Personal Injury Attorneyin St. Matthews, SC.

FORT MOTTE — Lovers of history gathered at a hilltop near the Congaree River to remember a Revolutionary War battle that might have turned on one woman’s sense of patriotism and sacrifice.

The gathering in Calhoun County on May 15 focused on the Battle of Fort Motte when a British-held fortified home, which held key supplies for their campaign to subdue inland South Carolina, was taken by Patriot troops.

The newly built home belonged to Rebecca Motte, who had been displaced just before the battle in May 1781. Motte not only told Patriot forces that they had permission to set fire to her home to smoke the British out, but she even provided metal arrows that could help set it ablaze.

British troops, seeing the house afire, were forced to surrender but managed to douse the flames before the home was destroyed.

Motte’s stance was in line with her long support for the American Revolution and typified how Patriot women were eager to help where they could, said Margaret F. Pickett, author of a soon-to-be-published book, “Rebecca Brewton Motte: American Patriot and Successful Rice Planter.”

“These were women who wanted to serve their country, and when an opportunity presented itself, they were going to take advantage of it,” Pickett said.

About 150 people heard from Pickett and archaeologists about the history that has been uncovered at the privately owned site and the significance of the victory there.

One year before the battle, the British captured Charleston and Camden, giving them strong bases on South Carolina’s coast and inland. Motte, recently widowed, moved her family from occupied Charleston to land she had inherited overlooking the Congaree.

A series of Patriot victories across the state, including at Fort Motte, would weaken British control in the months before George Washington’s victory at Yorktown in Virginia would ensure independence.

“Rebecca Motte is a heroine of the American Revolution,” said Dianne Culbertson, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution service organization who came to the battlefield tour. “It’s just wonderful to stand at one of these sites,” she said.

The many battlefields of the American Revolution in South Carolina are opportunities to tell the stories of the patriotism of the country’s founders, men and women, Culbertson said.

Women had to keep families together and run farms while men were off at battle, she said.

The battle site now is an open field with a historical marker; the house burned down in the first few decades after the war.

Archaeological digs there have unearthed hundreds of items that tell the story of the battle, including musket ammunition and a fire arrow, the type of projectile that might have been responsible for the fortified house catching fire.

Digs at the site have unearthed everything from the configuration of the house and its British-built walls to the location of Patriot trenches, dug to safely get troops close enough to attack the defenses, said Steven Smith, a University of South Carolina archaeology professor.

Sources from the time and archeological research have created a much more detailed picture of the events of the siege and battle, Smith said.

Luther Wannamaker, whose family has owned the land where the house once stood for the past century, said they had refused requests to develop the property and instead cleaned up the site.

“When I came here, that monument was on its side,” Wannamaker said.

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He has preserved it and invited Smith to do archeological research as part of his own curiosity.

“What I’m into is learning the truth about history,” he said.

The immediate aftermath of the surrender of the house by British forces in May 1781 shows how the American Revolution was both a courtly affair and sometimes a brutal civil war.

To show her hospitality, Motte hosted a dinner for both British and American officers at the nearby house where she had taken shelter after being evicted.

The cordial meal was interrupted by news: the Patriot forces had hanged three Loyalists — Americans who fought for the British — near the battle site.

Gone is Mrs. Whaley.

Gone is the sign that hung outside the wrought-iron gate set back from Church Street beckoning visitors into her walled garden.

Gone is the marble statue that peered protectively over a shallow pool, the backyard’s centerpiece.

But the miniature Eden the late gardener and author immortalized in a memoir published before her death more than a quarter century ago continues to bloom. And its new owner plans to keep Mrs. Whaley’s spirit alive as she restores the historic home and the more famous garden.

“The house is charming, and old,” said Ruth Ann McSpadden, who bought the property this summer for $3.35 million from Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell, Emily Whaley’s youngest daughter.

