Exploring Berkeley County's Historic Sites with Tourism Director Rachel Knight

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.

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My name is Amelia Old and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration.

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Join me as I share stories of friends, family and strangers from my everyday life and travels.

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We will laugh, possibly cry.

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We'll walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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What's yours?

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Welcome to Voices of Inspiration.

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I'm your host, Amelia Old, and today we are here with Rachel Knight, the tourism director of Berkeley County, South Carolina.

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Thank you so much for being with me today.

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Of course.

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Thank you for having me.

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Yeah, I'm so excited to hear about what you guys have and learn a little bit more about the Revolutionary War.

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So let's just start off.

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Can you provide an overview of Berkeley County's role in the American Revolutionary War?

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Yeah, berkeley County had a huge, huge part in the Revolutionary War.

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Francis Marion, known as the Swamp Fox, this is kind of his area.

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He was born here, he fought here.

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He really kind of mastered our swamps with that guerrilla warfare kind of you, you know, tricking the British.

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The British, you know, not being familiar with swamps and and in Cypress trees and and the environment that is around here, you know that was his big advantage to defeating them and then, you know, died here.

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So he's buried in Pineville, south Carolina, which is the northern part of Berkeley County, and he's just, yeah, he's just our hero, our American Revolutionary War hero in Berkeley County.

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So what are some key historical sites in Berkeley County related to the war that visitors can explore today?

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Yes, fort Fairlawn.

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It's one of two American Revolutionary War fortifications that are still intact.

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So we've really added a bunch of funding into that and worked with some really great partners to preserve that and open it up to the public so that they can learn the importance of the events that have happened, you know, almost 250 years ago.

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So that's probably our biggest one.

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Then we have Biggins Church that's in Moncks Corner, south Carolina.

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Mepkin Abbey, Henry Lawrence Grave out there as well, so another American Revolutionary War patriot.

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And then Pineville, where Francis Marion is buried.

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But there are a lot of battleground sites around that.

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We have, as a tourism department, formed battlefield tours that we take people on four times a year to kind of experience and explore all across Berkeley County.

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I think that's so amazing that these things still exist that people can actually go to and learn about.

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It's not just in the history book and that's really great that it's being preserved for people to learn more about it as the years go by.

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And with that said, how has Berkeley County preserved and commemorated the Revolutionary War history here?

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I definitely commend our long-term historians that are born and raised here.

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We even have family members of way down the line, descendants of Francis Marion, that still live in the Pineville area, still live in the Pineville area.

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So just them continuing and telling the story, writing historical books for us, writing a historical marker book, adding to those the extensive research that they're doing to help the tourism department be able to promote that um working with partnerships like the Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust um to help preserve these places and then open them up to the public.

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Wow.

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Are there any lesser known stories or events from that era that you find really interesting?

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really interesting.

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You know, gosh, you know there's a Colleton Castle that's still kind of being explored.

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They're going to get an excavation group in there to really kind of do some archaeological studies and research to find out a little bit more about the Colleton Castle, which is located not far from Fort Fairlawn.

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So stay tuned to that, because I know that'll be coming.

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That's exciting.

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That was one of my questions too.

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You know what types of are there often digs that happen in the area?

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With all of the history, I'm super interested in archaeology.

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Yes, it is becoming more popular, I would say Ever since this tourism department was created nearly five years ago.

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I think the county has really gotten on board with digging into our rich history, utilizing those resources to, you know, pay for these archaeological digs and the research and the studies.

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So I'm very excited for it.

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And one thing that I will remind anyone watching or listening, especially those that love to hunt for artifacts it's not allowed on state property.

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If you find it, leave it and, you know, show someone what you have found, but do not remove any of the artifacts.

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I like to point that out because you know I follow a lot of groups that love to go do those things and it's okay to do it on private property that you've been given permission, but not on any state.

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In our area too, there's some scuba divers that will dive right in the Cooper River near Fort Fairlawn, Colleton Castle area, and they will find artifacts.

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Then they will turn back into the museum or the state museum.

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So it is really neat that they kind of give that back to us.

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That's so neat To continue to tell our story, absolutely, absolutely.

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So how does the county's history contribute to the overall historical narrative of South Carolina Gosh?

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well with it being so rich in not just American Revolutionary War history but the Native American history, and we have a large Native American history background here.

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African American history you know historically were known for.

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You know the plantations and the crops that were grown here, the rice and the indigo, so that all you know really kind of boosted the economy, starting out for just Charleston but then expanding across the state and the other colonies.

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Do you see a lot of tourists come in specifically for the history?

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of the area.

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Oh, yes, yes, and I was really surprised actually, when we started the battlefield tours, the amount of interest that was in that.

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So I thought, okay, if there's that much interest in Revolutionary War history, what about the other areas?

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And so we really tapped into the Native American and African American side of history as well.

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Can you talk a little bit about that?

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Yeah, absolutely so.

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right now, the African American cemeteries they're doing a lot of research on the area and just some of the grave sites that might not have been marked or acknowledged in different locations.

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They're really taking a step back and looking at that.

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And then the Native American, the Wassamassau tribe of Varner Town Indians, is a huge tribe around here and so they are very involved in the community, educating them on the history, and and they hold some really great events throughout the year.

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So I'm just lucky to be a part of helping promote that.

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That's awesome.

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How has the community embraced its history?

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Very well, you know, there's not a whole lot of conflict with American.

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Revolutionary War history.

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So it's, you know, they have really embraced it well, really wanted to learn more about it.

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I see a lot more locals wanting to learn more about where they live.

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So that's very encouraging to me because I see that as tourism, not just bringing guests in, but also locals learning and doing more in their town.

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Absolutely.

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I fully believe in staycations and learning what's in your own backyard.

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Absolutely.

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Are there any upcoming events that you have?

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We have battlefield tours, so we have two this summer and two in the fall.

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And then Olsi and Tee Canal Park is really instrumental, since, for fairlawn is located in the park.

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They have a lot of events, you know, focusing around the 250.

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We have the berkeley 250, which is a branch of the south carolina 250 celebration, and so there's a lot of events happening with that.

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Mep Canabi is participating as well, and a lot of other historical societies.

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You know kind of all partnering up to to really, I guess, get Berkeley County ready for the 250th anniversary.

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Which is right around the corner.

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How do you see the history influencing future tourism and initiatives?

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I think by getting our signage up, kind of little kiosks with photos, maybe some QR codes, a little bit of verbiage, would really inspire people to learn more about the area, the heroes that were here, the settlers, you know just kind of everything about the area encompassing it.

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Our attractions do a very good job of having all that information at their sites and specific tours throughout the day to kind of catalyst that.

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So how can our listeners and viewers find you guys online and sign up for some of these upcoming tours?

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Yeah, we have an events calendar online.

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It's at exploreberkeleycountycom and we have all the information about historical events and our waterways, our natural resources and our waterways, our natural resources, accommodations, all kinds of things.

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And I'll make sure to link to all of your social media and website on the notes of the episode of this, and I'm going to put you on the spot.

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Because I have one more question and I ask everybody this Do you have a quote or any words of wisdom that you would like to leave behind?

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a quote or any words of wisdom that you would like to leave behind.

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That's a good one, one my dad kind of installed in me when I was a little girl, and it was by.

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Maya Angelou, it's.

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People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel so true.

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So you know, just treating people with kindness and respect, it's just always been a big part, so true that one gave me goosebumps.

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Thank you so much for taking time to share a little bit about the history here and the events that you have going on.

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I personally cannot wait to have my own tour here.

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I'm so excited, happy, to have you anytime.

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Thank you.