News from the farm

What a blessing! We have been invited to a special event. This is at the college here (Erskine) that is about a mile down the road. The director of the liberal arts department has graciously recognized our family with this invitation to this recognition ceremony. 
Bless her heart. We are excited.

History "the Dinky" all aboard!

Farm Friends,

     The "Dinky" a train gone but not forgotten. Today we travel by train. This was a period of time that was predominantly horse and buggy days. In fact the third occupant of this house,  a J. McClintock was the "taxi service" by means of horse and buggy. His service ran between the towns of Due West and Donalds, SC. The track was approximately 4.5 miles long between the above aforementioned towns. This would include our current property with a stone marker thankfully remaining in our front yard as it's first stop. It was known as "Lee's crossing" but there is no hard evidence that this stop was officially bore the name. The stop was named for the second owner who lived here for 53 years.

The first train to be in existence was "the Due West for Donald's" in the 1907.  It had some difficulties upon it start,  as my research has uncovered the first engine had to be replaced early on but the second engine did the job that was required. The iron horse traveled in only one direction. It then had to go in reverse back to it's home. It was alleged that it was the shortest railroad in America. When the director R.S. Galloway was posed the question of it's length,  he would would respond " it maybe the shortest railroad but it is just as wide as any other."

This train was solely owned by the townspeople who bought stock in the little railroad. It was one of the very few that truly operated without occurring any debt. Amongst it's regulations were rules that included not operating on the Sabbath (with one exception) transporting a emergency  patient. Also, there was to be no consumption or transportation of alcohol at all.

I have uncovered many priceless stories and pranks that were played on the engineer. It is told that some of the students upon occasions would tie the whistle rope up to allow all the next day's steam to poor out through the whistle.  Another prank would be altering the time of the blowing of the whistle to interrupt some special event like a wedding or program of singing. One story has the Director asking the engineer "where did he hit a cow." The engineer replied "Out in the field." A local woman Mrs. Alpha Smith in a recent interview commented that this was "quite a sight".

To reduce uneven wear on the wheels, the train was driven to a near by town and turned around every three months. The fare for passage on the train originally was 25 cents. Unfortunately the little train had a sad ending, it was believed to be scrap sent to the Japanese. But in its time it served this community very well and I am thankful for its existence and history.

Below I have included some old photos of the Depot, the Dinky and the town in its existence. Hopefully you are more aware of some of the wonderful history of our new little farm.

History "The Dinky"

Hello farm bloggers.
This week we will continue with the topic of the train that once ran in front of my house.  Exciting news as I have uncovered a source that will give an eye witness account of this little marvel. Check back later this week as I bring to you this and other amazing facts on this topic.

2/21 History continued

Wow. I am taken back by this little undiscovered gem. As you know I have several personal historical reserach projects going on pertaining to our 1830's house.
Recently I have found information about the third owner by the name, McClintock.
He purchased this house approximately in 1908. He only owed it for three years and there is little information on him.

Another project finds me researching a train that at on time passed the front of the house. This train was small and only connected two towns, Due West and Donalds, SC on a 4.5 mile track. My house was an actual stopping place for "Dinky" that went one way down the track, then in reverse to the beginning.  Funding and construction began in 1906 - 1908. It began its initial in service January 1908.

In the same time period that the house was sold, to its third owner, was a man by the name McClintock. This man also had the title of "Conductor" of the  new Due West train.
Coincidence???
You answer......

News discovery. 2/21 history

Later today we will post an exciting new discovery just revealed through our history research. Be sure to check back later.

History 2-7-14

Farm Friends:

Well much has happened since our last walk into the pages of this old house.
I have met with a couple of local historians and a representative of the local college. 

In my hunt for more answers of the early history I have been introduced to the heritage of the fourth owner. This is something sure to peek your interest as it has mine. 

This publicly known and accomplished Dr. was a great admirer of music boxes. Not your ordinary music boxes, but some of the rarest and most valuable.  His name was Wofford E Baldwin. His collection had over 200 pieces in it when he died at an estimated value of 2-5 Million $$$$ These were originally showcased in an entire addition built specifically onto the house that had climate control.
His collection has since been donated and some pieces sold at auction. The local college has 64 of these on display in their fine arts building to which I was given a private tour.
Here are some:

History 1-28-14

Hey farm friends. 

What a day we have had already and more to come! Interestingly we are suppose to have 2-4 inches of snow. Looking back over the last 50 years, that would be more than has been recorded for both January and February combined. 

Can you imagine how many storms this old house has weathered?  One more amazing fact about this house was it's foundation.  Trees were used. When our inspector came, he said that you could still see the chop marks from the workers who took off the branch's and made notch marks to fit each one. He also mentioned that these trees were "at least 10" in diameter.  Then he asked "Do you know how long it takes to grow a tree that size?" To which I replied "no". He then continued " it takes approximately 100 years."  "These trees were growing before we were a country."    

"Wow" was all I could say.
This property looks to be prime territory for a metal detector!!!

 Craig