South of the Border

A few weeks ago my wife and I decided for our anniversary we would take a day trip to Cheraw S.C. As we drove down #1 south, I let my mind wander on how things used to be along this scenic route many years ago.

When we got to the intersection of Old Cheraw Highway (Old River Rd.) and # 1 south, I remembered there used to be an old country store right beside the road. It was run by a little fellar by the name of Will McGee. When I worked for D.O.T., I would stop in there and get me a slice of hook cheese, pack of soda crackers, can of pork-n-beans, and a R.C. Cola. Mr. Will would always have a smile on his face and would always have a good story to tell.

Within eye distance from the store on the opposite side of the road, there still stands an old one room school that I think was called Crosland School. This school was before my time but I’m willing to bet there are still some old timers out there who would be glad to share a story or two about going to school there.

As we traveled a mile or two, on the right is the village of Grenaco. Don’t rightly know how it got the name but I remember Mr. Walker Coward used to run an Indian museum there several years back.

As we dropped off the river hill, there on the left was Everett’s Mill Pond. Many years ago someone ran an old grist mill there and ground flour and cornmeal for the Wolfpit community. I could just about see the wagons loaded with bags of wheat and corn waiting their turn to get to the mill.

As we topped the hill headed south, the State Of S.C. opened up with beautiful rich farm land. The green rye that had been planted last fall was in full array. Way back at the wood line a whole flock of turkeys were eating their fill. I thought to myself these are some beautiful old fields but how much blood, sweat and tears went in to clearing all this land with just mules, axes, shovels and cross cut saws.

As we turned right at Wallace we soon came up on the bridge that crosses the Great Pee Dee River. I looked to my left and there was the train trussell that I had ridden across when I was in the fifth grade. It was my first ever train ride, all the way from Hamlet to Cheraw.

Before we started our historic tour of Cheraw, we stopped downtown and had the most delicious meal; which was topped off with homemade desserts that were out of this world.

After lunch we walked over to the Chamber of Commerce, picked up some information pamphlets and got the key to go in the old St. David’s Church. The church sits about a block away, going back towards the river. Built in the 1770’s it has been a great part of the history of Cheraw and the Pee Dee. The beautiful cemetery at the church has the graves of soldiers from most American wars and the first Confederate monument ever erected. One tombstone reads; Here lies one half of a certain person and the other half lies in Evington Virginia.

After visiting the church, we rode just down the hill to River Park located along the river. You see Cheraw was the head of navigable water on the Pee Dee. Many a steamboat brought supplies from all over the world up the river. On their return, they were loaded with four hundred pound bales of cotton, barrels of tobacco and sacks of corn all headed to ports up north and overseas. Also at River Park you can see what little remains of one of the first bridges built on the Pee Dee. It was burnt by Confederates as they left Cheraw ahead of the Yankees.

In early Mar. of 1865, Union General Sherman and his sixty thousand men army occupied Cheraw and surrounding counties. While they waited for pontoon boats to build a bridge across the river they looted and burnt most of the plantations around Chesterfield Co. Only the town of Cheraw was spared the torch. Someone in town asked General Sherman where he planned to go next? His reply was, “I have sixty thousand men out there. I intend to go pretty much where I please.”

Not all of Sherman’s soldiers would go with him! Six of his men and perhaps, some Cheraw civilians were lost in an accidental explosion which blew out the windows of every house near the river. The explosion was caused by soldiers lighting small cakes of black powder commonly called a “gunpowder jollification.” These were small piles of black powder that just made a great “puff” of sound and a white cloud of smoke. What the soldiers didn’t know was that one trail of black powder lead to a ravine piled high with tons of the stuff left by the Confederates.

Another local story told was how once a fire broke out in downtown Cheraw. A resident of the town ran to ring the town bell warning people of the impending danger. As he was ringing the bell, it fell on the poor soul and killed him dead as a door nail.

History abounds all around the town of Cheraw, from the Indians of which the town was named, to the Revolution War period, Civil War and it also has the most beautiful 18th and 19th Century homes, which can be found in the 218 acres in the Cheraw Historic District.

Hope you have enjoyed my memories of Cheraw and hope you too can soon enjoy some memories of your own – South of the Border.