As the sun dappled through the lush canopy behind the white clapboard home that predates the Revolutionary War and was once owned by Thomas Hayward Jr., who signed the Declaration of Independence, she added: “But the magic is back here. This is just a really special place.”

The 30-foot by 100-foot backyard is said to be the most visited private garden in America. In 1942, Whaley commissioned the design from renowned landscape architect Loutrel Briggs. Mrs. Whaley’s Garden, as it’s now known, is rumored to be his favorite, according to her book “Mrs. Whaley and her Charleston Garden” written in conversation with William Baldwin.

“If you have a Loutrel Briggs garden, it’s like manna from heaven,” Cornwell said in a phone interview from her home in the mountains of North Carolina overlooking another garden — this one her own. “You can’t fail.”

ST. MATTHEWS, S.C. (WIS) - Officials with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) reports three people in Calhoun County were sent to healthcare providers after being exposed to an animal that tested positive for rabies.

Officials said a fox found near Lakeview Street and Amaryllis Drive in St. Matthews tested positive for rabies, officials add the fox was submitted to DHEC’s laboratory for testing on July 2 and confirmed to have rabies on July 3.

“Rabies is usually transmitted through a bite or scratch that allows saliva from an infected animal to be introduced into the body of a person or another animal,” said Rabies Program Team Leader Terri McCollister. “However, infected saliva or neural tissue contact with open wounds or areas such as the eyes, nose, or mouth could also potentially transmit rabies. To reduce the risk of getting rabies, always give wild and stray animals their space.”

If you see an animal in need, avoid touching it and contact someone trained in handling animals such as your local animal control officer, wildlife control operator, or a wildlife rehabilitator according to officials.

You are encouraged to report all animal bites, scratches, and exposures to potentially rabid animals to DHEC said officials.

For more general information on rabies in the Midlands, visit DHEC and for more information on the disease, visit the CDC rabies pages.

Administrators said if you believe that you, someone you know, or your pets have come in contact with the fox or another animal that potentially has rabies, please call DHEC’s Public Health Orangeburg Office at (803) 533-5480 during normal business hours (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday) or after hours and on holidays at (888) 847-0902 (Select Option 2).

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The Calhoun Times, the small weekly newspaper in South Carolina that announced its own impending death last month, is back among the living.

The Times, based in St. Matthews, South Carolina, said in its Jan. 12 issue that the Feb. 2 edition would be its last. But the Times has been acquired by another newspaper, The Aiken Leader of Wagener, South Carolina. The Times will continue to publish each week.

According to a press account of the transaction, members of the Morris family, which had owned and operated the paper since the 1920s, will continue to work at the paper.

Edwin C. Morris Jr., the third-generation publisher of the Times, will continue in that role. His 87-year-old father, Craddock Morris, had been editor; he now will be a free-lance writer for the paper.

Andrew O'Byrne Sr., owner and publisher of the Leader, will become the owner of the newspaper, which will be renamed soon as the Calhoun Times Leader.

"A newspaper is important to the health of a community, and we are happy that we will be able to keep a paper in Calhoun County," O'Byrne told The Times & Democrat of Orangeburg.

"A local newspaper facilitates dialogue between local government and the citizens, and we are committed to bringing the community the news it has relied on for so many years from The Calhoun Times," he added.

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Wagener is about 40 miles west of St. Matthews, has about 800 residents. It is about 40 miles west of St. Matthews.

The Leader has a weekly circulation of about 10,000, according to the South Carolina Press Association. Presumably it serves all of Aiken County, which borders the state of Georgia and is part of the Augusta market.

The Times, located in Calhoun County, is in the center of the state is a part of the Columbia market. Its current circulation is about 1,500.

The name change will be one sign of new ownership; O’Byrne didn’t articulate what others might be in the press coverage of the transaction.

At this point, neither the Times nor the Leader has a website. The Leader is a free giveaway newspaper that presumably makes its money on advertising or other types of promotions. The newly minted Times Leader could follow that model.

