Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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1 18—THE CHRONICLE, Clinton, S. C„ Nov. 12, 1970 Railroad, Autos Both Had Major Impact On Cross Hill BY ERNIE SEGARS Cross Hill is typical of many small agricultural communities established in South Carolina during the late eighteenth cen tury. The town was namedCross Hill because the early settle ment was built at a junction of a foot and wagon trail that met at the top of a hill in western Laurens County. ning of the aristocratic Cun ningham. He gained infamy in the hearts of South Carolinians with the Massacre of HayesSta- tion. It is a little ironic that Ann Pamela Cunningham, a de scendant of “Bloody Bill” and a resident of Cross Hill, should be the founder of the movement to restore Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, as a national shrine. living in Cross Hill, accord ing to the last census. Most of the people are employed in other towns, but a few merchants con tinue to operate their stores. The township was about nine square miles in area and was divided into six regular school districts and one special school district. Some of these early schools are still standing and were apparently little more than one-room structures hous ing schools staffed by only one teacher. There were also three post offices established to hand le the postal needs of the 200 inhabitants of Cross Hill town ship. Besides the post office in the town of Cross Hill, there were also two established in the Carroll and Manilla sections of the township. The Carroll branch of the greater Cross Hill Post Office is still stand ing but now serves as a barn. The ancestral home of the Cunninghams, calledRosemont, was still standing and was in excellent condition but was de stroyed by fire in 1929. The house was a good example of Georgian architecture and was constructed of lumber floated down the Saluda River to Charleston to be sawed. The house was built on the Cun ningham estate, a large land grant from George HI of Eng land. A great deal of mystery surrounds the destruction of this landmark, and it has yet to be satisfactorily solved. As stated earlier, there were once several schools in Cross Hill to serve the educational needs of the dommunity. How ever, the need for better fa cilities and broader programs caused the centralization of schools into a compact, effi ciently run school district. Cross Hill lost its school in 1965, and students in grammar school students were assign ed to Mountville. Junior High and HighSchool students contin ued to go to Clinton as they have for several years. In plans announced in June by officials of School District 56, students from the Mountville - Cross Hill area will attendtheClintonEle- mentary School on South Broad Street. The original settlement of Cross Hill was about a mile north of the present center of the town. It was located at approximately the intersec tion of Highways 39 and 72. The commercial interests and business concerns moved south in the early 1890’s in order to take advantage ofthe newly built Seaboard Airline Railroad. Prominent among things of historical interest in the town are two churches that date back to the 1700’s. Liberty Springs Presbyterian Church, the old er of the two, got its name from a spring that the Conti nental forces used to water their horses and togetwater for their own needs during the Revolu tion. The railroad came to Cross Hill in the late 1890’s and had a tremendous affect on the growth of the town. Farmers now had easy access to mar kets, and the town began to grow. There were several drug stores, a bank, and several doctors in Cross Hill. The de velopment of Harris Lithia Springs also was of great re creational and economic im portance to Cross Hill. The Springs became quite famous as a resort and the railroad made access to it quite easy. This was a large motel and a dance hall where young people could do the latest dance craze. A fire destroyed the fine hotel, much to the dismay of the re sidents of the community. Cross Hill is served by a mayor and a four-man City Council. The mayor and coun cil serve a term of two years. Robert T. Hollingsworth is the present mahor of the town, and the Council is composed of H. A. Boyce, J. E. Edmunds, R. B. Segars, and G. F. Williams. The Council has done a great deal of work in getting secondary roads improved in Cross Hill. Work has already been complet ed on two of these roads and is rapidly progressing on a third. A trailer manufacturing plant moved into Cross Hill in recent years and offers hope for some industrial expansion in the town. Bathabara Baptist Church, located about four miles south of the town, was established in 1794 and was the mother church of several of the largest Bap tist churches in Laurens Coun ty. Cross Hill was the center of a great deal of Tory and loy alist activity under the lead ership of William (Bloody Bill) Cunningham. There were many Loyalists in this area, but few matched the viciousness or cun- The coming of the Industrial Revolution to South Carolina in the early 1900’s spelled the end of the prosperity of towns like Cross Hill. People could now travel over hard surfaced roads in their own cars to lar gest towns such as Clinton, Greenwood, or Laurens and work in a textile mill for a great deal more money than they could make working on their own farm. The existence of greater economic opportuni ty in these larger towns also caused many residents