Narrator: A production of the South Carolina Educational Television Network.

♪ Mary: Here in Abbeville in court square.

The march of history has a strong resounding beat.

Here have walked men and women of character, men and women who had the moral strength to fight for their political beliefs, even at the cost of life itself.

And here on the brick pavements of the square, in modern revitalized Abbeville, we can almost hear the footsteps of john c. Calhoun, andrew pickens, andrew johnson, and here by the confederate monument, we can almost feel the weight of the decisions, which led to that moment that is called Abbeville, the place of the birth and death of the Confederate States of America.

There is so much here in this western part of our state of so much of the past and the present, that we ask ourselves, what does man need for his peace of mind?

And one answer would be his church, law and order his schools and above all, his home.

Today we would like to show you four locations where these needs were once met.

♪ Trinity church here in Abbeville indeed lifts its spirit to the glory of god, one can feel it within its sanctuary.

And also in the exterior, the 125 foot spire may be seen from anywhere within the city.

The walls of the church on the outside have been repainted to represent the original color.

The odd shade of pink, we understand comes from the clay of the area, which was used to make the original concrete and therefore the stucco.

Within the body of the church itself, it's been lovingly refurbished back to its original state.

And we have beautiful woods beautiful glass, and one feels rested simply by sitting here for a moment.

To this side, we had the original organ, the parts were shipped to charleston, where they were assembled by John Baker, and the organ is part of the original church.

This is one of the few Baker organs or probably the only one which can still be played.

The church itself has a fascinating history.

The episcopalians of the area formed a church in 1842 in a white frame building, but this did not please them completely.

And in 1858, a brick structure was commissioned and dedicated in 1860.

The walls of this church are brick, but they're three feet thick, and the wood items within it are all lovingly handmade, behind me he we see the gorgeous chancel window, which has a fascinating history.

This was sent from England by ship, and the ship it was on ran the blockade of the Charleston harbor in 1863.

However, this particular window was designed for a church in Boston.

And somehow rather the two windows were confused.

And this one has been here since it was arrived in the middle of the war between the states, and has been a moment of beauty for the parishioners and guests ever since.

The window here was placed during the closed years after world war two when the parish became very small members moved away, and the church was literally boarded up.

And the family which gave this window did so in hopes that someday trinity would be an active parish again.

And that prayer has come true the baptismal window is an addition after the formation of the church, but all of the other glass windows are the original stained glass that were placed here, when the church was dedicated in 1860.

After the dedication came the articles of secession to delegates from Trinity Church were among those who attended the meeting which declared independence.

And that long conflict took a heavy toll on the members of this parish, five neighbors of Abbeville, where members of trinity and these five Colonels lost their lives in the conflict of the war between the states, and a memorial has been placed to them in the court square of Abbeville.

Indeed, through the passage of the years in the history of this church, the altar itself was lost.

It was found not too long before the restoration of 1976.

It was found in a warehouse in Atlanta, and someone who had worshiped here recognized it and fortunately it was returned and now serves the congregation as the altar.

You will find the pews and indeed all of the woodwork extremely interesting.

One of the prayer benches Prie-Dier is said to have been made by the director who served here right after the war between the states.

Mr. William Perche Dubost who leaving here, went to the university of the South Dubontie.

And during the years of professorship there, founded the school of theology, which even today serves the rector's of the Episcopal church.

I am told that these interesting pews never had a door to enter, as the colonial churches did, but they are open at one end however, they are boxed.

And in order to increase revenue for the church, these boxed pews were rented to various families.

And in this way, extra money could be used for the needs of the church and the parish, and members of Trinity today are replacing the paper markers with these brass plates.

And this one tells us that John A. Calhoun, the nephew of the famous John C. Calhoun, who studied here practiced law and later became Vice President of the United States.

He is the nephew of this famous gentleman.

Trinity is a beautiful place, you will find your way lighted by a lovely chandelier, which was presented to the church in 1907, by the Ladies Guild.

And this makes Trinity the first public building in Abbeville, to have electricity.

So along with its wonderful history, and its memorabilia, and the feeling that many hands have touched this piece of wood here, we have the lovely gardens outside, which bring a sense of peace and of rest to the viewer.

The gardens have been carefully tended the boxwoods are very old.

♪ The colonial village of Ninety Six was desperate for a type of law and order.

Originally Ninety Six had been a trading post on the path from Charleston, to the Cherokee village of Keowee.

The traders had built a post here in which they bartered with the indians and later served the needs of the very early settlers.

However, bands of marauders harassed the early pioneers of the area, and they begged Charleston to give them a court a little closer than Charleston itself where they could probate wills and manage the mortgages and do other things which are essential for a thriving law abiding community.

Finally, prior to the american revolution, they did receive their courthouse and their jail, and Ninety Six became one of the districts of the courts have Colonial America.

