Mark your calendar - St. Matthias Episcopal Church will hold its 56th Annual Christmas Bazaar on December 5th, from 10am-2pm, in Summerton.
The following is a brief history of the church and a link to their web site.
St. Matthias Episcopal Church
- A meeting
in the yard of The Presbyterian Church, marked the beginning of the
establishment of St. Matthias in 1889. The land to build the church and
rectory was
given by Mrs. R. H. Belser. The church was built and paid for through
donations
and accumulated funds. On St. Mathias Day, February 24, 1899, the church
was officially consecrated by Bishop Capers. The rectory adjoining the
church was built in
1903. In 1910, the church was remodeled and rebuilt on
concrete blocks and stained glass windows were added. A valuable
Felgenmaker
organ was installed in 1917. The organ was purchased from the
Washington Street
Methodist Church and has the date of February 23, 1870, on the bellows.
It is one of only two remaining Felgenmaker organs - both of which are
in
Episcopal churches in SC.
A bronze tablet, given by members of the congregation and bearing names
of the
church's founders, was dedicated on September 9, 1956, by Rev. Richard
Patton. Visit the church on N. Duke Street in the heart of Summerton.
* See information on other Historic Churches in Summerton, SC
22.11.15
Brief History of the Wilson & Summerton Railroad
The
Wilson
&
Summerton Railroad (W&S)
Railroad
was first
chartered
by the South Carolina General Assembly
in 1888.
The
railroad line was
built by Thomas Wilson and
started
at Millard
Junction, just to the west of Summerton, where
it connected to the Charleston,
Sumter & Northern Railroad
(CS&N).
It ran
16.5 miles to
Wilsons Mill, just to the east of Manning, where
it connected to the Central
Railroad of South Carolina.
The
W&S began operations
on September
10, 1889. Towns along
the line between
Wilson's Mill and Millard's
Junction
included
Wilson, Bloomville, Jordan, Davis Station, and
Summerton. The
primary purpose of the W&S Railroad was to bring lumber to
Wilson's Mill.
In
1890, the Eutawville_Railroad
changed its name to the Charleston, Sumter &
Northern Railroad. In
October 1894, the
Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad bought the Charleston, Sumter &
Northern Railroad and
it was renamed the Charleston & Northern Railroad. In
1895, property, franchises, and rights of the Charleston &
Northern were sold, and a good
portion of
the line was
acquired by
the Wilson &
Summerton (W&S)
Railroad.
In
1899, the W&S
Railroad was
merged with
the Atlantic
Coast Line Railroad
and became
the
Northwestern
Railroad of South Carolina and
Thomas Wilson became
its
president. The
railroad
line ran all
the way from the town of Camden
to Wilson's Mill, a distance of more
than 61
miles. It
remained in business until the mid-1930s when
it folded due to competition from the growing trucking industry.
*
Be sure to visit the US
Railroad & Rail Worker History web site
Key
Resources
20.11.15
Brief History of South Carolina Railroads
The
history of South Carolina railroads first dates back to the South
Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company (SCCRR) which was formed back in
1827.
On
December 4, 1827, Alexander Black introduced "a bill to
incorporate a company to establish a railway or railways between the
City of Charleston and the towns of Hamburg, Columbia, and Camden."
The bill was passed and finally approved on December 19, 1827. It
authorized the organization of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road
Company.
The
stockholders officially formed the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road
company on May 12, 1828. It was the second railroad company in the
US. Surveys were then conducted to determine the best route from
Charleston to Hamburg - near present day North Augusta, SC.
A
local businessman E. L. Miller provided $4,000.00 to purchase the
first locomotive for the Charleston Hamburg Railroad. It was called
“The Best Friend of Charleston” and was the first practical
working steam locomotive built in America. It was first built in New
York, then disassembled and transported down the Atlantic coast by
ship. The locomotive arrived in Charleston on October 23, 1830. The
locomotive weighed about 4½ tons and produced only six horsepower.
In
January of 1830, construction of the railroad tracks began. The
tracks started in Charleston and reached San Souci area by December
of that year. On Christmas Day, 1830, 141 passengers rode in two
passenger cars up to San Souci, traveling at speeds of up to 25 miles
per hour. That first trip of “The Best Friend of Charleston” was
reported around the world. This was the first regularly scheduled
passenger train to operate in America.
The
railroad experienced several problems during 1831. These included
train derailments and the burning of a freight car by hot ashes from
the locomotive. The biggest setback was the explosion of the iron
boiler that exploded, killing the fireman and destroying “The Best
Friend of Charleston.” The death of the fireman was the first
fatality on an American railroad. Parts were
salvaged from the wreckage and another engine was built and named
“The Phoenix”.
By
the end of 1831, the railroad was eighteen miles long and reached the
area of Woodstock. The tracks reached Summerville in the summer of
1832. On October 3, 1832, the company started running two daily
passenger trains from Charleston to Summerville. The railroad kept
slowly expanding across South Carolina. The Charleston Hamburg
Railroad also became the first railroad to carry the US mail. Many
towns along the train route were named for railroad people. For
example, the town of Aiken was named for William Aiken, the first
president of the railroad.
The
train finally reached Hamburg, SC, on October 2, 1833. The Charleston
Hamburg Railroad was the longest railroad in the world at that time.
