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BEECH HILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY – MARCH 21, 2023 – MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
March 23, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
A PLACE AND ITS PEOPLE: DRAYTON HALL STORIES AND MORE
In person with author George W. McDaniel
His groundbreaking book, Drayton Hall Stories: A Place and Its People, is the first book in the nation to focus on a site’s recent history using interviews with descendants (both White and Black), board members, staff, donors, architects, historians, educators, preservationists, tourism leaders, and more.
Like different pieces of a mosaic, each interview combines with others to create an engaging picture of this one place, revealing never-before-shared family moments, major decisions in preservation and site stewardship, and pioneering efforts to transform a Southern plantation into a site for racial conciliation.
The audience will come to see Drayton Hall’s people not as stereotypes, but as the real people they were — and are.
The book includes 32 pages of color photos both historic and contemporary, maps, lines of descent, a how-to guide, and more; a related website provides a blueprint for readers who wish to undertake similar endeavors to build community in today’s world.
The Beech Island Historical Society is devoted to collecting, preserving and presenting the history of our country and, particularly, the rich history of the Beech Island, SC area. First discussed by a group of 14 interested individuals in the winter of 1985, the group held their first meeting on March 19, 1985 at the All Saints Episcopal Church.
In 1991, the heirs of George McElmurray, one of the society’s charter members, donated to the society one acre of land, a four-room meeting hall and a large warehouse. The society dedicated its building to the late George McElmurray and the Beech Island Historical Society History and Visitor’s Center was opened for visitors and tourists.
On April 3, 1998, the society won the Progress Award for the Visitors and History Center building at the Confederation of Local South Carolina Historical Societies in Columbia, SC. Presently, the society has grown to a membership of over 300.
Meetings are held monthly from September to March on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm at the society’s meeting hall at 144 Old Jackson Highway. The public is invited to attend.