Volume 4, Issue 2 - Fall Edition | 2020 |
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Handy White, Sr.
A local event of historical value, honors former Fort Mill resident Handy White, Sr. In August 2020, the Anne Springs Close Greenway Diversity and Inclusion Committee decided to name a road after him. The new access road near the Greenway trailhead, which is adjacent to the Fort Mill Complex YMCA, will be known as Handy White Way.
Handy White, Sr. was born December 1831. He married Fannie White in 1858 and they were the parents of 15 children. His name is included in the 10 men whose names are etched on the monument to the “faithful slaves” in Confederate Park. The monument was built under the direction of Samuel E. White and with the support of John McKee Spratt. It was an attempt to pay homage to those African-American men who remained on the home front and provided protection and support during the Civil War.
Although Handy was declared a free man under the Emancipation Proclamation Act of 1862, he and others listed on the monument stayed behind and continued to work the farms and fields. Their actions helped to prevent starvation conditions from developing in the town.
Handy and his brother Isaac White were two of the men to volunteer for the town’s first recorded militia in 1868. Handy bought land from Samuel E. White in what is now known as the Paradise community. Handy and two other trustees, Anthony Adger and Rev. John Walcott Douglass, purchased the plot of land on Steele Street to build Bethlehem Baptist Church. It was once known as Rocky Road. They bought the land on January 7, 1895 from Samuel E. White for $50. Handy also donated one acre of land on Banks Street for the church to use as a cemetery. It is known as the Old Bethlehem Church Cemetery or the Banks Street Cemetery.
Handy White, Sr. owned 118 acres of land at the time of his death on May 18, 1917. The town of Fort Mill purchased 6 acres of land from Handy White’s estate and used fill dirt from his estate to pave the streets in the town in 1953. Joe Louis, Steele, and Smith Streets were the first streets to be paved in the Paradise community. Two other Paradise streets, Ralph Bunche and Berry Streets, were paved later.
Cora Lyles
Fort Mill History Museum Board of Directors
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Fort Mill History Museum would like to recognize one of our outstanding volunteers, Ashley Taylor.
Ashley Taylor, Fort Mill History Museum Volunteer, can “do it all”! Ashley currently serves as the FMHM Treasurer and has been involved with the museum for two years. Originally from Racine, Wisconsin, in 2017 Ashley was recruited by Jason Ackerman to work for BNA accounting firm as a CPA. Ashley’s husband Chris is from Georgia, so it was a win-win for her to take the job with BNA to be close to family and start a new adventure. Not only did Jason recognize her talent as an employee but she had a desire to get involved. She wanted to start volunteering with an organization right away to meet new people and Jason needed someone to fill his expired term as treasurer. It became a match made in “Museum heaven”!
Ashley helps the museum maintain the database and the website, compiles grant reports, works special events, works as a daily volunteer, and wherever else she is needed.
Here are a few “Fun Facts” about Ashley:
o Has seen Dawson's Creek about 240,000 times.
o Has a twin sister.
o Loves Dr. Pepper
o Has a dachshund named Kingsley that she loves dearly and is very spoiled
On a personal note from Christia….
“Ashley is one of the kindest people I know. She enjoys getting involved, learning new things, has lots of patience, a huge heart and is a joy to be around. Ashley fits right in at her new southern home! Her husband is a huge history buff and he also helps the museum with the website and database.
She is truly a go-to person when there is a job to be done! Thank you, Ashley, for being here!"
Karen Jones
Fort Mill History Museum Volunteer Committee
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Old Unity Cemetery Holds Revolutionary History |
Dappled green and gray in the shade of oaks and hickories, Old Unity Cemetery is a step out of the crowded neighborhood and into a place of refuge. A row of hedges provides a barrier from the homes that sit less than 50 yards from the entrance and lends a bit of privacy to the visitor. Only gravity holds the cemetery wall in place and despite care over the years, stones lose their balance and tumble here and there on the ground. An iron gate, scaly with the flakes of rust, swings unevenly with a grating whine usually heard only as sound effects in haunted houses.The stone walls protect the graves of some of Fort Mill’s earliest settlers. Family names such as the Webb, Harris, Spratt and Springs are still legible to the patient reader willing to use eyes and hands to make out the letters. Lichen-covered headstones lean at haphazard angles in imperfect rows. Many other graves are lost forever or discernible only by rough unmarked stones.
Some gravestones proudly proclaim that a Revolutionary soldier was buried beneath them. Hand carved eagles or angel wings bear the mark of an early stonecutter and the epitaphs bear the sentiments of mourners long dead.
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The cemetery dates from 1788 and originally Unity Presbyterian Church stood beside it. The church building later burned and the new church was re-located closer to the center of town. Although for years the cemetery seemed a lost cause, abandoned and overgrown with weeds and poison oak, neatly trimmed grass now covers the ground.
Old Unity Cemetery is located on Unity Street between Summersby and Marshall Streets.
Mike Hill
Fort Mill History Museum Research Team
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Did you know, The Commercial Club of Fort Mill was formally organized Thursday March 1, 1906 at a meeting of the citizens held in the town hall. Commercial Club aim is to develop the town’s resources, induce out-side capital to locate among us, and, in fact, to push forward any scheme tending to the town’s prosperity. – Fort Mill Times March 8, 1906
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Hello, I'm James Shirey, a Fort Mill Town Councilman representing Ward 1 and member of the Fort Mill History Museum Board of Directors. I’ve lived in this great town for nine years. My wife and I have both lived in many different places across this great country. I can honestly say, when we came to Fort Mill, we felt like we had come back home.
We were welcomed with open arms by our neighborhood and community. I would like to do the same for the members of the Fort Mill History Museum no matter if you are a native, a new arrival, or somewhere in between like me. Fort Mill is an exceptional place that is filled with charm and grace. All our homes, neighborhoods and communities create a unique Fort Mill story. Each story weaves a collected tapestry of the history of our great town from the first settlers arriving in the 1750’s to present day and beyond. A colorful, and beautiful complicated tapestry that continues to be made today of which I am happy to take part. Embracing the diversity and learning from our history, both the good and bad, is our responsibility. We are tasked to carry forward our story to new generations so they can learn and benefit from our victories and mistakes.
As a lover of history, we must understand that events are not always going to be popular or pleasant and that is okay. The most interesting people you meet may have a checkered past where they had to overcome a hardship, a setback, or an adversity only to prevail.
We live in an exciting time! Technology is propelling us to a future only dreamed of but not everything can be found online. Nothing can beat the sense of belonging than getting involved with your community. Challenge yourself to learn something new even if it is something old and there is no better place to do so than your Fort Mill History Museum.
James Shirey
Fort Mill History Museum Board of Directors
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A small grant was recently received from the Arts Council of York County on a video project that the museum is currently working on. Please see below the organizations that are responsible for this funding.
Support for this project is provided by the Arts Council of York County Small Grants Program, the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC, Comporium Communications, and the SC Arts Commission, which received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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The Fort Mill History Museum received a Bridge Grant from South Carolina Humanities, www.schumanities.org.
Funding for the Bridge Grants has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan.
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Fort Mill History Museum
107 Clebourne Street, Fort Mill, SC 29715
Located in the Fort Mill Historic District
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Newsletter designed by
White Paw Studio
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The Fort Mill History Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Support for this project is provided by the Town of Fort Mill Accommodations Tax ,
York County Hospitality & Accommodations Tax , SCPRT TAG, & FMHM members and donors.
For visitors information including lodging, contact Visit York County at 803-329-5200.
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