The track was 126 miles long from beginning to
end. The train reportedly could run between 15 and 25 miles an hour,
but had to stop every 10 miles for fuel and water. By October
1833 the railroad had completed its entire line, a massive system for
its time easily making it the largest such company in operation.
The
cost of building the railroad was just under $1 million. Elias Horry
was president of the Charleston Hamburg Railroad company from 1831 to
1834. On December 28, 1837 the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston
Railroad purchased the South Carolina Canal and Railroad company for
$2,400,000.
By
1840, the South Carolina town of Branchville asserted that it was the
"first railroad junction" in the world, and the Branchville
& Columbia Railroad was well into its construction (completed
1842). The Camden & Branchville Railroad was completed in 1848.
At
the start of the U.S. Civil War, there were thirteen railroads with
over 985 miles of track laid within the state of South Carolina.
Railroads played a significant role during the Civil War with troop
movement, but their greatest use was for transporting goods and
material to aid in the war effort. Many miles of track were destroyed
by General Sherman on his march through South Carolina.
After
the Civil War, South Carolinians quickly repaired its railroads and
by 1870 had added another 300 miles of new track. By the end of the
century, South Carolina had over 2,800 miles of railroad tracks,
criss-crossing every county within the state. The end of the century
also brought the merger of many railroad companies into large
"conglomerates".
The
railroad transformed the state of South Carolina like nothing had
before. In the 1840s, the first "railroad towns" began to
emerge along the snaking steel rails where farmland once held firm.
Thousands of little depots, hamlets, and thriving cities began to
evolve along the railroad well into the early twentieth century.
Railroads
reached their peak in South Carolina around 1920, with over 3,800
miles of track in operation. However, with the coming of the
automobile and the freight trucking lines, highways began to assume
dominance over the railroads. When the US Interstate Highways came
along in the 1950s and 1960s, many railroad lines became unprofitable
and were ultimately abandoned. Many "railroad towns" also
began to fade away. Quite a few did not survive into the twenty-first
century.
At
its peak, South Carolina had almost 4,000 miles of track.Today, South Carolina's rail network includes nearly 2,300 miles of track. Expect the network to begin growing again as high speed rail systems and intermodal freight trains gain traction over the coming decade.
SC
State
Rail System Today
Class
I Railroads
Class
III Railroads
Passenger carriers
|
Key
Sources
8.11.15
Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, or Open Source Solutions?
You've
probably started to become aware of the relatively new phenomenum
called
'Crowdfunding'.
But
what exactly is crowdfunding or crowdsourcing all about?
Crowdfunding
is the
practice of funding a public
or private venture
by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people,
often via Internet-based
platforms. Crowdsourcing is the process of soliciting needed services, ideas,
or content via the Internet from people around the world.
Crowdfunding
is a form of alternative financing which has emerged outside of more
traditional financial systems. In 2013, the crowdfunding industry
raised over $5.1 billion worldwide and is expected to reach $1
trillion by 2025. However, the key to the success of crowdfunding
over the long term is 'trust' - and that has become an issue as many
crowdfunding struggle to actually ever produce a product.
As
of 2012, there were over 450 crowdfunding platforms - some of which
are somewhat questionable. Examples of current crowdfunding platforms
include: CircleUp,
Crowdcube, Emerging Crowd, Eureeca, Funding Circle, Kickstarter,
Lending Club, Microventures, OurCrowd, Ulule. CrowdEngine, Cashare,
Daily
Deed,
DealGlobe,
EquityNet,
GoFundMe,
Indiegogo,
iFunding,
InvestX,
Zopa and
many more. So, you had best check them out carefully before you start
handing over your hard earned money.
Some
of the many recent articles cautioning people about crowdfunding
include:
Crowdfunding Scams Are on the Rise - Consumer Reports
Crowdfunding Web Sites Being Exploted by Scam Artists
Federal Regulators Go After Crowdfunding Scam
Crowdfunding 101: Are Crowdfunding Promotion Services a Scam?
However, there are starting to be a growing number of news articles on reputable crowdfunding projects that actually produced a product. For example:
Top 10 Tech Crowdfunding Success Stories - eWeek
Biggest wearable crowdfunding success stories of all time
10 British crowdfunding success stories - Trusted Reviews
Perhaps a better alternative to crowdfunding or crowdsourcing for those interested in developing new technologies or solutions would be to participate or contribute to some of the well established, reputable organizations focused on developing collaborative 'open source' solutions.
This would include such well known non-profit organizations such as Apache, CAMBIA, Creative Commons, Eclipse, Free Software Foundation, Linux Foundation, Mozilla, Open Source Initiative, Open Source for America, Project Gutenburg, Sunlight Foundation, Wikimedia Foundation and so many more.
7.11.15
Local Clarendon County Football Team Scores and Schedules - November 6, 2015
The
following are the latest scores for
all the local Clarendon County high school football team games as of November 6, 2015:
- Manning HS Monarchs lost to Darlington 41-34.
-
East Clarendon defeated by C.E. Murray 49-6.
- Laurence Manning Academy (LMA) Swampcats beat Porter Gaud 28-24.
- Summerton's Scotts Branch Eagles season win/loss record is now 4-5.
- Clarendon Hall Saints win/loss record for the season is now 5-5.
The following are links to the 2015 Football schedule, roster, and detailed stats for local high schools in Summerton and across Clarendon County, SC:
*
Check out MAXPREPS,
a CBSSports.com web site for football team standings, other sports teams at your school, and more detailed
statistics.
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