Research trip

This past Saturday a friend and I drove upstate to Old Ninety Six historical park, site of a Revolutionary War era town and fort, held at different times by the British and Americans. I took my digital camera and caught a few shots …

To the right is a view of the paved path as it follows the old Island Ford Road just down from the original town site, where it intersects with the old Charleston Road.

At the visitor’s center is a small but really nice museum with artifacts from digs at the fort site, and a gift shop where I spent entirely too much on books and historical music. See the frozen-in-time British Regular and American Continental soldiers, and a cannon that shot 3-lb. balls!

A case filled with assorted artifacts: ammunition of all types, both for cannon and muskets; buttons, coins, pipes, and tiny dice with an emblem of the crown carved into them; an insignia seal that probably belonged to Thaddeus Kosciuzko, the Polish engineer who assisted the Continentals during the siege of the fort in 1781; buckles and cartridge box insignia and jewelry, including men’s rings found at Camden, where my story actually starts; and little porcelain figures that were possibly children’s toys. Oh yes, and swords. Real ones, not reproduction pieces. I took lots of close-up pictures.

And looky, looky, buttons from Loyalist coats! (The one with heavily rusted edges and the relief of a crown–or is that a plumed hat?–and the number 23 is from the 23rd Regiment of Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, of which my heroine’s first husband is possibly a member.)

(And yes, I’ve become such a history geek, getting excited over old buttons!!)

Backside of the Black Swan Tavern, a house built shortly after the Revolution and transported from a few miles away for use in living history presentations.

The weather was clear and cool–absolutely perfect for a walk. And the trees were beautiful–not a lot of color, since the upstate has been so dry, but just enough to make me wistful for the northern woods where I grew up. I even agreed to pose for a tree-hugging photo …

Amazing, though, to think that all these trees grew after the Revolution. During those times, the forest was cleared for a mile out in all directions–the threat of the Cherokee was why they originally built the fort, and the location made it very defensible against whoever who was NOT holding it.

The British held it against the Continentals–actually, the loyalist Americans held it against the “rebel” American forces–long enough for the British to ride to the rescue, but it was abandoned shortly after the siege ended because of supply issues … something that plagued the British all through the Southern Campaign and greatly contributed to the British withdrawal from the Carolinas. It’s been interesting to me to see how we didn’t really win the Revolution because of military superiority …

More later, probably. It feels kind of nice to be blogging again …