Allendale County Historical Society (ACHS) hosted an introductory meeting of SC 250 to members of the ACHS on November 9 at the James Brandt Building in Allendale.
Bill Davies, vice-chair of the American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission, attended and gave the group and overview of the plans for the celebration of SC 250 for South Carolina. Another informational meeting will be held on Monday, December 5, at 12 noon at the Carolina Theatre for those unable to attend the first meeting. All interested are invited to attend - Barnwell and Allendale county citizens in particular.
Davies began with explaining that their group was appointed by the State Legislature in 2019 and have funding to pass through to participating counties. Its mission is to celebrate South Carolina’s role in the American Revolution by educating, engaging, and inspiring South Carolinians and visitors.
Strategic goals are:
*Discover and celebrate South Carolina’s Revolutionary Era, its significant people, places, principles, and events.
*Interpret, preserve, and make accessible Revolutionary scholarship and sites.
*Educate South Carolinians and the world about our state’s role in the American Revolution.
*Support and promote research and cultural heritage telling South Carolina’s stories from many points of view.
*Support and promote local 250th events, arts, preservation, heritage tourism infrastructure, and corresponding economic development.
The Commission is ready to assist counties in finding and preserving their Revolutionary Era Sites, People, and connect it to the Liberty Trail to increase tourism in the counties. Its lifespan is from 2019 to 2033. Their partners include the S.C Battleground Preservation Trust, S.C. PRT, and S.C. Department of Archives and History.
After an explanation of the important role that the Southern States and particularly S.C. played in winning the Revolutionary War, he stated that the Revolution did not end with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Instead, the Revolutionary time span was 1770-1783. Their Commission is particularly interested in underrepresented such as women, children, persons of color, and Native Americans. He stated that those groups have been documented in playing important roles in the fight for freedom.
The county committee should be made up of diverse individuals interested in the project. After the formation of the committee, the first step to being accepted as a participating county is for the County Council to approve a resolution creating the county committee. The goal of the committee is look into history and discover what happened in Allendale County during the Revolution. The SC250 Committee is available to provide assistance in all phases of the discovery process, beginning with the writing of the initial $3,000 grant. Once important sites are located, the goal is to have signage, pull-offs, and to have them put on the Liberty Trail, the interactive travel website with Revolutionary Sites on it.
The Liberty Trail, a Charitable Institution State Commission, created in 2017, obtained 21 Million dollars with goals to preserve 30 Revolutionary battlefields. To date, it has 81 new or improved Revolutionary Sites. The Ap for the Liberty Trail cost $400,000 and is a unique ap that you question and it will respond. It is an augmented reality ap, TheLibertyTrail.org.
After his presentation, next steps were discussed and it was decided to hold another informational meeting during the day so that those individuals unable to attend a night meeting would have a chance to learn about SC250.
