| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-23 — Aiken |
| |
[Front]:
Aiken, chartered in 1835 and the county seat of Aiken County since its creation in 1871, was an early stop on the railroad line from Charleston to Hamburg. It was named for William Aiken (1779–1831), the first president of the S.C. Canal and Railroad Co. Aiken’s mild climate and accessibility by rail soon made it a health resort for visitors hoping to escape the summer heat or seeking relief from tuberculosis and other lung ailments.
[Reverse]:
On Feb. . . . — Map (db m9640) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2–8 — Aiken County |
| |
Aiken County, created in 1871 from parts of Barnwell, Edgefield, Lexington, and Orangeburg counties, was named for William Aiken, first president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. Older industries in the county today are textiles, and the mining and processing of kaolin. In 1952, the Atomic Energy Commission’s Savannah River Plant began operations. — Map (db m9707) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Aiken County 125th Anniversary |
| | In Commemoration Of The
Founding Of Aiken County
on
March 10, 1871
Celebrating 125 years
County Commissioners:
Sen. C.D. Hayne, Rep. Gloster Holland, Rep. William B. Jones, Rep. Sam J. Lee, William Peel, Rep. Prince Rivers, S. B. Spencer, F.P. Stoney
Erected March 10, 1996 — Map (db m10756) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Aiken County Confederate Monument |
| |
( South Face )
They gave their all in defense of
Home, Honor, Liberty and the
Independence of their native land
They fought the patriots fight
They kept the faith of their fathers
Forever honored
And forever mourned
( North Face )
Erected July 23, 1901
By the
Ladies Monument Association
Of Aiken S.C.
In loving tribute to the
Confederate
Soldiers
of Aiken County — Map (db m17047) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Aiken County Courthouse Bell |
| | Forged in 1882 at Troy, N.Y., the bell
hung in the courthouse 1882-1981.
In 1931, lightning cracked the bell
and caused a fire that destroyed
the cupola. — Map (db m9850) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-29 — Aiken First Baptist Church |
| |
[Marker Front]:
This church, founded in 1805, predates the city of Aiken and was first called Levels Baptist Church. Its first location was a mile south of present-day Aiken. In 1836 the congregation joined with the members of the Wise Creek congregation to build a sanctuary here, on land deeded by the S.C. Railroad and Canal Co. They renamed their congregation Aiken Baptist Church. The frame church burned in 1876 and was replaced in 1878.
[Marker Reverse]:
The third . . . — Map (db m10060) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2–16 — Aiken Institute |
| |
The Aiken Institute, which gave this area the name of “Institute Hill,” was chartered in 1888. The main building, designed by I.F. Goodrich in 1891, includes a wing added in 1913. All grades attended the Institute until 1937, when a new high school was built and this became Aiken Elementary School. It was the second oldest school in use in the state when it closed in 1986. The 1913 wing became the Aiken County Public Library in 1990. — Map (db m9942) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Battle of Aiken |
| |
Near this spot on February 11, 1865
was fought one of the final Confederate
victories of the War Between The States.
Federal Cavalry commanded by Major
General Hugh Judson Kirkpatrick were
attacked by Confederate Cavalry
commanded by Major General Joseph
Wheeler when the Federals entered
Aiken from the south east along the
South Carolina Railroad. The Federals
retreated to Montmorenci where their
infantry support was stationed.
Successful defense of Aiken by the
Confederates . . . — Map (db m10061) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Defense of Aiken |
| |
In Memory of
the Confederate
soldiers who lost
their lives in
defense of Aiken,
Feb. 11, 1865
Erected by the Memorial
Association 1911
— Map (db m10062) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — H. Odell Weeks — August 3, 1908 - December 14, 1992 |
| | Major
1946 - 1952
1957 - 1991
His office was our city's sidewalks and storefronts, and from his walks about the downtown he gained the information needed for leadership.
He was an advocate for harmony and teamwork, regardless of political view, and a visionary whose leadership brought our city state-wide recognition.
