Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-04-27
straps 1T goeal Aistoru.
"REMINISCENCES Of YORK.
Valuable Bits of Local history Pre-.
served by a Scptuagcnarian.
DR.. Maurice Moore in The Enquirer OF 1870


DR.. Maurice Moore in The Enquirer Of 1870.
pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, the bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white-then melts forever;
Or like the borealis race,
That fits ere you can point the place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form,
Evanishing amid the storm
Nae man can tether time or tide"
When I proposed the writing Of these
scraps Of memory, warned my readers
that all would not be in order. There
fore, I may now retrograde, without
apology, to about the year 1900, when a
settlement known for many years by
the distinctive appellation of Halifax"
was made in the district. Few now, I
presume, are aware it ever had exist
ence.
It originated by an old man named
Ward, a gentleman Of considerable
means coming from Halifax, Virginia,
and buying large survey from Bob
Barrow, Esq, (the celebrated old land
-monger), and settling himself thereon.
1t was a very fine body of land, lying
on Fishing creek, about four or five
miles south of Yorkville. Not long af-
ter, a number Of families emigrated
from the same vicinity in Virginia, and
Mr.. Ward sold off to them small tracts
of land, settling them there on little
farms thickly around him. With one
consent, in loving remembrance of "old
Virginny," they entitled their new
neighborhood Halifax" and so it was
soon designated by the whole district.
Among the families thus added to our
population, were the Wrights, PAGES.
Foremans, knights. Edwards, Bensons,
Cooks, and others whose names do not
now recall These people retained the
renowned hospitality of the "Old Do
minion," and for many years, in my
young days, this section was the centre
of merriment, good living, open-hand-
ed generosity and frolics in the district.
A dancing school was standing insti-
tuition. One of their number, Mr.. Ben
Cook, was a master Of the terpsicho-
rean art, and in various parts Of York
and adjoining districts, instructed
many.
"- delicate feet in the dance to twinkle
round"
Almost every man Of Halifax played
the fiddle-old Mr.. Ward excelling
among them in this, as we'll as most
else. Indeed, this old gentleman, from
his seniority, wealth and benevolence
was, as it were, the patriarch-his
house, the headquarters of the settle
ment.
Christmas week was one of entire fes-
tivity. Each night a dance-the ball
always opening Christmas Eve, at old
Mr.. Wards: then each night succeed
ing, by a kind of routine, from one
house to another. They were too gener-
Gus to confine the guests to themselves.
Kindred spirits were always well
come-"the more the merrier' their
motto, and many lively gallants and
merry maidens, not belonging there,
participated in the holidays at Hall
fax" Nor was it alone at Christmas
times they had their fun and frolic.
Scarcely a month ever passed by with
out a dance being gotten up in this
neighborhood, usually though, it would
be at old Mr.. Wards.
A dance in those days was a dance.
A frolic Gnstead Of a party) it was
called-beginning before sundown and
not ended till nearly dawn; and as I
once heard an old lady say while look
ing on in the ballroom at Glenn
Springs, at the languid movements of
bellies and beaux in cotillions-then the
fashionable dance-"when was a girl,
1 did more honest dancing in half an
hour, than one of these do the whole
evening"" Dancing in those days was
an accomplishment much admired, and