Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1901-04-03
THE OLD STONE CHURCH
And It's Honored Dead--The Historic Spot
Revisited by w. A. Dickson.

Revisited by W. A. Dickson.
Twenty.six years ago this month 1
made my first visit to the old Stone
Church. wrote little account Of it,
which was my second contribution to
the newspapers. I went back there
again yesterday for the first time in
several years. The aspect of to-day
presents a striking contrast to that of q
quarter Of q century ago. Then tho
plank fence that enclosed the graveyard
was fast rotting out of sight; whatever
shrubbery there was had long since run
wild, the brier and the Cherokee rose
We'd with each other in tho race for pro-
emption; indeed, tho air of neglect and
forgetfulness which hung over the scene
as pail was moro than ethereal-one
could out it with his knife.
Only now and then did people, upon
Whom the spot had claims, slip in and
deposit their dead with as little ado as
possible and hurry away with sense Of
having taken an unfair advantage in
leaving loved ones to sleep the long
ciOOP cO RluCoOHuC
30 unoanny, that they were soary even in
the daytime
The Stone Church had so nearly gono
out of fashion as a place of sepulture
that the lone pilgrim, as he picked his
way among tombs and bramblos, was
apt to recoil with a start of surprise if
he stumbled upon now made grave or
flushed the graveyard rabbit. But re-
action came, and to-day it is ono of the
best kept cemeteries anywhere in the
country. The thicket of cedars that had
grown up over the first graves made
thore hundred years ago has been cut
away; in fact the entire plot of two
acres has been completely donudod of all
trees and shrubbery except pretty
spruce poplar in tho center of the
grounds and somo evcrgrccns in the
southeast corner.
The two big pines that grew at the
head and foot of tho ducllist Bynum's
grave-who over wrote anything about
tho Stone Church without speaking OF
Bynum's grave-havo been cut down. II
looks like pity that tho only markers at
the grave of the brilliant young lawyer
and journalist who, a crackshot and
squaring everything by the codo-ducllo
was himself caught in the trap he set fol
Perry, should DO oblitorated.
1t has not been many years since the
revival of interest in tho old Stone
Church graveyard came and l suspect
that but for tho establishment of Clom
son College at Fort Hill, n milo or sc
away, itsolf place of rich historic H..
torest and association, which, was FIST
passing into the realm of forgctfulness
the old Stone Church graveyard, vori
table Westminster Abbey for upper
South Carolina, would by to-day have
settled down into q state of complete
innocuous dcsuetudo. Some months
ago the graveyard was enclosed with
granite fence, and although it is fash
ionablo again to bury the doad there
not much room is left and it will not bt
long, if indeed that time had not alrcad,
como, when Dick, Tom and Harry will
bo crowded out
Many important personages lie there
Gen. Andrew Pickcns, tho terror of tho
British and tories in the time of til,
Revolution and of tho Cherokee Indians
thon and later; Andrew Pickcns, hi
son, who was at tho head of regimen
of South Carolina troops in the war O
1912, and who in the year 1910 wa
elected Governor of South Carolina,
distinguished honor in that day of chiv
alric men and chivalric times; Thomas
Recsc, the first pastor of tho church,
man of high scholarship, and tho frs
preacher in South Carolina to recciv
the dogreo as doctor of divinity; Col
Robert Anderson, a Revolutionary pa
triot Of celebrity and ono of the found
crs and pillars of tho Stone Church
"HOpowcll on the Keoweo,' and who's
name Anderson county bears; two Con
federatc coloncls, the gallant Whit Xii
patrick, who fell at the head of the Firs
South Carolina in tho night fight a
Lookout Mountain October 2S, 1868, ant
James w. Livingston, who going into
the war as captain of Company |, ORR
Rifle regiment, rose by promotion to tn,
colopclcy of his regiment, and who, sub
seqncnt to tho war, represented Oconc,
Oliver NJ. Doyle, who, going into til,
Civil war as captain of company in tb
Second South Carolina Rifles, was trans
ferred to tho medical department ant
was made regimental surgeon, and who
whom he died, was president of tho Ston
Church and Cemetery Association; Jas
NJ. McElroy, an ornament in the medi
cal profession and for some time Rep
rcsentative of Pickens District in th
General Assembly; William Davis Steele
for several years Ordinary of picken
District, and at the timc of his death
member of the General Assembly of TIN
State; George II. Cherry, successful
planter, and for one or moro terms Rep
resentative of Oconce in tho State Iegis
laturc; Andrew f. Lewis, who in tn,
old regime and his primo, was immcnsol,
popular and represented his people ii
the General Assembly repeatedly. Thes,
all and many others of no less note liz
here, and it is credit to their descend
ants and others who have a pride i'm the
past as we'll as tho present that the ole
graveyard is being cared for and tina
bcfitting monuments are being piled ove
tho ashes of it's dead.--W. a. Dickson
in Anderson Mail.
100 CANDY carHART'cA s
MsYWTNNe RwfA mKHN