Marie Adams presents SERCO Award in absentia to former Richland County Council Member Bernice Scott. Receiving the award is Scott’s son–in–law, Richland County Councilman Kelvin Washington. The historic Harriet Barber House in Hopkins, which was constructed around 1880 and recently restored with assistance from the Richland County Conservation Commission, was honored October 26 with a drop-in by the South East Rural Community Outreach (SEACO). The house has remained in the same family since 1872 when Samuel Barber, a former slave, purchased 42.5 acres of the Hopkins Tract in Lower Richland County which was purchased by the South Carolina Land Commission for redistribution to freedmen.

In 1879, Samuel’s wife, Harriet, also a former slave, made the final payment and received title to the property. By 1880, the family was farming 24 acres in Indian corn and 22 in cotton using a mule and an ox.

Marie Adams presents SERCO Award to Dr. Warner M. Montgomery, president of the Star Reporter Corporation, and recently retired publisher of The Columbia Star . After the deaths of Samuel Barber in 1891 and Harriet Barber in 1899, their son, John, lived in the house, where he and his wife raised 11 children. John Barber was also a public school teacher for 45 years and a Baptist preacher for over 60 years. Since John Barber’s death in 1957, the house has remained in the possession of the Barber family.

At the ceremony Marie Barber Adams, president of the SERCO, presented awards to Bernice Scott, Johnny White, and Dr. Warner M. Montgomery for their support of the Barber House Restoration Project.
Marie Adams presents SERCO Award to Johnny Martin, contractor, who completed several historical renovation projects in partnership with the late Herbert DeCoasta of Charleston.