First timer? In this formerly once-a-day blog (and now pretty much a once-a-week blog) I use an app that provides a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.”
I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town or towns I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location.
To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is) please see “About Landing” above. To check out some relatively recent changes in how I do things, check out “About Landing (Revisited).”
Landing number 2644; A Landing A Day blog post number 1089
Dan: Today’s lat/long (N34o 31.512’, W81o 12.041) puts me in north central South Carolina:
Here’s my local landing map:
My streams-only map takes us from my landing all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Little River (1st hit ever!); to the Broad River (3rd hit); to the Congaree (7th hit); to the Santee (10th hit):
I asked the Orange Dude to get as close as he could to my landing. This was the best he could do:
And here’s what he could see:
Here’s what Wiki had to say about Blackstock:
A monument dedicated to the slave Burrel Hemphill can be found on the front grounds of Hopewell ARP Church. The monument consists of a small stone building with a placard that reads:
“In memory of Burrel Hemphill, killed by Union soldiers February 1865. Although a slave, he gave his life rather than betray a trust. He was a member of Hopewell [ARP Church].”
One account of Hemphill’s death states that he was tortured and killed by U.S. soldiers after refusing to disclose where his master had hidden certain valuables.
From The Lantern:
According to http://www.oldeenglishdistrict.com, Burrel Hemphill was a slave in the household of the very wealthy bachelor, Robert Hemphill, during the Civil War.
The story goes that when soldiers approached the Hemphill estate, Robert Hemphill, the plantation owner, fled to North Carolina. Burrel remained, and the soldiers demanded that he reveal the hiding places of the Hemphill silverware, money, and other valuables. Burrel reportedly refused, and was then tortured to death.
Whether or not Burrel was privy to the information about the existence and/or location of the valuables is not known. To this day, the silver, money, and other valuables remain shrouded in mystery.
While it’s uncertain what exactly Mr. Hemphill knew or didn’t at the time, he has certainly piqued the interest and attention of treasure-seekers in that area. Burrel Hemphill may have taken the secret to his grave at Hopewell ARP Church in 1865, but the legend will continue to live on in history.
Is the Blackstock Community sitting on a silvermine of wealth, or did Robert Hemphill flee in the middle of the night with the valuables safely strapped to his wagon as he vanished into the dead of night?
Moving on to Chester. From Wiki:
While being transported to Richmond for his trial for treason, former Vice-President Aaron Burr passed through Chester. Burr “flung himself from his horse and cried for a rescue, but the officer commanding the escort seized him, threw him back like a child into the saddle, and marched on.” The large stone he stood on has been inscribed and is preserved in the town center, and is known locally as the Aaron Burr Rock.
What the heck; here’s a little Aaron Burr info (mostly taken from Wiki):
- He was the third U.S. Vice President, serving under Thomas Jefferson
- In 1804, the last full year of his single term as vice president, Burr shot his political rival Alexander Hamilton in a famous duel.
- The two had been locked in a bitter political feud for years, and eventually agreed to the duel.
- They were both in NY City, but rowed across the Hudson to Weehawken NJ (anti-dueling laws were less enforced in NJ than in NY).
- It was common for both principals in a duel to fire a shot at the ground to exemplify courage, and then the duel could come to an end.
- However, Hamilton reportedly fired first, but intentionally missed Burr.
- The bullet hit a tree above and behind Burr.
- Burr knew that a projectile from Hamilton’s gun had whizzed past him and crashed into the tree to his rear.
- According to the principles of the code duello, Burr was perfectly justified in taking deadly aim at Hamilton and firing to kill.
- Hamilton was mortally wounded by the shot in his lower abdomen; he was taken back to NY where he died the next day.
- Burr was charged for murder in both NY and NJ.
- Burr fled to South Carolina, where his daughter lived with her family. [Is this when he passed through Chester?], but soon returned to Philadelphia and then to Washington to complete his term as Vice President.
- He avoided New York and New Jersey for a time, but all the charges against him were eventually dropped. He lived in NY until his death in 1833.
The Orange Dude cruised around downtown Chester to see what he could see. Of interest, he came across this:
His guess (and mine as well) was that this was a Civil War monument. A little research verified our presumption. Here is what is inscribed at the base of the monument:
South Side
This monument guards the memory
of the men of Chester District
who obeying the call of their state
died for the Confederate cause.
1861-1865
Time may crumble this marble into dust
but time can not dim their glory.
Their patriotism, their valor, their
faithfulness and their fame remain
forever the heritage of their country men
Non Sibi Sed Patriae [“Not for self, but for country”]
North Side
Their fame increases like the
branches of a tree through the
hidden course of time
The monument was constructed in 1905 by the McNeil Marble Company. Although “marble” is in the name of the company and “marble” is also mentioned in the inscription, the monument is actually made of granite . . .
That’ll do it –
KS
Greg
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