Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Historic Episcopal Church Graveyard, Beaufort South Carolina

Though one often sees flags honoring those that came before us when walking through a cemetery, it's not all that often you see a non United States Flag.  Here you see 2 Union Jacks, the flag of England.  Buried here are 2 British Soldiers whom we fought against.   They both fought and died in The Battle of Port Royal Island, near Grays Hill on Feb 3, 1779 and were buried here 3 days later on Feb 5th.  The South Carolina Militia wanted to show the world, that even though they fought against someone, they were honoring those who had fallen by giving them a Christian burial.





 This historic church cemetery has veterans of The Revolutionary War, as above and Veterans who served their side in The Civil War.  Here lies Alston W. Brightman of The Confederacy.


Here lies little 4 year old Noel Earl, the son of W.D. and M.E. Schwartz.  He was born Dec 8, 1898 and died Jan 25th 1902.  There is such an interesting mix of burials in this historic cemetery from family people to military, young and old.  You begin to feel the history of the area and it's peoples are you ponder what their lives were like.











Mr. and Mrs. Gordan buried side by side in sectioned area with well cared for stones.  William A was born in 1836 and died in 1886; while his wife Maria Lloyd lived til 1909.  The inscriptions on their stones placed loving by one of their children. 



Here's table style grave, one I assume referred to when we learned gravestones were used as surgical tables during The Civil War.

Read previous post for additional information about the historic church, Saint Helena's The Episcopal Church
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Monday, March 28, 2011

St. Helena's Episcopal Church, Beaufort South Carolina

As you approach 505 Church Street in the historic area of Beaufort South Carolina you'll see this very old red brick wall surrounding a historic church and graveyard.  The streets as you see are lined with beautiful old mossy trees that provide much needed shade during the hot summer months.
Walking through the fenced area you'll this very historic cemetery as you make your way into this beautifully restored church.  St. Helena's is the one of the oldest continuously operating churches in the country.
Glance skyward and see the beauty in the church's steeple against the blue sky as it peeks through the tree branches.
Beautiful woodwork throughout the church's interior.  The handcrafted details are truly a piece of art.
The church pews, the floors, the wood pulpit and the alter are all gorgeous.
 The church was established in 1712 as a Colonial Parish, part of the Church of England.  It was built in 1724.  It was added onto multiple times.  It was rebuilt multiple times from destruction.  A hurricane in 1896 caused lots of damaged as did one in more recent times, Hurricane Gracie in 1959.  A terrible hailstorm hit causing damage in 1970.  Parts of the church have been rebuilt using original bricks and some areas have been placed on the original foundations.

As this sign indicates, the church was used by The British to stable horses during The American Revolution, and again as a hospital during The Civil War where the flat tombstones were used as operating tables.

One of the churches most notable members was Thomas Heyward, a signer of The Declaration of Independence.

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Friday, March 25, 2011

Topiary Gardens, Deaf School Park

Topiary Garden SginFlat Stanley here on another fun filled Friday Adventure. Click to enlarge the picture to read the full sign for The Topiary Gardens. It was started in 1989. Hey kids get your pencils out and subtract from our current year and tell me how long ago that was. Do you know what the word Topiary means?


.topiarytopiary - a garden having shrubs clipped or trimmed into decorative shapes especially of animals
garden - a plot of ground where plants are cultivated

2.topiarytopiary - making decorative shapes by trimming shrubs or trees
Did you know that? Isn't it interesting what you can find out looking things up in the dictionary, even the on line dictionary.
Lady with a BustleThis painting comes to life in the form of shrubs. You see people, dogs, umbrellas, and children in the photo. Sorry the picture of the picture isn't very good. There was a lot of glass to shoot the picture through and that caused lots of reflection. People enjoying the shade of the trees, fishing in the pond. Such a peaceful and fun piece of art. This very famous painting is by French Artist George Seurat and is titled, "A Sunday Afternoon on The Ile De La Grande Jatte". Have you ever seen this painting before?
general park viewLook closely here. Look where Flat Stanley is. A woman with a bustle wearing a hat is right behind him, and further behind you see two other shapes, two other people! Scroll back to the painting, can you find the lady with the bustle in the painting?

bronze plaqueAnd here's Flat Stanley with a couple taking a walk through the park under the protection of an umbrella. Look around. Do you see other people walking, do you see some sitting under a tree? Do you see a dog on the right side. Look carefully and click to make the photo's larger so you can the details.
Deaf School PlaqueHere's a bronze plaque showing this same famous French Painting. Look at all the shapes, they show up perhaps a little better here then they do in the painting.

This fabulous display of art is located 10 acres of land on East Town Street and Washington in Columbus, Ohio; the former site of The Deaf School.

Deaf School SignThis is a historic area. The Deaf School was started in 1829, enlarge in 1845, one building replaced in 1868, another building added on 1899. In 1908 it added a hospital, and in 1953 The Deaf School was moved to a much larger campus on Morse Road in northern Columbus on 235 acres that had been a golf course. There weren't many schools for The Deaf and this was ground breaking on so many levels, changing the way The Deaf are educated, and live forever.

All parks are peaceful, have places to sit and contemplate, and space to run and romp and explore. This is unique because here you can do all that, and learn about Art at the same time. I encourage you to take the kids and let them stand beside one of the figures, take their photo, and see if they can find where they were in the photo. It's great fun and a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. As always you can teach some math, some history, some geography all the while you're playing with the kids at the park.

See you next Friday for another Fun filled adventure with Flat Stanley.