to move from Cross Hill or seek em ployment in other places. Today, there are 470 people Harris Lithia Springs Hotel ...destroyed by fire in 1930s 250-Guest Harris Springs Hotel Was Popular Spot BY ERNIE SEGARS The number of mineral springs in this area cuased a tremendous boom in the recrea tional life of Laurens County in the late nineteeneth and early twentieth century. One of the largest and most successful of these springs was Harris Lithia Spring, located between Cross Hill and Waterloo. Cross Hill is also located Ln a convenient spot to take ad vantage of the bustling trade on Lake Greenwood. This has be come a booming economic and recreational enterprise, and because of its location, Cross Hill is in a position to take ad vantage of it. Stomp Springs Was Resort Stomp Springs, located be tween Clinton and W'hitmireand about a mile from Reno, S. C., was one of several resorts that became popular in the early part of this century. The spring originally became popular because of the strong medicinal power of the water. The spring got its name be cause of the large number of deer and other animals that drank from the stream many years ago. So many of these animals came to the stream that they kept it “stomped* and tr ampled up. Local patrons came to Stomp Springs in the summer after finishing their crops and would stay for several weeks or even months. They would pitch tents or construct makeshift houses. The fame of the resort soon spread and people from all over South Carolina soon came to drink the “powerful healing water* as one early patron de scribed it. There was an attempt to re vive the resort about 15 years ago by a Mr. Hiar. He apparent ly put a great deal of money into the project because several buildings were constructed, and he did a great deal of pro motional work. However, he was unable to generate the popular ity that it had once known, and he was forced to abandon his project. SOUTH CAROLINA TRKtNTENNIAL The water from this spring was supposed to have great medicinal powers, and people came from all over the South east to drink from the spring. This water could cure anything “from gout to lumbago,” ac cording to one early advertise ment and had a taste faintly reminiscent of rotten eggs. Be cause of the tremendous popu larity of the sring water, a re sort was established by a Mr. James Harris of Waterloo, and the fame of these lifegiving wa ters soon spread far and wide. ing plant at the Spring and soon began selling carbonated drinks made from the water of the spring. These were shipped by wagon to Cross Hill andWater- to be loaded on trains and iO‘ shipped to aneager public. Ven dors also sold the water and the drinks to local health enthu- siants. There was a hotel built at the Springs in about 1898. It ac comodated some 250 guests. There was also a store and a pool room established on the gounds for the amusement fthe guests. In a separate building there was a large dance hall and a game room. Popular bands came to Harris Springandpro- vided music for the patrons. Ac cording to one observer, five Italian musicians were brought in during the early years of the resort, and later, local talent played for the large dances that became very popu lar among the local citizens. The completion of the Sea board Airline Railroad in the 1890's made access to the Springs a great deal easier. Be fore the newly invented auto mobile came into prominence, tourists would rent buggies from local livery stables to make the four-mile trip to the Springs. There was a small lake available to the guests to be used for boating and other water sports. Harris Spring continued tobe extremely popular during the first third of the century, and the ownership changed hands sev eral times. A large fire spelled the end of an extremely popu lar and apparently very lucra tive enterprise when the large wooden hotel was destroyed by fire in the early 1930's. Harris also started a bottl- The rest of the physical plant soon wasted away and there is nothing left today but the old bottling plant. The property is now owned by Mr. Jake Rasor. From Out Of Tho Past The spring soon became so famous that the proprietor, a Mr. George Young, constructed a dance pavillion and several shelters for his customers. At the height of its popularity, as many as 150 families, plus their servants and cooks, would be enjoying the recreational and health opportunities provided by the Spring. A bottling plant was also con structed for the making of soft drinks out of the mineral water. Soon, people for miles around were consuming these drinks and swearing that they felt bet ter than they had in years be cause of the strong medical power of the beverage. The popularity of the spring began to wane after the coming of the automobile and other bet ter modes of transportation. Stomp Springs had originally become popular because, as a local resort, it was easily re ached by residents of this area. After the novelty of the resort wore off, and people were able to reach the beach or the moun tains in a matter of hours, Stomp Spring slowly withered away. Lithia Water From Harris Springs H B1 Th the Brid| recoi tory, a twi pha& 1880’ 1920’ churi out c bers ters £has< that orgaj ing s No old Turr Chur 1850, and the i babh Brid tura] six I old c Rc first ville thre pres Jr. all t one and Dun Hun was chui Dav God Gar God the The the villi to Chu cam A villi be in vice Will ser nelf tenc of t vill( gre for sch Ii Pre Dancing At The Springs «