Crafter Karen Thomas will demonstrate the importance of schoolgirl samplers in the colonial period, highlighting how these stitched works taught young girls literacy, numeracy, needlework skills, and moral values while preparing them for adult roles in household management and society.
Ann Kisinger with the Cayce Art Guide will demonstrate spinning on a spinning wheel and answer questions on how spinning of textile fabrics was achieved during the colonial and Revolutionary War periods.
Living Historian Paul Young will demonstrate the craft of building wooden rifles and answer questions on the process. He will bring some rifles that he crafted that reflect the colonial and Revolutionary War Period.
The Lexington County Museum is made up of 36 historic houses and outbuildings. It showcases the Colonial and Antebellum period of Lexington County history, with a particular focus on the Swiss and German heritage of Lexington. It has a large collection of locally made artifacts, including quilts, furniture, and pottery. At Tartan Day South the museum will exhibit hands on feather and quill writing, a demonstration of making candles from bee’s wax, and a coloring station for children with Revolutionary War coloring sheets.
The 12,000 Year History Park is a unique archeological site in Cayce, South Carolina, where history and nature converge. Over the last 120 centuries, the area has had an array of inhabitants. Native American camping sites, the earthworks from the Civil War battle of Congaree Creek and the site of a 1718 colonial fort known as Fort Congaree I are in the park. The park is full of stories and offers something for explorers of all ages. Guided historical walking tours are offered on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year. At Tartan Day South, information will be provided on the park and the tours available.
The Archaeological Society of South Carolina will be at Tartan Day South and bring displays, objects, educational materials on the colonial and Revolutionary War periods, and representatives will be available to talk to the public about archaeology in the Midlands.
Todd Elder of the Elder Anvil will demonstrate blacksmithing and blade smithing on his mobile forge that he will bring to Tartan Day South. He will be available to answer all kinds of questions on this largely forgotten but important craft that flourished in the colonial, Revolutionary War period, and the 19th century.
The mission of SC 250 is to celebrate and promote South Carolina’s role in the American Revolution by educating, engaging, and inspiring South Carolinians and visitors. At Tartan Day South, representatives will provide information on the organization, upcoming Revolutionary War events in South Carolina, and handouts, brochures, and other resources highlighting the Revolutionary War in South Carolina.
The South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust (SCBPT) is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit corporation established in 1993 and dedicated to the preservation of South Carolina’s historic battlegrounds and military sites. At Tartan Day South, representatives will be providing information on their organization, as well as the South Carolina Revolutionary War Library Trail.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Granby Chapter and the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) Godrey Dreher Chapter will be at Tartan Day South with their displays. Representatives will answer questions about their groups, the American Revolution and how to join their organizations.
The Cayce Museum and Historical Commission promotes and protects the legacy of Cayce’s past. This legacy encompasses the pre-contact and historic peoples and events that shaped the community. The Commission also endeavors to preserve places, documents, and artifacts of significance to that story through museum collections, exhibitions, programming, and the conservation of significant properties within the City of Cayce. Museum staff, Elizabeth Lumsden, will have examples of period-appropriate dyes and other natural dye products, such as turmeric, while hand-sewing reproductions of 18th-century accessories.
Living Historian Greg McKee will demonstrate the age-old craft of making bricks. He will invite the public to make their own bricks in a hands-on exercise. The area around Cayce has a tradition of brickmaking since colonial times. Mr. Mckee is very knowledge about brickmaking and will gladly answer questions and offer insights.
Living Historian Rick Owens will demonstrate and invite the public to participate in hands-on woodworking exercise He will talk about the importance of woodworking skills during the colonial and Revolutionary War period and their use in log cabins and other building construction.
Local historian and amateur archaeologist David Brinkman will provide information and showcase recovered objects from the colonial and Revolutionary War town of Granby as well as the Revolutionary War fortification known as Fort Granby – the site of two battles in the year 1781. Both of these sites were located in the present-day Cayce area.
Pamela Sulton, Cayce Museum and Historical Commissioner, and Mattie Mack, an educator from Lee County, will bring informational panels and answer questions about African Americans in the Revolutionary War.
The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum serves as the State’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military material culture from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. Staff Member Joe Long will share historical accounts of the use of swords and sabers in the Revolutionary War and participants young and old, will get the chance to learn some basic movements of the 18th-century saber drill.
The Lexington County Public Library’s mission is to provide access to quality resources that provide lifelong literacy for the Lexington County Community. At Tartan Day South, representatives will have examples and suggestions on local Revolutionary War books for both adults and children that can be checked out at the library. They will also sign residents up for a library card.
The Lexington County Public Library’s mission is to provide access to quality resources that provide lifelong literacy for the Lexington County Community. At Tartan Day South, representatives will have examples and suggestions on local Revolutionary War books for both adults and children that can be checked out at the library. They will also sign residents up for a library card.
Living historians Karen Cox and Bobby McCloud will demonstrate indigo dyeing of textiles and will also offer guests to have hands-on opportunities in dying a textile. Swatches of material will be provided for the public to dye. and learn about the importance of the Indigo in South Carolina during the colonial period.
Dan Culpepper with the 2nd South Carolina Revolutionary War Reenactors will play a series of fife tunes throughout the day around the colonial village.
Living historian Sara Damewood, joined by Aspen DePratter with the South Carolina State Museum, will have a table where guests can ask questions about famous people and about various topics about the colonial period and Revolutionary War period (topics could include the weather, the Revolutionary War, family life, and whether to sleep with the window closed or open.
The South Carolina Military Museum’s mission is to preserve the Palmetto State’s military history. At Tartan Day South, the museum will bring objects that can handled and touched that relate to the Revolutionary War and will provide K-12 educational materials on the Revolutionary War.
Living historian Dale Loberger will demonstrate and talk about surveying and mapping in the era of the American Revolution.
Vanessa Robinson is a Sweetgrass basket weaver with more than 40 years of experience. Her baskets incorporate bulrush, Sweetgrass, long leaf pine needles, and palm fronds, all of which are indigenous to South Carolina’s Lowcountry. She has sold her baskets at the Charleston City Market. Now you can watch her demonstrate how to make baskets like they have been made for hundreds of years and ask questions. She will also bring a selection of baskets she has made for sale.