Good Morning!

Hwy 6, Orangeburg County, SC  

I've often taken pictures of the adorable tiny cottage in this pastoral scene but this time I got a bonus! A couple of horses, donkeys and baby donkeys were in the field and came up to pay us a visit.

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend. It looks like we will be continuing our daily thunderstorm routine. I haven't needed to water my plants for weeks.

Mud up or Shut up!

Nuthin' a little soap and water won't clean off!

My son once sent me a snippet of video from a mud bog and I shook my head in amazement so when I spotted a Mud Bog sign in Orangeburg County last weekend I couldn't resist handing over the $10 entry fee and paying a visit. Check the All About Mud blog for more info and truck photos. They had a tractor ready to pull the trucks out when they stalled in the mud which seemed pretty much expected, and the vehicles were clearly designed for the event. If you can see past the mud it looks like pretty clean family fun. 

 

 

 

Enough coffee for ya?

The Coffee Pot, Hwy 301, S.C.

I had spotted this coffee pot years ago when it was in terrible shape. Thanks to the Times & Democrat's 100 Things in 100 Days I spotted a recent image showing the refurbished coffee pot and steered a recent drive in the country in that direction. It has been fixed! Wow....the entire structure is freshly painted and clean. The windows invite you to snoop and the inside is some kind of doll museum. It made me wonder if the owners might be grandparents? Here is the scoop from the Times & Democrat's website:

The Coffee Pot: Before they opened the diner in 1950-51, British natives Fred and Emily Griffin had originally planned to open a tearoom. Deciding the busy highway needed a coffee shop instead, the Griffins opened the Coffee Pot Diner. Mrs. Griffin is said to have baked pies each night for the next day’s customers. A traveler could order breakfast and lunch and, of course, plenty of steaming cups of Joe.
Coffee may have been the American public’s beverage of choice for a caffeine fix, but in a nod to her British roots, Mrs. Griffin continued to partake of her afternoon tea at 4 o’clock every day.
The 1950s motored on, and the Griffins greeted their guests from near and far. But trouble was brewing on the horizon for the Coffee Pot Diner and other establishments like it.
In the mid-1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower brought home from World War II the idea of the interstate, a road system designed to move military equipment quickly, based on Germany’s Autobahn. South Carolina was to get three interstates: I-20, I-26 and I-95.
Begun in 1957 and one of the oldest interstates, it was I-95 that would slice through Orangeburg County, parallel to U.S. 301, sounding the death knell for countless motels, gas stations and mom-and-pop diners like the Coffee Pot.
The Coffee Pot poured its last cup in 1979

 

 

Eddie Sweat

Eddie Sweat tomb, Holly Hill, S.C.

I've been letting the Orangeburg Times and Democrat 100 Objects in 100 Days series lead me on some quirky road trip destinations. I recently roamed around a rural cemetery in Holly Hill, trying to find the tomb of Eddie Sweat. According to their photo the tomb was marked by a plastic horse noting that Eddie Sweat was groom for thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat and that is how I finally spotted it.

Here is a web site with great period photos and video.

Eddie Sweat got his first glimpses of thoroughbred racehorses in his hometown of Holly Hill, S.C., where he was born in 1938. There were horse farms nearby and Sweat grew up mesmerized by the grace and beauty of the swift horses he saw bounding across pastures and honing their speed over training tracks. As a teenager he picked up work where he could, and finally landed a good job digging post holes and mending fences at Laurin’s thoroughbred training farm in Holly Hill. Laurin noticed the hard-working teenager, and soon offered Sweat a chance to come inside the fences of the racing game to work with the horses. The trainer noticed the lad had a natural feel for the high-strung and sensitive animals – the “touch” top trainers are always seeking.
When Laurin’s stable headed north to New York, Sweat went with it, and within a few years Sweat was “rubbing” some of the top horses in America, including the champion filly Quill, and Belmont Stakes winner Amberoid. When Laurin took on the Meadow Stable string in 1971, Sweat was assigned to the most talented colts, including 1972 Kentucky Derby winner Riva Ridge, and then the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. Later, when Laurin retired, Sweat went to work with Laurin’s son, Roger Laurin, also a top conditioner on the New York circuit. There Sweat rubbed more fine horses, including Breeders’ Cup Juvenile sensation Chief’s Crown.

100 Objects, 100 Days in Orangeburg County

Muffler Man, Holly Hill, S.C.

The Orangeburg Times And Democrat is featuring a series called, "Orangeburg County: 100 objects, 100 days," featuring the stories of 100 objects in Orangeburg County. I am familiar with many of them but have never seen Valentine's Cotton Gin & Country Store and I certainly haven't seen the old Coffee Pot diner since it was refurbished.

I don't believe they have finished their 100 items yet so I am here to nominate old Muffler Man in Holly Hill who always has a friendly wave as I pass by and the never open when I am there, Tea Pot museum in Elloree.

What else needs to be included? I know I have friends haunting the back roads of Orangeburg County. Thanks to reporter Martha Rose Brown for leading me to the interesting series.