The Morrises have been the newspaper family in St. Matthews since the late 1920s. Small-town papers rely on stories about local sports teams, town expenditures, booster organizations and their projects, and other staples of day-to-day living. Such a paper relies on local people having trust and confidence in a paper’s reporters and editors, so there is business sense in keeping the Morrises on the payroll of the new Times Leader.

In an interview about the transfer in ownership, Craddock Morris said, "We have tried to serve the public with good news and trying to keep the public informed on everything by trying to cover all the activities, schools, organizations and clubs."

Spoken like a true small-town journalist.

ST. MATTHEWS – An Orangeburg-based seed production company announced Tuesday it is expanding its services in Calhoun County.

Mixon Seed Service, Inc. has purchased St. Matthews-based L.B. Wannamaker Seed Company.

“We are excited,” Mixon Seed Service Inc. President Robert Etheridge said during a Tuesday ceremony celebrating the purchase. “It is a neat honor to be able to carry on two stored companies that have been in the state over 150 years.

“We are happy to be able to carry that forward.”

As part of the transaction, Mixon Seed will invest about $750,000 over the next five years and create 10 new jobs at its new St. Matthews operation on Mill Street.

The investment will be in facility and equipment upgrades with an eye to increasing capacity.

The St. Matthews plant will focus on cover crop seed production, as well as wildlife blend retail and sales.

The Mixon Seed Service name will continue to be used, although the wildlife seed retail and sales office will be named the Southland Wildlife.

Mixon Seed currently has three employees in Calhoun County and 32 total. The company’s headquarters are in Orangeburg. It also has a facility in Newton, Georgia.

Regional business, government and agriculture officials were in attendance Tuesday to celebrate the expansion.

The S.C. Department of Agriculture is providing a $150,000 grant to help with the expansion.

“It is exciting and satisfying to have this business continue under the guidance of Robert Etheridge and Mixon Seed,” Wannamaker Seed Co. owner Luther Wannamaker said.

Etheridge said both businesses have been, “high touch, high service, high trust.”

“What we are going to do in Mixon Seed going forward is we are going to take that spirit of innovation and best practices and build it into a regional company that is a regional player across the South going forward,” he said.

Etheridge said Mixon will focus on a few areas going forward such as climate smart agriculture and sequestering carbon.

“Cover crops are a key tool in doing that,” Etheridge said. “We are making an investment here and in some other places where we are investing in infrastructure, in the people and the know-how to really bring those cover crops to the state and to the region at a scale that will take it.”

Etheridge said the company will also focus on wildlife space.

“We see the investment in recreational properties continuing,” Etheridge said. “We think that is a viable space. Certainly land preservation and particularly farm land preservation is going to be an ever-increasing focus for us in the state. We are excited about the growth prospects we’ve got.”

Etheridge thanked Clemson and South Carolina State universities as resources for new innovations and technology.

S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers noted agribusiness is the largest contributor to the state’s economy.

Agribusiness contributes about $51 billion to the state’s economy and employs nearly 260,000 people, he said.

Weathers praised Wannamaker’s forethought and innovation, saying it’s helped local farmers through the years.

“That is really a foundation of the great agriculture that goes on here and now. Mixon Seed will continue that,” Weathers said. “Congratulations to Mixon Seed. Mr. Luther, congratulations. I know you are excited to see your lifelong work continue.”

Rep. Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews, said, “This is truly what South Carolina is.

“This is the essence of who we are in South Carolina. As far as I am concerned, that is the way we always need to keep it. We are an agricultural state.”

Mixon Seed’s expansion is, “sustaining the legacy of South Carolina,” Ott said.

Ott said Tuesday’s announcement is based on trust.

“We are transitioning today,” Ott said.

Wannamaker is trusting that his family seed company will continue to live on under Mixon Seed, Ott said. “It requires trust to know that those names, those legacies have been built and carried on in a manner in which they can continue to be proud.”

Calhoun County Administrator John McLauchlin thanked Etheridge and the Mixon family for investing in the county, and the Wannamaker family for its role in the county over the years.