This division of opinion between the settlers of the upcountry and the aristocrats of the lowcountry was tremendously apparent in this area of Ninety Six.

The settlers needed roads they begged for schools, they wanted their law and order, and above all, a need for churches.

Finally, just prior to the revolution, these needs were somewhat settled.

However, the sympathy of the settlers was always with the loyalists, the people who believed in the British Crown for two reasons, the british officers and man had protected them from the marauding indians, just during and after the french and indian war.

And so they had looked to the British for whatever protection that they had been able to receive.

And also among the settlers were many who had been born in Germany and Switzerland, and felt a kinship of blood with the current king of England, George of Hanover, who was a German gentleman, and indeed, always all of his life had difficulty with the english language.

And so in the revolution, we find more loyalists than patriots are adherence to the American calls in the area of Ninety Six.

Early on, a battle was fought here, and the first land battle of the American Revolution, is said to have occurred near Ninety Six.

In an engagement concerning a shipment of gunpowder.

The american patriots were considered to be prisoners of war, out on parole, until toward the end of the revolution, in 1781, when the armies of Cornwallis were determined to dominate the south.

However, Cornwallis lost part of his army at Kings Mountain, and in other areas, and so the forces gathered under Lieutenant Colonel Kruger in the beautiful Star Fort, were harassed for 28 days by the American Patriots under Nathaniel Greene.

In order to dominate the Star Fort the patriot forces dug a series of trenches, and we're almost upon the Fort itself.

When word came that replacements were coming.

And so very quietly green withdrew his troops to a point of greater safety.

As the loyalists left the village of Ninety Six, they burned all of the houses.

A few years later, a new village was built very close to the old one, and it was called Cambridge.

Again, they had their courthouse in their jail, and a seat of learning, called the College of Cambridge named after Cambridge University in England, of which they were exceedingly proud.

However, in the 1800s, a terrible epidemic of flu decimated the population, and then to the stagecoach route was rerouted into what is now Abbeville, and when the railroad came, it was placed several miles away.

So the village of Cambridge declined and died.

And today we have a modern village name for the old colonial town and the battle sites, the site of the Star Fort and the fort that was built around several houses in order to protect a spring there unnecessary water supply for the loyalists families and for the troops.

These have been carefully replaced by the national park service.

But as we walk the early roads and feel the breeze through the trees of the old colonial village of Ninety Six, we can hear the footsteps of those pioneers who settled in this area.

Well over 250 years ago.

This beautiful home is known as the Birkenstock home it is open for tours upon request, a magnificent example of the Antebellum Architecture of this area of our state.

Everything in it is handmade, it was 10 years in the making.

The walls are three feet thick, made of hand baked brick, and all of the woodwork was hand done by master craftsmen, including the nails.

We would like to think of this lovely home of Major and Mrs. Armstead Burke as a gracious place in the antebellum years.

Were ladies in their hoop skirts flirting during the balls, and where the horse drawn carriages would come up a lovely driveway.

But this house has that story and others too.

It is very closely connected with events of the war between the states.

In November of 1860, a group of men from Abbeville met on secession hill, many had been invited and 2000 spectators came to listen.

It was here that the first articles of secession were drawn to separate South Carolina from the rest of the United States of America, and delegates were elected to go to Charleston to take part in a larger group of secessionist we can well imagine that Major Burke was among those present because he was an extremely influential and wealthy planter of this area.

The war years past and as you remember your history, the boreer of turned against the forces of the south.

And finally, general Robert E. Lee had to inform president Jefferson Davis, that it was imperative that he and the cabinet leave Richmond, Virginia and somehow reach Montgomery, Alabama, which will be the second seat.

The government of the confederate states.

Jefferson Davis and his cabinet came south.

They left the area of Virginia and upstate South Carolina came in this general area by train, and on may the second 1865 Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were here at the home of Major Armstead Burt.

Mrs. Davis and the children had come here two weeks before and we're the guest of the Burt family.

The gentleman of president Davis's, party stayed in a beautiful home in this general area, which has since been burned.

On May the second, we can see them in our imagination going up the steps, entering the gracious doorway, the wide hall with its lovely fan light of colored glass, which was brought here by the huguenots when they came from Charleston.

They were invited into the home, and the gentleman went to the left into the gentleman's parlor, there president davis, with eight members present held watch we can well believe was his last group meeting his war council.

Several generals were with him.

And with him every effort possible, they persuaded him that the effort had to cease, that any continuation of the war would mean the death of men on both sides, and that the confederate states at this point could no longer be successful.

There is a family story that President Davis was leaning against the mantel with his arm such as this, and during the heat of discussion, the family story says that President Davis had a heart attack.

