Pineville, a historic refuge

Julia Hall lived on Belvidere as a child.

Belvidere Plantation suffered the fate of progress in 1940 at the hands of the Santee- Cooper Project. The grand old house that had been home to the Sinkler family for over 200 years disappeared beneath the waters of Lake Marion just a few miles from Eutawville. Anne Sinkler Fishbourne, a member of the last generation of Sinklers to grow up at Belvidere, wrote a book of her memories ten years later ( Belvidere, A Plantation Memory. USC Press, Columbia, 1950).

Sidney Tynan, Anne Fishbourne's niece, was present at the March 2008 Belvidere reunion. Though she did not live at Belvidere, she did visit as a child and had many memories which she shared with her relatives:

• There was a loud Delco Ram electric generator in the house that stored electricity in big glass containers in a back room. (Probably a Delco-Remy diesel generator) It shut off at 6 pm, and the house went to kerosene lights.

• I was given baths in a little tin tub in front of the fireplace. A small kerosene lamp provided light.

Sidney Tynan sings and dances the Ranky Tanky. Note:

• During secretive trips into the third floor attic, I found old, good- smelling books, including the Andrew Lang Fairy T.ales

 

• The huge garden had an arbor covered with Cherokee roses.

• My father contributed a pig. The children rushed to catch it. After it was caught, I watched the men cut its throat and drain the blood into a bucket. The pig would be dumped into a huge iron pot of boiling water and lye, then hung up by its heels and all the hair scraped off. A wheelbarrow would be placed in front of the pig which was slit right down the front. The stomach and intestines would tumble into the wheelbarrow. The clean pig would be placed on an old bedspring over a fire. The next day we enjoyed roasted pig, no barbecue sauce, just pig meat.

• Bookies from Charles-ton with their plaid suits and bulging pockets came to the St. John's Race Track. They didn't realize the horses used to plow the fields were excellent race horses. The bookies really got clobbered.

• The children would line up on a log at night and do the Ranky Tanky dance while singing:

In the morning, in the evening
When you dance that
Ranky Tanky
There was an old lady from
Wooster
She had three hens and a
rooster
The rooster died and the
old lady cried
Cause she didn't get eggs
like she use'ta

Julia DeSaussure Hall grew up at Belvidere living with her grandparents, Daddy Lewis and Maum Rosena DeSaussure. She recalled:

• My granddaddy was the overseer of the garden. He planted all the vegetables. Whenever he sent me to the kitchen with a bunch of greens, I could hardly make it up the steps.

• My granddaddy looked after the sheep and cows. He milked the cows and sheared the sheep. A big sheep would be put out front to mow the lawn. He was the only lawn mower they had. My granddaddy also fed the mules but he never let me go with him.

• They would send me to get the mail, about two and a half miles. Before I would go, I would look around to see if I could see the bull. I don't know if he could kill you, but he never had a chance with me. I could run and get out of the way.

• My granddaddy would gather the wood to put under the big pot where they'd scald the pig. The next day they'd cut up the pig and put the parts in the smoke house.

• My grandmother taught us to quilt. She kept me busy with the quilt. The only time we could go out in the yard to play was when she had company, her lady friends. You didn't want to hear what they talked about.

• My grandmother didn't let me go to school until I was 12 years old because the school was so far, and I had to walk. I went to school in the sixth grade. I promised my God that if He let me go to school I would finish. After I had my children I went back to school and finished high school.

(Next Week: More Belvidere stories)