Original painting by Gene Brigman.
GOVERNMENT
Personnel (including employment)
Building and Zoning Department
ATTRACTIONS
Camp Welfare
6653 Camp Welfare Road, Winnsboro SC
803.482.3501
This is one of the two known campgrounds in the Olde English District and one of only a handful that remain in the state. Founded in 1878, and situated on eleven acres of land in rural Winnsboro, it includes Camp Welfare African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church, its cemetery, the open-air arbor and many small cinder block or wood houses known as tents. The annual religious and fellowship services or "camp meetings," held in August, are well-attended. The church, like many in the South, was started after the Civil War as a brush arbor church.
Carolina Adventure World
Monday - Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Friday - Sunday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
www.carolinaadventureworld.net
Carolina Adventure World (CAW), a 2,600-acre outdoor enthusiast destination park is located in the Northeastern section of the County. Just 2 1/2 miles off Exit 46 on I-77, the CAW park offers 100 miles of professionally desgined ATV trails, a championship motocross course, ATV rentals and ATV and motor bike storage facilities. If ATV riding doesn’t interest you, CAW will offer a flyover and tree top zipline system in late 2007. Get harnessed in and attached to a double line cable system by expert guides and enjoy safely soaring through the treetops in the heart of a beautiful forest. For those interested in enjoying nature in a more relaxed fashion, the park will also offer hiking/biking and golf cart trails. RV pads, rustic camping and cabin rentals in the future. Carolina Adventure World is open Monday - Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and
Friday - Sunday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. For more
information, visit www.carolinaadventureworld.net.
Fairfield County Courthouse
South Congress Street, Winnsboro SC
Fairfield County Courthouse (and the Town Clock) are two of the most iconic symbols of Fairfield County. Built in 1823 by Robert Mills, who designed the Washington Monument, the county courthouse is located in downtown Winnsboro across the street from the Town Clock. The Courthouse, designed in Greek Revival style, is a breath-taking building and a site that should definitely not be missed!
Fairfield County Museum
231 South Congress Street, Winnsboro SC
803.635.9811
fairfieldmus@infoave.net
www.midnet.sc.edu/fairfieldmus/
Tuesday - Friday 1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (genealogy room open)
Saturday 10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Fairfield County Museum is housed in an elegantly simple Federal-style house built for Richard Cathcart in the early 19th century; Cathcart purchased the lot from John McMaster in 1829. A three-story brick structure, the house retains its original heart-pine floors and hand-carved woodwork. In 1852, artist George Ladd and his wife Catherine acquired the building to operate a girls' school. Enrollment reached 100 young ladies before the school was forced to close by the Civil War. Subsequently, the building became rental property, a public school, a hotel and a boarding house. The building was deeded to Fairfield County in 1969 by Ella Cathcart Wilburn and Carrie Cathcart Owings and was entered in the National Register of Historis Places in 1970. Restoration was completed in 1974 under the auspices of the Fairfield County Historical Commission and Fairfield County Historical Society, using government and private funds. The landmark Cathcart-Ketchin building opened its doors on March 15, 1976, as the Fairfield County Museum. The main floor of the museum is maintained as an historic house with antique furnishings in period rooms. Other floors exhibit collections related to Fairfield County history. Museum collections include 19th century clothing and quilts, Victorian accessories, toys, Native American and military artifacts, tools, kitchen and sewing implements, banking and commerce displays. Genealogy is an important museum activity. Volunteers maintain an extensive library of wills, estate papers on microfilm, cemetery records, histories of area families and land grant information, and visitors and letters come from across the United States seeking information. Traditional events at the museum include community and school art exhibitions and the Candlelight Open House in December. Special exhibitions fill out the museum calendar each year.
Fairfield Institute Marker
Congress Street, Winnsboro SC
This grade school and institute for African Americans was founded in 1869 by Reverend Willard Richardson (a white minister from Delaware) of the Northern Presbyterian Church. Richardson, the school's first principal, intended for the institute to be a place to prepare African-American men for the ministry. By 1880, however, 100 of its students were studying to be teachers and only 20 to enter the ministry. Despite the fact that the Fairfield Institute was thought of as a distinguished preparatory school, it suffered severe financial problems. In 1888 the school closed its doors and merged with Brainerd Institute in Chester. The original site of Fairfield Institute is located one block west of this marker.
