Here's a quick look at some historic happenings this week in Columbia:
Thursday, March 21, 11 a.m. Robert Mills House Garden Tour: This 60 minute guided tour features the Founder’s Garden, herb gardens, and My Mother’s Garden at the Robert Mills Property. Visitors will learn about the various plants, herbs, and trees that adorn the Robert Mills House grounds. Depending on the season, visitors may learn about vegetables planted at 19th century homes, heirloom flowers and old garden roses. The Founder’s Garden is designed to mimic 1820’s-inspired English gardens. One of the big leaf magnolias on the property was transplanted from Alwehav Plantation, home to Sarah Hall’s half-sister. Admission is $6, free for Foundation members.
Thursday, March 21, 5:30-7 p.m. : Upon this Rock: Religion, Reconstruction and African-American Churches at Ladson Presbyterian Church, 1720 Sumter Street:Historic Columbia Foundation, the University of South Carolina’s History Center, the Renaissance Foundation, and Ladson Presbyterian Church will host a symposium that will explore the early development of African American churches organized in Columbia during the Reconstruction era. Keynote speaker Dr. Reginald Hildebrand of UNC-Chapel Hill will discuss his research into this momentous period of American religious history. Historian Reverend John A. Middleton and attorney Hemphill P. Pride will also speak about local congregations in the Columbia area. Refreshments will be served and admission is free.
March 22, Reconstructing Religion exhibit opens at Robert Mills House: Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson’s calling to teach at the Presbyterian Seminary served as the catalyst for young Woodrow Wilson’s move to Columbia in 1870. This exhibit will highlight aspects of religion in Columbia during Reconstruction (1865-1876) including the post-emancipation emergence of separate African American churches such as Ladson Presbyterian.
Wilson’s maternal uncle, James Woodrow, was an influential theologian in the southern Presbyterian Church and later involved in a dispute over his teaching of evolution at the Seminary. Artifacts on exhibit will include the pew used by the Wilson family at First Presbyterian Church and the Wilson family Bible.
This exhibit is part of the regularly scheduled Robert Mills House tours Tuesday through Sunday. Click here for admission details.
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