He was our mayor for more years than many of our citizens have lived, and his long service recommends him as one of those rare people who come along at the right . . . — Map (db m15136) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-31 — Hitchcock Woods |
| |
[Marker Front]:
Hitchcock Woods, one of the largest urban forests in the United States, is an area consolidated between 1891 and 1898 by Celestine Eustis (d. 1921), Thomas Hitchcock (1860-1941), and William Whitney (1841-1904). Described as "the greatest equine playground in America," this tract of more than 8,000 acres was used for steeplechases, fox hunts and other equestrian recreation by the wealthy Northerners who belonged to the "Aiken Winter Colony."
[Marker . . . — Map (db m9776) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Hofmann — 1876 - 1957 |
| | Josef Casimir Hofmann, internationally
known Polish pianist, resided with his
wife, Aikenite Marie Eustis Hofmann, in
a three~story house located several
hundred feet west of here. Born near
Cracow, Poland, he was recognized as a
gifted pianist at an early age and
considered the finest interpreter of
Chopin. He and his wife were instrumental
in founding the Fermata School for
Girls, which first opened in 1919 on the
upper floor of the Hofmann home. — Map (db m10184) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — James F. Byrnes — 1879-1972 |
| | Lawmaker
Supreme Court Justice
"Assistant President"
Secretary of State
Peacemaker
Governor
Citizen of Aiken, 1900-1926
He gave a lifetime of service to state, nation, and the world. — Map (db m15133) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-1 — South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company — Original Track Location |
| |
Began first successful scheduled steam railroad service in America on December 25, 1830, and by 1833 its 136 miles from Charleston to Hamburg made it the world’s longest railroad. Now part of Southern Railway System. — Map (db m9999) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-35 — St. Johns Methodist Church |
| |
[Marker Front]:
This church has its origin in 1825 as a
Methodist congregation on the Hollow
Creek Circuit that predates the city of
Aiken. Rev. John Reynolds was the
first circuit rider serving St. John's,
which shared a minister with St. John
in Graniteville until becoming a
seperate congregation in 1856. The
first sanctuary here, a frame Greek
Revival church designed by Dr. E.J.C.
Wood, was built in 1857-58.
[Marker Reverse]:
The 1858 Greek revival church . . . — Map (db m10163) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2–12 — St. Thaddeus Church |
| |
[Marker Front]:
This Episcopal Church (cornerstone laid Sept. 5, 1842) was consecrated Aug. 9, 1843. It is the city’s oldest church structure, having retained its Greek revival style through subsequent remodeling. Church purchased bell in 1853, Cornish Memorial Chapel completed in 1888, and Mead Hall School opened 1955. William Gregg (1800–1867), an important figure in the textile industry in SC, was one of the church founders.
(Marker Reverse]:
Buried in the . . . — Map (db m19634) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-38 — The Augusta & Aiken Railway |
| |
[Marker Front]:
The Augusta and Aiken Railway, a 26 mile interurban electric trolley line between Augusta, Ga., and Aiken, operated from 1902 to 1929. In Aiken the line began at the corner of Park Ave. & Union St., proceeded west on Park, then north on Laurens St., then west on Hampton Ave., and toward Augusta on what is now Trolley Line Rd. The first passengers paid 25 cents to ride 2 hours one way or 4 hours for a round trip.
[Marker Reverse]:
In 1906 the railway . . . — Map (db m10137) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Transit Of Venus Observatory Structure, 1882 |
| |
Iron heliometer tower, which served as an observatory, and housing for instruments, including powerful telescopes, used in viewing the December 6, 1882 Transit of Venus in Aiken, South Carolina. The
observatory was built in two sections, each twelve feet in diameter, so they could revolve independently of each other. These sections were covered with canvas.
December 6, 1882 is the day the planet Venus was to have transited, or crossed between, the sun and the earth. Scientists had . . . — Map (db m10193) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — 2-39 — Whitney Park |
| | [Marker Front]:
This park, laid out in 1904-05 was named for William Collins Whitney (1841-1904). Whitney, a lawyer, Secretary of the Navy 1885-1889 under Grover Cleveland, and financier, was also an avid sportsman and leading member of the "Aiken Winter Colony." He established the Whitney Trust in 1901 "for the institution and promotion of all kinds of sports and pastimes in the City of Aiken, S.C." Private and public donations alike paid for Whitney Park.
