January 16th Field Trip to Edgefield SC

Had some time to kill Friday afternoon, so I packed up and headed about 30 miles down the road to Edgefield, SC.  

Edgefield is/was home to 10 South Carolina Governors, which makes it about as powerful as Barnwell County.   

There were some 20 plus historical markers around town, and I got to most of them.

The favorite son of the town is of course J. Strom Thurmond-who was in the senate for about 50 years.  He was a staunch segregationist, had an illegitimate mixed race child, and a wife who was 40 years his junior and still revered...  

Stopped by his birthplace, but missed his cemetery plot- have to get that on a return trip 

Inscription.
[Front]:
J. Strom Thurmond, by mid-1997 the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history, was born here to J. William and Gertrude Strom Thurmond Dec. 5, 1902. educated at Clemson College, he taught high school 1923-29, was county superintendent of education 1929-33, state senator 1933-38, and circuit judge 1938-42. As a U.S. Army officer 1942-46, he participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and won the Bronze Star.

[Reverse]:
Thurmond, governor of S.C. 1947-51, ran for president on the States Right Democratic Party ticket in 1948. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1954 as a write-in candidate but resigned his seat in early 1956 to fulfill a promise to voters. He was easily reelected that fall, then again in 1960, 1966, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990, and 1996. He served as President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate 1981-86 and 1994-present.

And the man himself:

James Strom Thurmond, a Senator from South Carolina; born in Edgefield, S.C., December 5, 1902; attended the public schools; graduated, Clemson College 1923; taught in South Carolina high schools 1923-1929; Edgefield County superintendent of education 1929-1933; studied law and was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1930; city and county attorney 1930-1938; member, State senate 1933-1938; circuit judge 1938-1946; served in the United States Army 1942-1946, in Europe and in the Pacific; major general, United States Army Reserve; Governor of South Carolina 1947-1951; unsuccessful States Rights candidate for President of the United States in 1948; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator in 1950; practiced law in Aiken, S.C., 1951-1955; appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to complete the term of Charles E. Daniel, who resigned, and served from December 24, 1954, to January 3, 1955; had been

previously elected as a write-in candidate in November 1954 for the term commencing January 3, 1955, and ending January 3, 1961, but due to a promise made to the voters in the 1954 election, he resigned as of April 4, 1956; again elected as a Democrat on November 6, 1956 to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation and took the oath of office on November 7, 1956; reelected in 1960, 1966, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990 and 1996 and served from November 7, 1956, to January 3, 2003; was not a candidate for reelection in 2002; changed from the Democratic to the Republican Party on September 16, 1964; President pro tempore of the Senate (January 5, 1981-January 5, 1987, January 4, 1995 to January 3, 2001, January 20 to June 6, 2001); President pro tempore emeritus (June 6, 2001-January 3, 2003); chair, Committee on the Judiciary (Ninety-seventh through Ninety-ninth Congresses); Committee on Armed Services (One Hundred Fourth Congresses); turned 100 years old on December 5, 2002, while still in office, the oldest person ever to serve in the U.S. Senate; died in Edgefield, South Carolina on June 26, 2003; interment in Willowbrook Cemetery in Edgefield. (Source: Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress.)