Hagood Mill

By Laurie Bower Epps

Something about an old mill just evokes for me fall images of golden, burnt sienna, and rich sangria red leaves framing it off in the distance. My dear friend and I set off with our young daughters on an adventure into the past. 

Hoping to avoid their "fall festival" so to miss the crowds and additional cost, we set out on a beautiful autumn day with our picnic basket and cooler in tow. However, we got it perfectly wrong, but with magnificent results. Not only was there a storytelling competition going on, there were also plenty of arts and crafts to keep the kids busy.

Central Historical Society

By Laurie Epps

With fall activities in full swing, it's been even more essential that I stick close to home. But as a salesperson that travels throughout the southeast, I can't help but notice that there's a number of towns that seem to have sprung up around the railroad. I love trains. As a child, my favorite picture book was The Little Engine That Could. This love was passed along to my daughter Ellen, to whom this blog is dedicated in honor of her 20th birthday.

Campbell's Covered Bridge

Campbell's Covered Bridge, Circa 1909

By Laurie Epps

There's something about a covered bridge that seems romantic, and nostalgic. Almost everyone has seen a Christmas card sleigh ride scene with a covered bridge in it. Some would say that a covered bridge is wooden poetry, or a passageway to the past which speaks to our inner child.

After a really tough week, originally I'd planned on going to a fall festival at a plantation in Spartanburg, but an invitation from a friend in the country had an unusual appeal. I asked her about a few places that I thought would be near her farm in the country. So when she said she was just a mile from this beauty, my youngest and I set out to see it before we arrived at my friend's home.

The Wilhite House

View from McDuffie Street

By Laurie Epps

At the corner of River & McDuffie Streets in Anderson is the prominent Wilhite House. For those that don't live around here, that's a busy intersection about half a mile from the public library. The sign boasts it's the home to the man who discovered Ether but it's shell looks more like a creepy ghost story. From my daughter, I've learned that local school children are making up haunting tales about the old place. As for me, I can't dismiss it's historical significance.

Significance

Dr. Philip Abney Wilhite, owner of the grand house, was a young medical student when he administered ether to a young black man at a party in 1841. The drug anesthetized him, and the other party guests believed him to be dead. This was the beginnings for anesthesia as we know it today since the boy awoke unharmed.

Kilgore~Lewis House

By Laurie Epps

When I say that people down here are fanatical about their football, it's the understatement of the century. Being fall also means that in addition to the fabulous pumpkin spice latte's, this area becomes a sea of orange in support of nearby Clemson University on Friday afternoons. As a salesperson, I wear my orange on Fridays too, because it's just good business.

Fashion

Dress, Shrug, & bracelets
~Catherine's Plus Sizes

Metallic Sandals by Sketchers
~Rack Room Shoes

Brown Leather Handbag, Chaps by Ralph Lauren
~Kohl's

Astabula Historic Plantation Home

Astabula Historic Plantation Home

By Laurie Epps

Astabula is sort of the "grand dame" of the Pendleton/Clemson area. I pass it taking my daughter to her college or visiting friends in Seneca, it wasn't until I started this blog that I looked into actually going there. Driving up, I even took a video mimicking the Grey Poupon commercial only with alternative music in the background.

Astabula is set back from the main part of the historic downtown area but well worth the trip. There is also an inn & tavern in back of this historic home, and worthy of visiting all by themselves.

Midway Presbyterian Church

Midway Presbyterian Church Estab. 1833

By Laurie Epps

School started about a month ago, and that meant many changes in my household, especially for my youngest. From getting back into gymnastics, to resuming Girl Scouts, and a new after-school program set in the country. A new schedule was in store for us.

En route to her after school program that first morning, we passed by a church that seemed to call to me. I snapped a picture on my first day at a new job of the 183 year old church en my new route that I'd be taking daily knowing that I'd be back for a photo shoot for my blog.