[Marker Reverse]: . . . — Map (db m10210) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Aiken — Woodmen Of The World |
| |
(West Face)
This Memorial is erected
in the memory of deceased
members of the Woodmen
of the World whose
Individual resting places
could not be marked
(East Face)
Woodmen of the World
Regional Memorial
(List of Names, Camp Numbers, States)
Dum Tacet Clamat — Map (db m10270) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Beech Island — 2-7 — Beech Island Agricultural Club |
| |
[Marker Front]:
On January 5, 1856, Governor James H. Hammond and eleven other farmers of this area organized the Beech Island Agricultural Club for the diffusion of agricultural knowledge and the regulation of illegal slave traffic. Monthly meetings and barbecues have been held almost without interruption since the club's founding.
[Marker Reverse]:
In 1883 E. Spann Hammond donated to the Beech Island Agricultural Club a four-acre circular tract of land located less . . . — Map (db m10080) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Beech Island — 2–14 — Beech Island Baptist Church |
| |
[Marker Front]:
This church was organized in the Beech Island Academy on January 21, 1832, with Rev. Iverson Brooks as its first minister and Mathias Ardis and Randolph Bradford as its first deacons. This sanctuary, built on land donated by James T. Gardner and Abner Whatley, with lumber, other materials, and carpenters donated by Dawson Atkinson, was dedicated in September 1832; the Sunday School was organized in 1839.
[Marker Reverse]:
Charter members of Beech Island . . . — Map (db m9992) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Beech Island — 2–18 — Downer Institute & School / Downer School, 1924–1986 |
| | Downer Institute & School
Downer Institute, founded in 1843, was originally located 1.5 mi. NE of this site and operated until 1865. It was named for benefactor Alexander Downer (1752–1820), whose will established an orphanage and school at Beech Island. By 1898 the General Assembly, at the request of Aiken County citizens, reestablished Downer School for the community at large; the school reopened in 1899.
Downer School, 1924–1986
Downer Elementary School, successor . . . — Map (db m9994) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Beech Island — 2-4 — Historic Church |
| |
This church was built in 1836 by Beech Island Presbyterian Church, organized in 1827 with the Rev. Nathan H. Hoyt of Vermont as first pastor. His son-in-law the Rev. Edward Axson, was ordained and served here. His daughter, Ellen, wife of Woodrow Wilson, was baptized here. In 1950 the building was consecrated as All Saints Episcopal Church. — Map (db m9909) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Beech Island — Redcliffe Plantation — State Historic Site |
| |
About Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site
Redcliffe Plantation was the home of James Henry Hammond (1807-1864) and three generations of his descendants. Hammond whose political carrer included terms as a United States Congressman, Governor of South Carolina and United States Senator, was perhaps best known during his lifetime as an outspoken defender of slavery. In an 1858 speech to the United States senate he coined the famous phrase "Cotton is King." Governor Hammond was a . . . — Map (db m9591) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Graniteville — 200th Anniversary of the United States |
| | 1776 1976
In memory of the
200th Anniversary of the
United States as an
Independent Nation
and American Patriots
who fought for the freedoms
we now enjoy
Erected by the Towns of
Graniteville, Vaucluse and
Warrenville
July 4th 1976 — Map (db m9852) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Graniteville — 2-22 — Graniteville Mill |
| |
[Marker Front]:
This mill, the largest textile mill in antebellum S.C., was chartered in 1845 and opened in 1847. It was founded by William Gregg (1800–1867), a Virginia native and advocate of industrial development who chose this site for its proximity to waterpower, granite deposits, and the S.C. Railroad. The company provided housing, a school, a store, and land for churches, creating a model mill village. Unlike most early textile mills, it was adequately funded. . . . — Map (db m9763) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Graniteville — Graniteville Train Derailment — January 6, 2005 |
| |
[Bottom of Center Panel]:
Greater love hath no man than this, that a
man lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
[Marker Left Panel]:
At 2:39 am on January 6, 2005 a
northbound Norfolk Southern Railway
freight train derailed after encountering an
open switch and collided with a parked
train on a siding track. 16 cars derailed, 1
chlorine car was breached releasing
160,000 pounds of chlorine gas.This
resulted in 9 . . . — Map (db m10798) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Graniteville — William Gregg |
| |
William Gregg,
the founder of Graniteville.
