Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance - Bishopville

Bishopville, SC 

This Sunday morning's Church Photo in Lieu of Attendance is a sweet chapel in Bishopville, SC. Truth is I don't know if it is still a chapel or used for other purposes. It caught my eye and I grabbed the shot but didn't see any sign although it appears to be maintained and in use. I wondered it is was a personal residence but it still has the crosses on the front which suggest it is still church property. There was a large church on the corner across the street so it may be a satellite building. Lovely little chapel.

Edit: According to the every helpful SCIway site, the Chapel used to be the St. Johns Catholic Church but has indeed been converted into a private residence.

I am sidetracked with a pulled back muscle this weekend and walking like a cripple. Blah. Still got a decent walk in yesterday but slow start this morning. No housekeeping or gardening will be accomplished today and I am okay with that.

Stay cool kids!

The Button King - Bishopville, SC

Button King Museum, Bishopville, SC 

Since we had driven all the way to Bishopville, SC on Saturday we had to check in on all the local attractions. After leaving Pearl Fryar's topiary garden I plugged the coordinates for the Button Museum into my gps and steered my friend Rosie directly onto a dirt road that led us for a few miles through back fields and farmland. I was a little skeptical when we started to hit deep ruts and running water on the side of the road but sure enough we came across a Button Museum sign. 

The property was a peaceful farm land with two Quonset huts and not a soul in sight. Luckily there was a paper sign on the door inviting us in to explore - and we did.  There was a set up video to play of Dalton Stevens on the Johnny Carson show in his button suit, two cars - one a hearse, two caskets, a piano and an outhouse all solidly decorated in colored buttons. We had a good laugh and I got a kick out of getting the button shots. It takes all kind to keep this world of ours spinning!

Roadside America: When Dalton was 53 years old - he's now in his 80s - he developed chronic insomnia. "Television went off at two in the mornin' back then," he recalled. "No more TV. I didn't have nothin' to do." To pass the time, Dalton found an old denim jumpsuit and started sewing buttons on it. He kept sewing for almost three years. He still couldn't get to sleep, but he had a jumpsuit covered with 16,333 buttons.

After running out of room for buttons on the suit, Dalton discovered the allure of contact cement. He glued 517 buttons on his shoes, then 3,005 on his guitar. Next he covered a banjo, then a piano, then his 1983 Chevy Chevette (150,000 buttons). Insomnia became an asset. "I wouldn't quit. I wouldn't stop," he said. "I'd go four and five days and never go to bed." The suit, and all of his other button-covered items that followed, are now displayed in the Button King Museum. Dalton opened it in 2008 in a building (built by his children) next to his home.

A Man Named Pearl

Pearl Fryar, Bishopville, SC  

I've had a good day.  A long drive in the country took us to Bishopville, SC. I'd been aiming for lunch at Harry & Harry Too but it was closed on Saturdays and we found good BBQ and fried flounder at Watford's BBQ.  Our goal was Pearl Fryar's topiary garden. I've been a fan of Mr. Fryar since I'd seen the documentary about his mad talent for trimming bushes into topiary shapes in the documentary "A Man Named Pearl" and I was so pleased to actually find him working in the garden and happy to visit and talk with us. It was such an honor and a treat that I am still smiling about it.

Link to Documentary.

Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has created fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiary are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary, A Man Named Pearl. Today, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden draws visitors from around the globe.