Folkston Revisited

Ok, so since we were in Folkston for the Find a Grave adventure anyway, I decided to take our train-crazy-toddler to the funnel. Unfortunetly, they were having a slow day, so we did not actually see any trains, but they have a new (small) museum that we stopped in. Above, we see Charlie demostrating what an alligator says.

"Choo choo! Choo choo! Choo choo!"

"Yes Charlie, lots of choo choos."

I guess this is how the office at thetrain station was supposed to look like back in the day.

Some various train related artifacts, here we see some lamps and oil cans

locks and keys

train books

Telegraphs and wire covers

The Hildegarde was one of the last recorded steamers to serve this area on the St Marys River. She began her service here in the 1890's and was sold in 1916 to a sugar refinery company in Savannah.

Using the public docks, she would come twice a week from the Fernandina area and stop at Kings Ferry which is about ten miles from Folkston on the St Marys. The boat would spend the night taking on mail, passengers and supplies to return the next day.

She broke her keel on a sandbar in South Carolina ending a small piece of history for this area.

Greenville begins, part 2

Ok, so here is the promised history oriented post of Reedy River Falls Park. If you want to see the pretty pictures, see the last post. This one is mostly the monuments around the park and the accompanying story. We begin with the above, the remains of where the "Swamp Rabbit Railroad" crossed the river.

Remember, click on the photos to enlarge them and read the sign. The Greenville area was Cherokee country until 1777, when the land was ceded to the state. Most of the area had been hunting ground, while the villages were located in the Oconee area.





Remains of the Vardry Mill. An earlier mill was built nearby and purchased in 1815 by McBee. He became known as the "Father of Greenville" because farmers from miles around came to have wheat and corn ground, bringing prosperity to the area. The mill above was made by his descendants to make textiles.

Tonight, on the Budd Zone...

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Budd Zone.
Here is an ancient chariot of the time when this zone was created
Here we enter the mysterious Stumphouse Tunnel, a tunnel created in the 1850's for the Blue Ridge Rail Line. Created by simple hand tools and the sweat of hundreds of immigrant laborers, it was originally meant to be 5,863 feet long. But the harsh conditions allowed only 200 feet to be tunneled a month, and in 1859, the project ran out of money. The Civil War and following reconstruction ended any prospects of the tunnel's completion.In the 1940's Dr Miller from Clemson University used the tunnel to make blue cheese, but this was moved to the University when the process conditions could be recreated. But the real reasons could be much more mysterious...
Today the tunnel is the most visited historic site in South Carolina. With a flash, we light it up and continue our journey.
This is our only hope of escapeThe tunnel seems inviting enough, but that is about to change...
But wait! A mysterious skylight appears further down the tunnel!
A ghostly apparition, perhaps a lost worker searching for the end of the tunnel?

A man who appears to walk through walls
A mysterios box, known to speak to people on nights with a full moon
A strange light that leads people away, perhaps driving them to madness!
Can people really disapear in a flash of light?
And finally, do cave creatures really exist in the form of energy? It's all part, of the Budd Zone....

*Do do do do, do do do do, do do do do.....*

In the garden

Ok, so after leaving the Calhoun house we were driving down the street when the wife yelled "train!" So we parked the car and discovered the Clemson Botanical Gardens.



The said train that the wife saw, placed in the garden by the class of '39.

Funnel vision

Ok, this is Folkston, GA, about twenty miles west of Kingsland. It is the county seat for Charlton county, and was founded August 19, 1911, named after Dr. William Folks, a local physician. For a number of years, the city of Folkston was the self-proclaimed "Marriage Capital of the world". The city embraced this nickname because Floridians who could not endure their state's waiting period before tying the knot would cross the state line to wed.

Folkston is best known for its trainwatching at the "Folkston Funnel", where almost all rail traffic going in or out of Florida passes. The platform built by the town features lights, ceiling fans, and a scanner to listen in to radio traffic between trains. Adjacent to the platform are picnic tables, a grill, and a new restroom facility for our guests. Seen here used to be the train station, but now serves as a visitor center.

Speaking of trains....
Just another sleepy little southern town. Note the store named Chesser's. We have seen that name before and we will see it again soon.