Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
The museum at the Edisto Experiment Station near Blackville will soon close so it can be used as housing for graduate students from Clemson.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was keenly aware of the plight of American farmers; hence, he was instrumental in establishing experimental stations throughout the United States of America.
Fortunately for our area, one such station was designated for and constructed in the western part of Barnwell County just beyond the Town of Blackville. Clemson College was the driving force of this undertaking. The doors of the Edisto Experiment Station opened in 1937.
It is also noted that a large portion of the land within the Edisto Experiment Station came from one of Blackville’s largest farmers, Charlie H. Mathis.
The first buildings constructed on the property at the Edisto Experiment Station were designed in Washington, D.C.
The completed design plans sent to Blackville included the following buildings: one large two-story residence, five small residences, plus a large two-story combination office and laboratory building.
The first floor of the office/laboratory building accommodated the director and administrative offices, a large combination library and conference room. Most of the scientist’s offices and research laboratories were housed on the second floor.
The buildings mentioned were constructed in the mid to late 1930s by the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Several of these structures were still being utilized in 1995 and are still standing today.
During the 1980’s and early 1990’s, Dr. James Riley Hill Jr. was the director of the Edisto Experiment Station. During this time, Dr. Hill was notified by Clemson University that the aforementioned buildings would be demolished and replaced with new facilities.
Upon his retirement around 1993, Dr. Hill requested that Clemson University refrain from tearing down the two-story office/library building and the two-story residence. Dr. and Mrs. Hill were in hopes of establishing a museum for the education of schoolchildren in this area and beyond to learn farming methods of bygone years.
Dr. Hill and his wife, Ethel Mae, spearheaded a group that showed a strong interest in establishing the museum. The Agricultural Heritage Museum officially opened its doors in 1995.
Many residents of Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties strongly supported this endeavor by providing monetary support and donating authentic historical equipment. In recent years, Jennings Owens, Mr. and Mrs. Don Still, and Dennis Hutton have provided major leadership.
Clemson University now needs to utilize the historic two-story office/laboratory building which currently houses the museum, as a residence for graduate students. Therefore, the museum will be closed effective August 31, 2023 and the contents moved to a new location of the campus of the South Carolina’s Governor's School for Agriculture at the John De La Howe School in McCormick County.
The South Carolina Governor’s School of Agriculture was established by the General Assembly in 2019 and is dedicated to preparing the future leaders for South Carolina’s $52 billion agricultural industry. Students at the school gather from across the Palmetto State.
They take honors-level classes and enjoy hands-on-learning in animal and plant sciences, horticulture, natural resources management, and agricultural mechanics and technology.
The artifacts from the Agricultural Heritage Museum now will be housed in the iconic Dairy Barn on the 1,310-acre John de la Howe campus.
The white-stone barn is the signature structure on the school property, featured even on the Governor’s School for Agriculture’s official logo. It is located on S.C. Highway 81, eight miles north of McCormick, along the South Carolina Heritage Corridor route. The museum will serve as the centerpiece of a new agritourism campus at the Dairy Barn, designed to teach Governor's School students the business of agriculture related tourism and education.
The museum in the barn, featuring many artifacts collected over the years by the patrons of the Agriculture Heritage Museum in Blackville, will be open to the general public interested in discovering the history of agriculture in a beautiful farm setting. Also, hundreds of students who visit the school for field trips during the school year will have the chance to tour and learn at the relocated museum.
The new museum will continue to recognize and pay tribute to those who made agriculture the number one industry in South Carolina and fulfill the mutual missions of agricultural education, The Agricultural Heritage Center, the John de la Howe School, and Clemson University.
The museum leadership is grateful and thanks everyone who made this dream a reality and those who will continue to support it.