The men of the council immediately jumped to his aid, particularly Judah Benjamin, the secretary of state, and with their assistance, he was taken upstairs to bed, and the other members of the council and the generals, except for a small guard, which remained with Mr. Davis went their separate ways.

Later, Mr. Davis left this home and by horseback crossed the Savannah River and was captured later in Washington, Georgia.

This beautiful home has only two pieces of the original furniture the bed, which was used by president and Mrs. Jefferson Davis, and a lovely desk, which President Davis I'm sure would have used for signing of documents, and the desk itself is thought to have belonged to John C. Calhoun.

Within the room where the meeting was held, beautiful furniture has been replaced to give the feeling of the period, the period of the federal furniture.

In 1902, this home was bought by the Stark family, and it is they who have replaced the lovely furnishings, the draperies, the mirrors, which make this today an extremely gracious home, and a home worthy of consideration.

As a prime example, of antebellum life in South Carolina.

We see it today as a peaceful home, where we are very welcome to come and admire and to remember.

And we remember those fateful days of the war between the states.

And one thing that happened on the last ride of President Davis, as he was going toward Georgia, in the group of soldiers and the officers with him was a case of gold coin, amounting to $500,000.

Now some were concerned with the crossing of the Savannah River, the $500,000 in gold was lost.

It is said that Judah Benjamin through the great seal of the confederate states of america, into a whirlpool in the savannah river, and the seal has yet to be found.

But as one stands on very historical ground, one has to question whatever happened to the $500,000 in gold.

♪ We are at the site of Cokesbury College, a wonderful spot dedicated for almost two centuries to education.

Cokesbury is near the city of Greenwood, and was long a rallying place for the methodists of this area and later of the entire state.

If Cokesbury sounds familiar to you from the Cokesbury hymnal, you're right, because the name came from the two bishops of the very first early american methodist church, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury, this building has been beautifully and tenderly refurbished and redecorated.

♪ From 1778 to 1788, this area was called Old Tabernacle, then it became Mount Aerial, and after the town was incorporated, in 1834, the name was changed to Cokesbury.

In honor of the two bishops, the community gave land and requested the Methodist Church to build a school two were built an academy for young men and a school for the young ladies.

However, in 1854, the local masonic lodge took over the land and started this beautiful building, which we see here today.

The first floor was to hold classrooms, the second floor and auditorium and the third masonic lodgings for the meetings.

No, the students didn't live here, they boarded with various families in the area, the school bell would ring twice, once for the students to leave whatever home they were living in.

And the second to say you had better be here on time.

It was a very strict school and lots of good discipline.

But the students learned a great deal.

By 1858, there were 125 students enrolled here, and the first graduation was held in 1860.

But unfortunately, after the war between the states life was difficult.

Times were hard, and so the school declined until it was closed.

In 1878.

However, the Methodist Church was invited to take it again.

And so it was relinquished by the masonic lodge to the methodist who had originated the school in the area.

After that, it's a matter of back and forth and back and forth between deeding the school to Greenwood County public school systems, back to the masons and back to the conference, the methodist conference of South Carolina.

But whatever it was, the area was known as the Cokesbury conference school.

And here are many people who grew to become very important throughout our state and our country.

Here they were educated throughout their early years.

The school continued until 1918, when it was closed by the methodist conference.

Again, it went into the possession of Greenwood County, and continued until its last days in 1954.

An excellent education, lots of discipline, and I found an invitation for the young ladies to come to school here.

Very interesting.

In 1911, a brochure was sent to the young ladies we were coded by this time with the following instructions.

Intelligent frugality is an important item in the development of character, expensive dressing, useless expendeture, for little luxuries are any waste of money is not permitted.

It should not be necessary to say that garish overdressing would be out of place here.

And the girls were encouraged not even to bring one sunday hat.

There many interesting stories about Cokesbury College, and one that i liked very much to think about is that a teacher came here who had been educated in Yale University.

And one of the first things he did was to organize a sport.

So the first organized baseball team in the state of South Carolina was played here in 1873.

We might think that today Cokesbury as a village is isolated, because when the railroad was coming through Cokesbury did not want the tracks of near and so they were put several miles away in a community which has now become Hodges.

So Cokesbury per se is now a quiet little area with some beautiful antebellum homes.

But it is still very much in the world of its day.

This building itself is often used for weddings, or receptions or various gatherings of different organizations, we may find the passage of time has ceased to use this building as a school, but in community service, and in beauty, it still stands in all of its dignity and Cokesbury Conference, College is indeed very much alive.

♪ Time has passed, and today we remember and look to the future, just as Calhoun and Davis did here in historic Abbeville.

As we listen for the footsteps of history, we hope that we too can appreciate our own church, law and order, home and education.

After all, it's our state motto, Dum Spiro Spero while I breathe, I hope.

♪