10 July 2024
Let me show you what I found when I came down for breakfast this morning.
Those are real candles, real china, real pewter. I was really taken aback. As you can tell, I was the only guest last night. There are only 3 rooms in the inn. Breakfast started with a fruit salad (not the canned kind) with a huge muffin that I guiltily ate every bit, then a Spanish omelet. Janet kept coming in and pouring coffee. There’s a bell on the table I was supposed to ring to summon her.
Janet had recommended I should visit the Revolutionary War Park for my first stop in Camden. It was actually my second. I remembered to return the room key to the Black Dolphin by stopping in at the post office.
The Park is relatively new – only 3 years old. It’s a beginning brought about by non-profits, local volunteers and donors, and the local community college. It’s impressive.
There is an exhibit building and as I walked in I was greeted by Eileen who proceeded to give me a personal guided tour. This docent knew her history. I had studied about Camden in a college course entitled “The History of the American Revolution.” Since college days, I have read one or two books about the southern campaign. From what I remembered, she nailed everything correctly.
Eileen pointed out I could purchase tickets here for the Kershaw house up the hill. Then the person who ran the gift shop gave me several additional tips including the GPS address of the Camden Battlefield.
As I let the place and headed to the next gift shop, I met a docent that gave me further information. As I walked out, I found a functioning blacksmith shop.
This was Mr. Hollis. As we got to talking we realized we had something in common. He started teaching American History at (then) Memphis State University in 1966, my freshman year at Ole Miss. We, of course, discussed football. I also mentioned my grandfather had a small blacksmith shop at his home in Pulaski. Meeting and talking with him was a treat.
It was pointed out I could park closer to the Kershaw house by moving my Jeep to another parking lot. As I started my walk to the house, the docent from the second gift shop came behind me in a golf cart and offered me a ride. I was thrilled. I was huffing and puffing up a minor hill. When we got there, he left the golf cart for me to use to return to the village.
After climbing the steps of the Kershaw house, I experience dizziness again and actually had to grab a hold of an antique trunk to keep from falling.
The docent inside the Kershaw house was equally knowledgeable about the house and the period. Joseph Kershaw built the house circa 1778 and before he could really occupy it, Lord Cornwallis used it for his base for the Southern Theater. Camden is the oldest inland town in South Carolina, founded in 1750 and was an important crossroads between the “West” and the “East.”
Cornwallis sent Kershaw to prison in the Caribbean. During the Civil War, supposedly the house was burned by the confederates to prevent it falling into the hands of the union soldiers. The beginnings of the Park begin in the 1960’s when the town came together and spurred the historical aspects of Camden. In digging on the site, they found the original foundation of the Kershaw house and what you see today is a perfect replica on the outside – since they had a photograph from the 1860’s. The interior is based on typical homes of the period.
When they started the reconstruction, they found some of the original bricks dating back to the 1770’s. The basement is paved with them.
I’ve never driven a golf cart before. The docent at the Kershaw building gave me a quick tutorial and I made my way back to the other buildings in the park.
Included in the park are several other buildings. There is McCaa’s tavern which was the office for Dr.John McCaa who combined medicine with tavern keeper. Handy, don’t you think?
Another interesting building was Bonds Conway house. He was a slave who became very adept at carpentry. He eventually made enough money to purchase his freedom and was the first slave in South Carolina to do so. He continued to thrive and to this day his descendants return to the house to celebrate his life.
From the park, I headed to the Camden Battlefield, one of the worst losses for the Continental and volunteer army of the war. For the year the battle was fought, the deaths represented 37% of the total American soldiers lost that year. It was in 1780 when Lorn Cornwallis’ 2000 troop met Horatio Gates’ (hero of Saratoga) 4000 troops and destroyed them. Gates left the battlefield early and a lot fell on the shoulders of a Prussian officer commissioned in the Continental Army. He was mortally wounded in leading his troops against the British.
Cornwallis won the day decisively but Gates was replaced by Nathaniel Greene who eventually chased Cornwallis to Charleston and I think you know how that ended. That’s why you have a lot of towns and counties named DeKalb and Greene.
The battlefield was exceptionally poorly marked. There were only seldom traveled dirt roads that were overgrown. Compared to the park, this needs a lot of work.
Camden has embraced their history in the revolutionary war and is doing a great job. Downtown is thriving, there’s a lot of entrepreneurial people in town and it’s making a difference.
Dinner tonight was at Sam Kendall’s on the main drag.
I sat at the bar and had a lemonade and a pear salad. When the bartender brought it out, it had no pears. She was terribly embarrassed and quickly brought me the pears. Apparently they have a new apprentice in the kitchen and he failed to put pears in a pear salad. They offered me a free desert but I turned it down – remember I’m trying to lower my sugar intake.
Tomorrow I head to Boone, NC, around a 4 hour trip to visit my friend and former colleague, Terry. He and his wife retired to Boone years ago. Terry and I mostly laugh when we get around each other. We seem to feed off each other and it’s a rollicking good time. I’ll leave from Terry’s house to go to Banner Elk, about a 40 minute drive where I’ll stay at the Lodge at River Run.
Stay tuned!