R.H. Kellahan, Mr. Kellahan asked that the tree remain standing, and Mr. Carpenter was now making the same request, which would be honored. Mr. Kellahan had reportedly pulled up the sapling while fishing in Black River in the 1890s and transplanted it to that spot, where it had flourished. The tree no longer stands.

The new hospital was dedicated on April 14, 1940, and continued to operate until 1965.

Next time, we'll look at more hospital history.

They're Twistin' in Spring Gully

American Bandstand host Dick Clark once said, "The three most important things that ever happened in the music industry are Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Chubby Checker." And while, as we shall see, Dick Clark had a bit of a proprietary interest in the last named, it is difficult not to see the impact of Chubby Checker's being the only artist to have five albums in the Top 12 at the same time; the only rock and roll artist to have a song reach #1 on the Billboard charts twice (The Twist in September 1960 and January 1962); and the only artist to have nine double-sided hits. It also goes without saying that Chubby Checker is Williamsburg County's most famous native son.

Ernest Evans, known to the world as Chubby Checker.

In October 1941, Ernest Evans was born in the Spring Gully community of Williamsburg County to Raymond and Eartle Evans. The Evanses would live there until 1947 when they joined the Great Migration to Philadelphia where Ernest would grow up in South Philly, attending high school with Fabian Forte, who would also go on to a career in show business under the name Fabian. Chubby Checker told a reporter in 1981, that his mother took him when he was four years old to see a child piano prodigy named Sugar Child Leonard. "I knew then that's what I wanted to do," he said.

In Philadelphia, he had two after-school jobs: one at the Produce Market and the other at Fresh Farm Poultry. Both of his bosses would play a role in his later fame. His boss at the Produce Market nicknamed him Chubby, and Henry Gott of Fresh Farm Poultry encouraged his musical endeavors. Along with a friend, Gott arranged for Chubby to do a private recording of Jingle Bells for Dick Clark to use at Christmas. While he was recording, he said that he was playing the piano and imitating Fats Domino, when Dick Clark's wife, Bobbie, heard him. She reportedly said, "From now on, we'll call you Chubby Checker." The name stuck.

In June 1959, a 17-year-old Chubby Checker, fresh out of high school, recorded the Hank Ballard song, The Twist. The president of Cameo-Parkway records was not particularly impressed, but Chubby thought there was something special about the song and promoted it non-stop. In the summer of 1960, he performed it live for the first time at the Rainbow Club in Wildwood, NJ, and a few weeks later Dick Clark invited him to sing it on American Bandstand. It swept the nation, and the rest, as they say, is history. In a 1979 interview with Rick Kogan of the Chicago Sun-Times, Chubby was asked if he wrote The Twist. He replied, "Hank Ballard wrote a song called The Twist, and I'm the guy who put a few steps to it." By September 1960, it was #1 on the Billboard Charts, and in the fall of 1961, it again entered the charts and by January 1962, it was at #1 again. It stayed at the top of the charts for a total of nine months.

A 12'x40' mural honoring Chubby Checker was unveiled in Wildwood, NJ, in 2015, a block from the site of the Rainbow Club where Chubby gave his first live performance of The Twist.

The mural honoring Chubby Checker in Wildwood, NJ.

Source: The Greater Wildwoods Tourist and Development Authority

Chubby Checker went on to have 31 hits in quick succession. After The Beatles came on the scene, it seemed that his popularity waned, but Chubby continued to perform. And in 2007, his Knock Down the Walls was Billboard's Number One Dance Track. Listen to Knock Down the Walls here. In 2018, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame introduced a new category for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Singles. The Twist was rightfully one of the inaugural inductees. Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart continues to list The Twist as the Number One record of all time. You can listen to The Twist here.

Despite his fame, Chubby Checker has not forgotten his family in Williamsburg County. Until Covid restrictions curtailed travel, he regularly visited his cousins here, particularly around the July 4 holiday when the family used to hold a big reunion. For a number of years, he performed in Andrews on these visits, donating funds for the library there.

The unveiling of the marker honoring Chubby Checker.

Photo by Linda Brown

On December 10, Williamsburg County unveiled a state historic marker at the intersection of US521 and Steadfast Road, honoring Chubby Checker. The house in which he was born was located on Steadfast Road, as is the house to which the family moved before they migrated to Pennsylvania.

Senator Ronnie Sabb (left) reads aloud the inscription on the marker honoring Chubby Checker.

Photo courtesy Rep. Roger Kirby

Chubby Checker continues to perform at age 81. He may have hinted at the secret to his longevity in the business in a July 1981 interview in the Post-Courier with reporter Jimmy Cornelison. "I sing because I like to," Chubby said. "If I make money at it, that's fine. It's just a gift, and I try to use it wisely." He went on to confess, "I'm undecided between being a kid and being a man. I want to be both, I guess. I've had them both for a long, long time. If the kid in you dies, something of the person dies."

The kid in Chubby Checker appears to still be going strong.

As for The Twist, Cornelison in the 1981 article noted, "There is something wholesomely American about the dance, and you feel it is almost patriotic to twist to the words and music of the man who started it all."