This picture of the house is from Josie Reed. Written on the back of the photo is "Reed Plantation 1933, Blackville, South Carolina."
This picture is from the book The Long Shadow of the Big Brick, A History of the First Baptist Church, Blackville, South Carolina, 1846-1996 by Annette Milliken Maddox (published by the First Baptist Church, Blackville, SC).
This picture was taken by Sharon Crowley on a visit to Barnwell County in April 2009. The home has been lovingly restored. It is beautiful!
(As always, click on pictures to enlarge.)
I was Barnwell and Bamberg counties last February and saw the house. The porch detail really impressed me. Seems you can still see the carving/planing of the original carpenter. Don't you wonder whose handiwork it is?
Certainly our forefathers Reed were required to have a lot of skills in the backcountry that was Barnwell County in the late 1700s and the 1800s. Carpentry, however, is one that I can trace down my line all the way to my brothers.
In Healing Springs: A History of the Springs and Surrounding Area (2004, Sandlapper Publishing Co.., Inc., Orangeburg SC), author Raymond Boylston writes “This home, now owned by ... Chet Matthews, was completed about 1790. The beautiful two-story home has front and back porches and cedar shutters with handmade iron latches. The interior doorknobs and latches, made in England, still operate and Chet has the original keys. The floors and walls are made with wide boards. The house looks today much as it did when Samuel and Mark Clark Reed moved in.”
The Samuel Reed Home was the first meeting place of the First Baptist Church of Blackville when, in 1846, 27 members of Healing Springs Baptist Church withdrew their membership and started First Baptist of Blackville. Quite a few of our Reeds and relations were in that group.
I'm So Glad to be Back!
I have really missed being here for the past 10 days. My mother was very ill, and when I came home from the hospital every day, I had little energy left for much of anything. She transferred to rehab yesterday, and things are improving. I appreciate your prayers for her and my father - and me, too!
It is so rewarding to see the revelations of history.
ReplyDeleteI recently found out that my materma; grandfather, Kistler Fairey, was Irish. His ancestor, a Frenchman named Fauré, settled in Ireland in during the Hundred Years War in the 13th Century! My aunt is writing the full report (book!) I can't wait!