“Keeping it in the agribusiness community and keeping the community happy with products nearby is great,” McLauchlin said.

Mixon Seed was founded in 1973 by Danny Mixon.

During the early days of Mixon Seed, Mixon would visit 15 to 20 customers daily, covering 300 miles.

The company provides seed varieties for wildlife and cover crop blends.

The company has distribution centers in Orangeburg and Newton, Georgia.

The company produces over 1.1 million bags of seed annually.

The Wannamaker family’s roots go all the way back to the year 1732 in what’s now Calhoun County.

After the Civil War, a group of men from Orangeburg and what is now Calhoun County were leaders in advocating for the creation of Clemson College and a more scientific approach to agriculture.

John Wannamaker from St. Matthews was especially prominent in this group. He was the first chairman of the board of Clemson and the first lifetime trustee, serving from 1888 to 1935.

The development of better varieties of farm crops, especially cotton, through seed breeding and research into fertilizers were Wannamaker’s two major concerns as a member of the Clemson board.

John’s son, John E. Wannamaker, was a pioneer in soybeans and is credited with bringing harvestable soybeans to the South.

St. Matthews-area farmer W.W. Wannamaker admired his cousin John and wanted to keep the business going.

Whit Wannamaker, W.W. Wannamaker’s oldest son, studied at Clemson and returned home to concentrate on growing cotton, cotton seed breeding and selling cotton seed. This gave birth to the Wannamaker seed enterprises in about 1916.

After World War I, Whit was joined by his two brothers, Treutlin and Banks, in a family partnership. In the 1930s, the business became two separate entities: W.W. Wannamaker Seed and L.B. Wannamaker Seed.

Banks Wannamaker founded the L.B. Wannamaker Seed Company in 1936. The production and marketing of cotton seed was his principal business.

In 1966, his son, Luther, joined his father and concentrated on soybean seed.

Luther contacted all the various Southern soybean breeders and selected, produced and marketed a stream of soybean varieties to Southern farmers.

In 1988, L.B. Wannamaker Seed expanded to Japan where it sold many varieties of soybean including the large Black Tamba, the so-called “King of Soybeans” that is a popular dish for Japanese New Year’s celebrations.

In 2005, the business was changed to focus on wildlife enhancement. The company serves both large plantations interested in quail, wild turkeys and ducks and deer hunters who want to provide high-protein food plots year-round.

BAMBERG, S.C. —

UPDATE - Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024:

The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-2 tornado with 125 mph winds is responsible for the major damage left behind in Bamberg, South Carolina, after Tuesday's storms.

The NWS also confirmed an EF-1 tornado hit Catawba County, North Carolina.

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What South Carolina Highway Patrol troopers are calling a tornado brought down buildings and powerlines and caused other significant damage Tuesday in Bamberg.

Watch video above taken Tuesday night.

More news: Father, stepmother charged in Upstate 34 years after child found dead in cabinet, officials say

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning before 3 p.m. for Orangeburg, Bamberg and St. Matthews until 3:15 p.m.

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Tornado Warning including Orangeburg SC, Bamberg SC and Saint Matthews SC until 3:15 PM EST pic.twitter.com/dMWwffBUSN

— NWS Columbia (@NWSColumbia) January 9, 2024

Lance Cpl. Brittney Glover posted photos of the damage on social media after the storm blew through Bamberg. That's about 60 miles north of Beaufort and 45 miles east of Aiken.

One showed tons of debris under a water tower.

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Another showed a warehouse near what appeared to be the same water tower severely damaged.

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A photo Glover said was taken on the city's Main Street showed bricks and rubble in the road from damaged buildings.

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Another photo showed a tree snapped and downed trees and power lines around it.

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"If you’re out on the roadways today, please stay safe," Glover said. "A tornado just landed in Bamberg County."

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The National Weather Service will dispatch a team to the area to evaluate the damage and issue a report on the likely tornado.

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