taveau church

 Days we go for long drives out into the countryside are some of my favorites!

well, THAT'S a big post office! LOL

Driving through the Francis Marion National Forest....pretty scenery and lots of  tall trees!

Finding an old oak alle is always a plus.

Today we discovered this small old  weathered clapboard church with a wooden bell tower:

Taveau Church was built in 1835 on the old Clermont Plantation. The church was established by Martha Caroline Swinton Ball Taveau. She was a Presbyterian in a local sea of Epilscopalians, and she wanted this church to be Presbyterian.

Martha was born in 1785 and when she grew up she married a wealthy plantation owner (John Ball, Sr.) in 1805. When he passed away in 1817, she married Augustus Louis Taveau.

After Mrs. Taveau's death the church was used by slaves from neighboring rice plantations.

The old cemetery:

At the bottom of a bluff close to the old church, the old Strawberry Ferry operated. It took passengers across the Cooper River to near-by Bluff Plantation. People could then get on the path (which later became a highway) to travel right to Charleston.

 The ferry was also important because it transported rice, livestock, and other goods, as well as people.

There used to be a tiny town here called Childsbury. There was a school, a general store, a church, a tavern and other small shops for a tanner, a butcher, a shoemaker, carpenters, and a Town Square for marketing, fairs, social gatherings, and the like. There was even a big race track for racing horses!

An English settler named James Child established and ran the ferry in the early 1700s, and the little town up on the bluff was named after him. Farms, plantations, and pasture land surrounded the little town.

The little trade town eventually went into decline and was absorbed into one of the plantations.

The ladies in the picture below were probably on their way to church, in the early 1900's.

They have their pretty hats on and the little girl carries a basket

South Caroliniana Library, Berkeley Country Photograph Collection

I believe there were several large plantations here in this area of Childsbury--Clermont Plantation, Kensington Plantation, Washington Plantation, Strawberry Plantation, Comingtree Plantation, Mulberry Plantation, and others.

Middleburg Plantation, Library of Congress, 1940s

Middleburg, Library of Congress, 1940s

Scenes along the way

Leaving the countryside behind..........and back into the city

Eyes on the Skies!

There was a real pretty sunset as we drove back home. I love outings, but I am also always GLAD TO BE BACK HOME.