PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES:

Since its creation in 1987 the Society has been actively working toward the achievement of its mission. The projects and activities provide avenues by which the Society can investigate, preserve, and make accessible the history of Saluda County and its people. The following list reveals the extent to which the Society’s projects and activities support its goals and purposes.

1. Restoring the Saluda Theater and Making It Available to the County as a Cultural Center.
This structure was built in 1936 on the courthouse square in Saluda and is one of the few remaining movie theaters in the Art Deco style in the United States. It has been named in the "Discovery" tour of South Carolina sites and is included on the National Register of Historic Places. As the only public auditorium in Saluda County, it is used constantly as a center where people can experience a variety of cultural, historical, and educational activities, both as observers and as participants. The Society has also remodeled the adjoining building to create two large dressing rooms for the theater.

2. Restoring Flat Grove (the Bonham House).
The two-story, log house, built about 1779 near Richland Creek in what was to become Saluda County is the birthplace of Alamo hero James Butler Bonham. The Society is saving and restoring this historic structure, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in order for it to become a teaching house/museum where visitors and students can learn how people lived and worked two hundred years ago.

3. Restoring the Marsh-Johnson House.
This excellent example of up-country architecture, located on Fruit Hill Road in rural Saluda County, was built about 1804 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It will also be a working house/museum where visitors and students can learn of the past.

4. Erecting and Maintaining Monuments.
Erecting a Monument at the Birthplace of William Barrett Travis and Also on the Site of the Plantation of Thomas Green Clemson, founder of Clemson University. These two markers were placed on these sites as memorials to these two Saluda County residents and will serve as reminders of the important contributions these men made in the history of the county, state, and nation. The Society is responsible for maintaining the sites on which the monuments stand.

5. Establishing and Maintaining the Saluda County Museum.
The lower floor of the building adjacent to the Saluda Theater has been remodeled to serve as a county museum. This museum serves as a storehouse for artifacts and information about the county and as a place where temporary exhibits on loan from citizens can educate the young about the way of life that became the foundation for both the present and the future.

6. Cataloging and Publishing Information Found in Saluda County’s Cemeteries.
The Society has published this information in the book Our Saluda County Ancestors, Volumes I and II, and is in the process of collecting and preparing data for a third volume for researchers and genealogists.

7. Establishing and Maintaining a Library.
Also in the museum is a growing collection of family, state, and local histories and other valuable information to be used by genealogists and other researchers.

8. Exploring and Cataloging the Pathways and Waterways of Saluda County.
A committee has traveled, explored, and mapped the waterways and pathways of Saluda County to provide information for future researchers and adventurers, and they have shared this information through programs they have given throughout the state.

9. Researching, Writing, and Producing Historical Dramas.
Since 1989 the Society has produced the following seven historical dramas in the Saluda Theater and one at Flat Grove as a means of educating the public about Saluda County and its past: No Greater Love: The Story of James Butler Bonham and William Barrett Travis; Thomas Green Clemson. A Man Before His Time; A Christmas Saved: The Story of Christmases Past; With Valor They Served: The Story of World War II Soldiers; Into Whatever Houses...: The Story of the Country Doctor; Dreams of the Fathers; The Story of the Creation of Saluda County; Farewell to Flat Grove. The Bonhams Say Goodbye; Ties That Bind. A Gathering in Daly Woods.

10. Collecting Oral Histories.
Since 1987, the students of Saluda High School, working with the Society’s Oral History Committee, have interviewed 170 elderly Saluda County citizens, and in 1991, they interviewed 75 World War II veterans. All these primary documents are on file in the museum and are available for researchers.

11. Educating Students about Saluda County History.
The Society offers students in Saluda County an opportunity to come to the Saluda Theater for a lecture on Saluda County history and afterwards to go on a guided tour of historic sites in the county. This joint effort between the Society and the schools serves to promote the goals of both groups.

12. Working with Saluda Nursing Center Residents.
The Society provides a variety of programs on Saluda County history for the residents of the Nursing Center and for elderly citizens at the Council on Aging.

13. Working with Community Groups to Support Civic Activities.
The Society works with the Saluda County Chamber of Commerce, the Saluda County Pull-It Festival, the Lake Murray Historical Association, the Saluda County Centennial Commission, the Saluda County Quilters and many other groups such as Sprint Telephone Company to provide information and in other ways to promote the well-being of the area.

14. Hosting the Saluda Players, Saluda County’s Theatrical Group.
Since the Saluda Players organized in 1992 to produce Steel Magnolias, they have used the Saluda Theater as their home. The Society has supported this organization in every way to provide opportunities for cultural and learning experiences.

15. Providing Interesting and Educational Programs for Society Meetings.
One means to inform and educate the public about Saluda County’s past is to provide programs that explain certain parts of that past. The Society has had a variety of programs such as ones on Civil War artifacts found in the county, Saluda County grist mills, the naming of Ninety Six, the early settlers of the up country, our part in the Revolutionary War, ducation in Saluda County, quilting as it has been practiced in the county, the history of scouting in the county, and many, many others. Also for the last four years the Society has had a on-going focus on churches within the county and has held meetings at Spann Methodist, Red Bank Baptist, St. Paul Methodist, Pine Pleasant Baptist, Chestnut Hill Baptist, and Pleasant Hill Baptist where the church members shared the history of their church with the Society and the public.

16. Publishing Books and Pamphlets of Interest to Members and the Public.
In addition to the three volumes of Our Saluda County Ancestors, the Society has published The Histoty of Saluda Old Town by Charlie Senn, Family Histories and Historical Sketches by William Henry Hare, Physicians of Saluda County by Dr. Allen Wise, and Scraps of Interesting History and Other Writings by B. W. Crouch. At present the Society is working with the Old Edgefield Genealogical Society to publish a book concerning the history of Mount Willing, an important population center in what is today Saluda County from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War. In addition, the Society is publishing a cookbook of favorite Saluda County recipes. During the county’s centennial the Society worked with the Centennial Commission to help in publishing Breaking New Ground: A Pictorial Histoty of Saluda County.

17. Working with Groups and Individuals Who Seek Information.
In 1990 the Society worked with Republic Pictures when they used the Saluda Theater in filming the made-for-television movie Separate But Equal and in 1993 with Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Fox Butterfield when he was doing research for his book All God’s Children. Recently the Society has aided William Bonham with research for his novel on James Butler Bonham and also the dramatist Frank Lucas with research for his work on Bonham and Travis. Every day – by telephone, by letter and E-mail, and in person – volunteers help individuals who seek information.

The Confederation of South Carolina Local Historical Societies has twice awarded the Saluda County Historical Society its highest award, the "Achievement of Excellence," for its total program of work. The Confederation has also presented the Society its "Special Event" award for the historical drama Thomas Green Clemson. A Man Before His Time and its "Historic Site" award for the restoration done on the Marsh-Johnson House. In addition, the work of the Society has been recognized in magazines, television programs, and newspaper articles. The Clemson University Board of Trustees expressed congratulations and appreciation for the Thomas Green Clemson drama, and Congressman Lindsay Graham wrote a special letter of commendation to the Society for the historical drama Dreams of the Fathers.