10/4/07
Historical Society concludes year with meeting, works toward museum
By Eric Goold
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Sandra Coker talks to the Clarendon County Historical Society in the Fellowship Hall of the First Baptist Church. The church is celebrating its 150th anniversary and Coker spoke of some of the history at the Manning landmark. |
It has been a good year for the Clarendon County Historical Society.
The group of about 125 Clarendon County residents took trips to nature preserves and historical sites, worked on the preservation of historical sites around the county and took steps toward making the Society’s ultimate goal a reality.
“We’ve been very busy this year in the preliminary stages of getting a museum for Clarendon County,” said Historical Society President Jerry Robertson after Thursday night’s meeting in the Fellowship Hall of the First Baptist Church.
“That is a tremendous goal,” said Robertson. “Clarendon County should have a museum.”
While a future museum for Clarendon County is just in the talking stage right now, many people have different opinions about where it could hypothetically be built and just what it would offer, there is no doubt that there is a large core of history enthusiasts in the county who would support a museum.
“Clarendon County has probably more history than any other inland county in South Carolina,” said Robertson.
The history buffs on Thursday night participated in the last scheduled meeting of the year for the Historical Society. After a robust round of refreshments, the group heard presentations about the 50th anniversary of Manning’s own Marian McKnight winning Miss America, as well as a discussion about the upcoming 150th anniversary of the First Baptist Church and some of the rich history it houses.
McKnight won the coveted crown for America’s princess in 1957. Some members of the Historical Society remember the magical event like it was yesterday.
“She really was a very good friend,” said Margaret Robertson, who went to school with McKnight at Manning High. “She was a very special person, a very special friend.
“Of course I remember the night she won,” said Robertson. “Everybody in the house jumped up and down and screamed when they made the announcement. Then we had to get in our cars and drive around town, honking the horn and listening to the sirens.”
Robertson said she could not confirm the rumor that some folks in the town went to McKnight’s home and took blades of grass out of her lawn, perhaps as keepsakes or perhaps to sell later on. McKnight has stayed in touch over the years with Robertson, sending postcards back and forth.
Sandra Coker, a member of the First Baptist Church for 40 years, talked about some of the history that makes the Manning landmark so unique.
“Studying it and reading these books, I just fell in love with the history of this church and the people that made it so special,” said Coker.
She told the crowd about how the church evolved from a meetinghouse in a hallway above a store, to the Courthouse, to a one-room building and then to the marvelous edifice it is now.
She spoke of many of the church’s pastors who shaped the church and its congregation over the years. The presentation concluded with a walk through in the church’s beautiful Heritage Room, which contains many emblems of the church’s past.
The Historical Society looks forward to two upcoming events that the public can attend.
A special ceremony on Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church will celebrate the anniversary.
The special guest speaker will be Dr. Robert Louis Alderman.
Then on Oct. 19 and 20, the Society will surely have a presence at the 5th annual Francis Marion Symposium at the FE DuBose campus.
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