Fortune Springs Park
Intersection Park and High Streets, Winnsboro SC
Formerly known as Fortune Woods, this garden's "ponds" and resident ducks offer a pleasant contrast to other historic sites. The land that the garden occupies was owned by Captain John Buchanan who gave it to his slave, Pompey Fortune, to show his appreciation for Pompey's accompanying General Lafayette as a body servant during the Revolutionary War.
Pine Tree Playhouse
230 South Congress Street, Winnsboro SC
803.635.6847
www.pinetreeplayhouse.com
Pine Tree Playhouse is a non-profit, community theatre offering a wide range of classic, eclectic and new works in a casual, intimate space.
South Carolina Railroad Museum
110 Industrial Park Road, Winnsboro SC 29180
803.635.4242 or 1.800.968.5909 (toll free)
www.scrm.org
How would you like to take your children or grandchildren for a ride on a real passenger train, visit a red caboose, an authentic dining car or even a Pullman car that once ferried earlier generations across the country? You can! Come spend an afternoon at the South Carolina Railroad Museum. There's something for everyone. Come see freight cars, passenger cars and even a real steam engine on display. And best of all, you can ride the train. We're just minutes from the Interstate, so come join in the fun at the South Carolina Railroad Museum, the official railroad museum of the state. All aboard!
The South Carolina Railroad Museum, located minutes off I-77, is the biggest attraction in Fairfield County. Since 1973 the museum has been collecting various types of freight and passenger cars as well as a steam locomotive #44 which once belonged to the Hampton and Branchville Railroad. There are also cabooses, freight cars and diesel engines from CSX and Norfolk Southern. The Museum operates on 6 miles of the 11.5 mile line of the former Rockton and Rion Railroad. The rail line runs through the Rion community to Anderson Quarry, home of the world famous, and state rock, blue granite. Ultimately the Museum plans to have educational train excursions over the entire 11.5 mile route, exhibitions of freight and passenger train operations, static displays of railroad related artifacts and a library of railroad related publications.
Take a Tour of Fairfield County
The city tour, neatly laid out in a brochure available at the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce Office (located in the Town Clock), takes you to such sites as the Court House designed by Robert Mills, The Town Clock, Thespian Hall, The Cornwallis House, The Post Office containing a WPA mural of Winnsboro in the 1930s, The Neil House, several historic churches, the Fairfield County Museum and more. The extended tour includes monuments, parks and historic cemeteries and markers. Afterwards, or perhaps between sites, you can refresh yourself from several types of menus at various eateries around towns. While you can tour “on your own,” guided tours can be arranged. Outings can be tailored to fit special interest groups: genealogy seekers, train buffs, nature lovers, history hounds and curious tourists. Guided Tours are available for groups of fifteen or more. There is a $2.00 fee per person. For more information, please call the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce at 803.635.4242.
The Town Clock
100 Congress Street, Winnsboro SC
In 1785, the General Assembly of South Carolina authorized the establishment of a public market in the town of Winnsborough. This market house was a square, wooden building, painted yellow and topped with a belfry. Some years later, probably between 1820 and 1830, the market house was sold to Robert Cathcart. He then donated to the town his old duck-pond, a small piece of land in the middle of Washington Street, as a site for a new market house. The town council accepted the land and petitioned the legislature for authority to erect the new market house and town clock. Colonel William McCreight, Intendent of the town in 1837, ordered the works for the clock. They were imported to Charleston by sailboat, and hauled to Winnsboro in wagons. Varied and interesting (if not authentic) are the reports of the journey from Charleston -- Adam Blake declared it took 50 wagons to do the hauling. Whether of wood or metal, the works are undoubtedly superior; the clock has run continuously for 100 years, the longest continuously running clock in the United States. The town clock bell was also French made, and is said to have had silver in its composition. Its tone was beautiful and silvery. This bell did good service until 1895; during a fire that year two young men were ringing it so vigorously that it cracked and was sent to Philadelphia to J. McShane for repairs. When, after some delay, it was returned and sounded for the first time, the tone was so different doubt was immediately expressed as to its being the original bell. In 1875 the present tower was erected. The carpentry work was done by John Smart, an African-American carpenter of Winnsboro. The old public market occupied the ground floor of the town clock and had a bell of its own. Its tone was not as silvery as that of the clock, but was a very welcome one when its ringing proclaimed to the villagers that fresh meat was to be had at the market. (It is interesting to learn that this was an old custom, not particular to Winnsboro.) The first floor is now used as meeting space for the town's various organizations and as a voting location. The second floor of the Town Clock is home to the Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce.