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Pineville, a historic refuge
"Where yo' folks from?" In the old days, before Columbia was flooded with carpetbaggers from Tha Nawth , this question opened almost every conversation along Main Street. My father was proud to reply, "Greeleyville, sir, where you turn to go to the beach. My mother, a true Southern lady, was more discreet, "Why ma'am, I'm from a little village near Charleston most people have never heard of." In 1992, this "little village near Charleston" was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Pineville Historic District. It was in Pineville that my sister, Mimi, and I spent many memorable weeks during our childhood. We played with our cousins, ate fresh oysters and hot coconut cake, hunted quail and doves in the corn field, fished and skied in Lake Moultrie, and sat around the hearth of our grandfather's home listening in awe to our elders weave stories of hunting, fishing, cooking, fighting, and loving. We knew where our folks came from.
Once upon a time long long ago…
In 1685, Louis XIV, the Sun King of France, legalized the persecution of protestants in France. Millions of French protestants, called Huguenots, fled France. Many ended up in British North America. Huguenot families began arriving in Georgetown and Charleston seeking religious sanctuary. Many sailed up the Santee River settling along the banks of the river as far inland as the present- day Santee- Cooper dam. By 1689, the Huguenot Church of the Santee located near Jamestown had a congregation of 111. Rev. Pierre Robert of Switzerland was the first minister. On December 28, 1700, John Lawson, the British surveyor general of North Carolina, began a journey of 1,000 miles through the Carolinas. As he made his way up the Santee River, he found 70 "temperate and industrious" French families. At one stop, he met Frenchmen "(coming from their church) being all of them very clean and decent in their Apparel; their Houses and Plantations suitable in Neatness and Contrivance." Lawson and his party spent nights with the Eugees (Hugers), L'Jandros (Landros), L'Grands (Legrands), and Gallairs (Gaillards). He recorded that the French traded extensively with the savages, dressed like the savages, and ate like the savages ("fat, boil'd Goose, Venison, raccoon, and ground Nuts"). These French backwoodsmen regarded the Santee River as their refuge, their new American home. The second generation of French Santee (as the area was called) created their own plantation subculture between the Indians of the upcountry and the English of the coast. In 1706, the Huguenot Church was incorporated into the Parish of the St. James of the Church of England but was allowed to use the French language. The settlers of French Santee graduated from traders to planters and slave owners. Their cuisine became a melange of French, Indian, English, and African dishes. Pilau (rice with meat and spices), guaffre (waffles), jerked beef, barbecued venison, and coffee made their way from the field to the table. They gradually adopted the English language and the Anglican religion. By the time of the American Revolution, rice and indigo had enriched the planters to the extent that many had winter homes in Charleston and were able to send their children to Europe for schooling. The French planters of the Santee became patriots for the cause of independence and followed Gen. Francis Marion, one of their own, into battle.
(Next week: A summer retreat develops)
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