Rose Hill Plantation

Since we had such a good time visiting Cowpens we decided to take the long way home through the Sumter National Forest.  We had not done that before.  Mark looked at the map while I drove and he said there are two points of interest. Molly's rock and Rose Hill Plantation.  We chose Rose Hill Plantation.  I am glad we did.

The house!
We found out the reason the house was still standing, and not destroyed in the civil war was there was a flooded river that prevented Sherman and his troops getting to the house.
The house was built by the Gist family.  Gist was the sessionist governor, the one who lead South Carolina to leaving the union. 

The ranger office/gift shop was in the back of the kitchen.

The web site Mark looked at said tours available from April through September, but the ranger said she would give us a tour in about 5 minutes if we were interested.  A private tour of the house, of course we were interested!

While we had a tiny bit of time, Lon found the hoop and wanted to see if he could play it on grass, he did pretty good!

The front door is beautiful.  and large

There were some pieces of furniture that were original to the family that they got back for the house and this was one of them

The verdigris dining room. The picture over the mantle is States Rights Gist. Yes, they named him States Rights.  He was killed in the civil war
The ranger was very informative about the house and it's contents.
The house was spared from destruction by a flooded river, It was a cotton plantation.  All the trees in the Sumter National Forest were planted after the Park Service bought the Gist Plantation and surrounding plantations in the 1930s.  The house was restored by a private induvidual before turning it over to the Park Service.

This bed, in the upper room, along with the armoire were left in the house. They were too big to take out!

Rose Hill does have a good number of roses, because it might be near freezing at night they cover them to protect them.

A very old sewing machine in the ladies parlor

What the house looked like after sitting empty for 40 years. The georgian style part of the house was still structurally sound, the later added porches,  did not fare as well.  The house was originally brick, then covered by stucco, with brick lines drawn on the stucco for a more modern mid 1800s look.

We went to look at some of the out buildings, they were not originally in the positions they are now, except for the kitchen.   They were either re made or brought in from other places.  I love the fact they had a loom house !

With a loom!

The rear of the house, with the kitchen.

This magnolia tree was much smaller when the house was being built. The tree is HUGE!

Park information

 Our very wonderful day ended with a treat at Dairy Queen. 

It was a great day. 

Cowpens

I an finally caught up !!

Yesterday, we went to Cowpens, they were doing a living history exhibit on women in the Revolutionary War.  It is a three hour drive from our house. 

We had not planned on doing a Jr. Ranger badge. When we got to the desk, the Ranger asked us if we were doing a Jr. Ranger Badge, Lon said he did it already. Then he asked if he did the Overmountian Victory Badge. We have been searching for that badge for two years! We heard about it, it was on websites, for 96, Kings Mountain and Cowpens, but no one had it.  I even called the National Parks Service and they did not have it.  But Lon worked the booklet for it at Cowpens. He was happy to finally be able to get it!

The Wooden Ram Cookery was there, making food for all the reenactors.
 The chickens smelled great!

 a table with all the wonderful things they had to eat and drink

Selling the fruit and vegetables that would be left at this time of year. This time was known as the starving time of year, the larder was almost empty and the new crops had not yet started to come in yet.  It effected everyone of every social class.  If there was no food to buy, it did not matter how much money you had .

Mark checking out the medical tent.  How colonial women on the frontier used medicines, and what they had to work with.  Doctors were rare and expensive.  A healer woman would barter,  you did not have to use cash, that was helpful. Most people had a chicken, but not 10 dollars.

The man in the medicine tent gave Lon some colonial money to see if he could buy an apple.
Lon was nervous about it.

But he did it!

He was sworn in for his new badge. It is a wooden one, and it is smoke scented.
(now happily glued on to his backpack, which we are now keeping in the car)

Trying to build a fire with a flint. Lon was trying to help him.   Sadly, he was not a boy scout, and double sadly he thought he knew more about building a fire than Lon.

Working hard at it, even though it did not light

After a wonderful time walking around, we were hungry!  We stopped in Gaffney at a place called Aegean Pizza.  We ordered an extra large pepperoni pizza, with mozzarella sticks to start.  A Greek Style pizza. That pizza went fast. Lon ordered another small pizza, ate most of it and what was left we took home,  well, we tried to take it home, it did not make it home. Lon finished it on the ride home.

If we go to this place again, Lon wants to order this pizza. He might be able to eat most of it.

Now to go the long way home!

Back Splash

After almost 5 years here we finally have a backsplash!

The installation is coming along

Done. Well, almost.  The tile is up. I am going to get brushed nickel outlets to make it even more beautiful. And once I do, I will update this post.

Geography Bee

Lon was chosen to participate in the Geography Bee. This was his first competition. He had to take a written test to move on to the question level. He was doing well.
Every time he was asked a question I made sure to turn around so I would not even have a hint of me helping him.

He was having fun, not missing questions. Until a question about a National Park with an odd name and he had to say were it was. I had never heard of it either. It was the National Park in Puerto Rico.   He did not make it to the next round. 
It seems like that is the way things are going this year. It is 7th grade, so these things are all new this year for him, next year he will have an idea of what to expect.  Lon was also on the Dimensions U team. That is a video math game competition. I was not able to attend this since it was held at Spaywar and I can not get onto base.  Lon said he had fun.  It was a low country wide meet, and again, they did not make it past the first few rounds.   Lon is having fun being able to be a part of all the academic competitions. 

Cross Over

Lon was one of the Scouts that came to Pack 750s Crossover.  The Troop got three new scouts!

Lon was in his full class As.

All the cubs becoming boy scouts

Giving Brian his new kerchief, making him officially a boy scout.

It was a good afternoon with the boys.

Quest

Lon was chosen for the Quest Team. In Social Studies.   He studied hard for this!

Each team went to a room and took the first test to see if they would go on.

I snuck in this picture.

Getting a snack.

Waiting for results

Sadly, Lon's team was not able to advance. It was a low country wide competition.  They did well, but just not well enough.

Two good things, we met up with Autzen, who did great, and Lon found a leadership training class to attend over spring break. 

Court of Honor

Filing in.

We are proud of Lon for ranking up to Second Class.

Storming the Citadel

Lon also participated in the Trebuchet club.  Their district wide competition was held at the Citadel.

Foggy morning

Lon worked hard to be there but he was not having a good day.

The speeches before things started flying!

The Trebuchet

The Citadel Bulldog

Pictures with the Bulldog Mascot

They worked hard and in practice everything went great. At the meet, not so much.   They are going to try again next year!