Born February 2, 1800,
Died September 12, 1867 — Map (db m10237) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Jackson — Savannah River Site |
| |
Fifty Years ago today,
November 28, 1950,
President Harry S.Truman
announced that the Savannah
River Plant would be built.
This marker is dedicated to
families who originally
lived on this property and
to the patriotic men and
woman who have made
possible the safe operations
and successful missions of the
Savannah River Site — Map (db m10001) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Jackson — 2-13 — Site of Ellenton |
| |
Post office est. here 1873. Town chartered 1880. Ellenton and surrounding area purchased by US Govt in early 1950s for establishment of Savannah River Plant. — Map (db m9910) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), Montmorenci — 2–10 — Pascalis Plantation / Pascalina |
| |
Pascalis Plantation
Elizabeth Pascalis purchased these 790 acres in 1835, settled here with her son Cyril Ouviere, and brought the orphaned children of her daughter, here, to live. Cyril, a civil engineer, was a resident engineer constructing the Charleston-Hamburg railroad (world’s longest when completed in 1833). In 1834 he helped lay
out and survey streets in nearby Aiken.
Pascalina
Elizabeth Pascalis willed this house, once know as Pascalina, to her granddaughter, . . . — Map (db m9797) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), New Ellenton — 2-27 — Savannah River Plant |
| |
[Front]
The Savannah River Plant (SRP) was built 1950–56 by Du Pont for the Atomic Energy Commission. SRP, a nuclear production plant, produced tritium and plutonium for national defense during the Cold War. Creating a 310-sq.-mi. site in three counties meant moving all residents from their homes in Ellenton, Dunbarton, Meyers Mill, Leigh, and other area communities.
[Reverse]
The first reactor at SRP went online in 1953 and the free “neutrino,” a . . . — Map (db m9941) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), North Augusta — James Urquhart Jackson |
| |
James Urquhart Jackson, founder of North Augusta, was born in the village of Harrisonville, near Augusta, Georgia, on June 24, 1856. It was his vision that shaped North Augusta's early years.
In 1890 Jackson acquired 5600 acres of land across the river from Augusta in South Carolina. The following year, he constructed a bridge across the Savannah River at 13th Street. As the city developed, a trolley line was built in 1897 to connect Augusta and North Augusta. In 1902 Jackson . . . — Map (db m10050) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), North Augusta — Meriwether Monument — Hero of the Hamburg Riot |
| |
[South face ]:
Dec. 4,1852 - July 8, 1876
———
In Memory of
Thomas McKie
Meriwether.
Who on 8th July 1876,
gave his life that the
civilization builded by his
fathers might be preserved
for their childrens
children unimpaired.
[East face]:
In youths clad mourning the
unfinished years of manhood
stretching before him, with
clear knowledge and courageous
willingness, he
accepted death and found
forever the greatful remembrance
of . . . — Map (db m10170) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), North Augusta — 2-33 — North Augusta |
| |
[Marker Front]:
North Augusta, chartered in 1906, includes the site of two early towns. Campbell Town was a trading post on the Savannah River before the American Revolution. Hamburg, founded in 1821 as a port on the river, was an early western terminus of the S.C. Rail Road. When the line was completed from Charleston to Hamburg in 1833, it was the longest railroad in the world. In 1890 James U. Jackson (1856–1925) founded the North Augusta Land Co. and bought 5,600 acres . . . — Map (db m9672) |
| South Carolina (Aiken County), North Augusta — 2–11 — Samuel Hammond |
| |
[Marker Front]:
Born 1757 in Virginia, this Indian fighter, who later moved to Edgefield District, attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of state troops during the American Revolution. Among the engagements he participated in were: Hanging Rock, Musgrove’s Mill, King’s Mountain, Blackstock’s, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, Siege of Augusta, and Eutaw Springs. Hammond served in the US Congress and after the Louisiana Purchase in
[Marker Reverse]:
1803, President . . . — Map (db m9800) |
Subscribe
— Privacy Policy
— Terms of Use
— About Us
— Contact Us
HMdb.org