Category: City Of Darlington
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German POWs in Darlington
Below is a lovely note written by Dorothy Law Martin in March 2011. It’s about German prisoners of war who worked on her father’s farm. My Dad, W.P. Law, had a large farm on the old Hartsville Road in Darlington County. During WWII my four older brothers were in the service and farm help was…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Jerusalem Baptist Church
Jerusalem Baptist Church, located at 6th Street and Laurens Avenue in Hartsville, is one of the oldest African-American churches in Darlington County. Organized after the Civil War, its first church service was held in a brush arbor on Snake Branch, a creek near E. Carolina Avenue. Jerusalem’s first permanent church, a log building, was built…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Edmund H. Deas House
Located at 229 Avenue E in Darlington, the Edmund H. Deas House was named after Edmund H. Deas, who moved to Darlington in 1870. Known as the “Duke of Darlington,” Deas was a very active Republican and served as the county chair of the South Carolina Republican Party in 1884 and 1888. He was delegated…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Senator Kay Patterson
Born in Darlington County on January 11, 1931, Kay Patterson represented the 19th District in the South Carolina Senate from 1985 until his retirement in 2008. Senator Patterson also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1975 through 1985. He was the first African-American to sit on the University of South Carolina’s Board…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Darlington & Liberty Theaters
On April 22, 2015, Frank W. McKeel donated a thick book filled with hundreds of movie ticket stubs from the Darlington & Liberty Theaters. Inside the book, on the very first page, Mr. McKeel wrote a message to the Darlington County Historical Commission: Please remember when! Because I got such a kick out of combing…
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FAMOUS DARLINGTON COUNTY RESIDENTS: Buddy Johnson, jazz musician
Woodrow Wilson “Buddy” Johnson, a renown jazz and New York blues musician, was born in Darlington, SC, on January 10, 1915. A pianist and bandleader, Buddy performed songs with his sister Ella Johnson. Among his songs that went into the R&B and pop charts were “Let’s Beat Out Some Love,” “Baby Don’t You Cry,” and,…
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FROM THE ARCHIVES: “The Company Store” and “That Village Isn’t There Anymore”
I found these in the Darlington Cotton Mill files. Mills, particularly Southern cotton mills, have a complicated history, and I’d like to hear more about them from firsthand sources. So if you’ve got information, an anecdote, pictures, songs, poems, or anything else on the subject, please leave a comment and tell us about it. …
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Isaiah DeQuincey Newman, clergyman and civil rights leader
Isaiah DeQuincey Newman, a Darlington County native, was an esteemed clergyman and important civil rights leader. Educated in Williamsburg County public schools and Claflin College, he was ordained in the United Methodist Church (UMC) in 1931. In 1943, he helped organize the Orangeburg branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Harold Brasington, builder of the Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway, the first super speedway in NASCAR history, was constructed in 1950 by Harold Brasington, a local race promoter who saw asphalt-paved tracks as an advance over the dirt tracks. Brasington wanted a 500-mile stock car race that rivaled the Indianapolis 500. On September 4, 1950, the Darlington Raceway hosted the first Southern 500,…
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SPOTLIGHT ON: Lawrence Reese, master carpenter and merchant
At the age of 21 or 22, Lawrence Reese came to Darlington, S.C., where he married Lula Aiken. According to an article in The Community Times dated May 3, 2001, Dr. McGirt, Lula’s father, asked young Lawrence how he would support his new bride, and Lawrence replied that he was a carpenter. Dr. McGirt, needing…