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Wednesday, March 23, 2011

A Different Kind of Travel

LukeMy newest family member, Luke being held by his Aunt. A different type of travel for sure. We traveled to the hospital to visit our newest family member. Isn't he a cutie! And his aunt, so proud. The pretty mint green and turquoise blue blanket on her lap is a work in progress (WIP for my knitting, crocheting, and crafty friends). It's a tie, no sew blanket. I got her a kit for Christmas and she's elected to make a baby blanket with it. The colors remind me of my very favorite prom dress ....way back in the day. Oh how I wish I had a picture of it. Will have to look through old pictures and see if I do.
Luke and HubbyHubby here holding sweet little Luke. Welcome to the family Luke. Notice his Buckeye Cap? lol Born a Buckeye for sure! Traveling to hospital do present different types of travel. Will be heading out shortly to travel yet again to another hospital. Though this time it won't be so pleasant. We're heading to Urbana, my 91 year old Aunt has fallen again and is having emergency hip surgery. Hip fractures are never good.
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Monday, March 21, 2011

Edmundsbury, South Carolina

Traveling on US Route #17 on our way to Beaufort, South Carolina we happened upon this historic sign. Both sides of the sign say the same thing, though this side..the back side is far more readable. As we pulled the car over to read and photograph the sign a local farmer hopped off his tractor to tell us about the sign. He was quite chatted and told us an old cemetery lay further back in the brush. He went onto tell us a story that had been handed down to him by his Dad and others in the community. His story, I believe is just that a story. And a wobber at that. Troubling too, as inaccurate things like this story help to keep a wall between Northerns and Southern, help to keep some folks still fighting The Civil War.

He told us the church was full of people, The Union locked them in, and proceeded to burn it down with them inside. The people were civilians. I thought that pretty unlikely. Though "War is Hell", according to Sherman, and we all know bad things happen in war. Purposely locking civilians in a house of worship and setting fire....I couldn't buy that.
As you can see by the sign it was burnt in 1852 (prior to The Civil War), rebuilt in 1854 and "wrecked" by Union Troops in 1865. Further research indicates Landgrave Edmund Bellinger for whom the community was named for was here. Landgrave was born in England and is buried along with other family members in this old church cemetery. Ashepoo (current community and name of the river is in Colleton County, South Carolina. All my research indicates Sherman's troops burned the church in January of 1865, but no article substantiates the "story" the farmer is spreading.

We had a tight time table and so didn't tromp back through the brush to see the cemetery and church ruins. There had been lots of rain and the ground was a mess, but perhaps on our next trip, we'll get to explore a bit further.

I also found an account of a church being burned in January of 1865 by Sherman called Sheldon Episcopal Church in Beaufort Co. The land was given by the widow of the 2nd Landgrave Edmund Bellinger. One wonders if the stories have been mixed? If, there were 2 separate churches, or perhaps the church went by multiple names.

This was interesting even though we may not really know the whole story or truth of this local with regard to The Civil War because this little church and it's inhabitants played a roll in early Colonial times.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Considerations when Traveling

Things we usually check into when we're about to travel are:
Do we need to rent a car? If we're flying
Are there on line coupons are specials for golf? Or other activities
Do we need to book dinner reservations ahead?
Do we need to pack our own wine?
Are there tours that can be taken?
What historical sites to see are there?
What time zone we will be, very important to know all the time; but particularly so if flying

That list covers alot of territory and is good for almost any place you plan to travel. Do you have a list? It's Sunday, and that's Sandy's Seven on Sunday...with regard to travel that is. Leave a comment, and join the Sunday 7 Meme. Primary rules are to leave a comment and visit other's on the list. Running late today, so this will go til later tomorrow Monday.





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Friday, March 18, 2011

Franklin Park, Asians and The Civil War

Flat Stanley spending more time in Franklin Park, 1777 East Broad Street Columbus, Ohio. This sign doesn't mark something specific happening on this spot, as many historic plaques do. It calls attention to a little known fact. We all know The American Civil War was fought by The Union trying to preserve The United States against The Confederacy. We know one cause of the war was deemed to be states rights, and one cause was to free Black Americans that were living in bondage in The South. But, did you know Asians fought in that war? Asians fought on both sides, despite not being US Citizens. Statistically it's believed more fought on the side of The Union.

The Civil War was fought between 1861-1865. As the sign indicates The Naturalization Act and The Chinese Exclustion Act blocked some who fought to preserve this country from being able to become citizens of this country. Those restriction continued until 1965, when finally all restrictions based on race, and origin were lifted. In 2003 those who fought were posthumously proclaimed to be US Citizens in an effort to recognize their service to this country. 142 years after the start of The Civil War, they were honored by House Joint Resolution 45.

The flip side of this sign lists names of those supposed to be Asian who fought from Ohio. Due to anti-Asian sentiment, many changed their names, changed the spelling of their names and much controversy surrounds this premise. Historians have not been able to document the names listed as really being Asian. In fact, in several cases the names have been found to be German and other nationalities, not Asian. Most aren't listed on muster lists, most weren't given pensions, and therefore the names listed are speculation based on the feeling of some in The Asian Community that the names sounded Asian. A great deal of research has been done by Terry Foenander and others that disproves the list as being accurate.

I found some documentation that indicates a man that went by the name of John Tommy was Chinese and that he fought and died at Gettysburg. Perhaps as time goes on with the help of more research and maybe DNA testing, more information on this topic can be found.

I don't know which group of researchers has the most correct story; but am never the less glad those who fought to preserve this country have finally been given the honor of being United States Citizens.

Flat Stanley plans to return this park another time to see what else he can learn. Until then, he hopes to see you all again next Friday for more Fun on the 25th.

This perhaps is a deep/heavy topic; but I believe you can still make this a family appropriate outing. Discuss with the kids why knowing who fought for the country is important. Do they known someone who is Asian? Can they find Asia on a globe or map? Make a word list, a spelling list. There's always something that can be age appropriate as the kids explore with
Flat Stanley.
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