OFF DAY IN GREENVILLE

(March 18, 2017) While the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament continued at other sites, there were no games scheduled for Greenville on Saturday. This gave me the Opportunity to get out and explore the area. As I drove through Greenville, I round several streets were blocked off for some kind of running event, so I headed back to Interstate 85 and made my way south toward the tiny town of Royston, Georgia.

Mos people don't play on going to Royston, they end up in Royston, but for me this was a planned trip. Royston is the town of one of the most immortal names in Baseball, Tyrus Raymond Cobb.  Ty Cobb was the first inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and one of the true legends of the game.

As you drive through this small town it is evident that its citizens not only embrace his legacy but truly love the man.  Everywhere you look you see the name Ty Cobb. From the Community Center to the Ty Cobb Medical Center, it is obvious that this baseball legend was a philanthropist who really gave back to his hometown and
community.

The reason that I drove the hour and 20-minutes from Greenville to Royston was to visit the Ty Cobb Museum. The small museum is located in a wing of a small medical office building in downtown Royston.

The Ty Cobb Museum is a very small museum which features a number of artifacts that personally belong to the baseball great. When I tour a museum, I am a "reader," I enjoy reading the plaques and information that is available. With that being said, I spent about an hour walking through the exhibits, which featured Ty Cobb's Bible, Uniforms and shotgun along with other personal artifacts.

Just a short drive (less than a mile) from the museum is Rose Hill Cemetery, where Ty Cobb, his wife and mother and father are resting in a family mausoleum.  You have no trouble finding the mausoleum as it is the largest structure in the Cemetery.  I made a quick trip out to the cemetery before heading back toward South Carolina.

My next stop of the day was the small town of Pendleton, South Carolina. I wanted to stop of the Old Stone Church, which is one of the oldest churches in the upstate of South Carolina. However, there was a wedding going on and not wanting to be a "wedding crasher," I ventured over to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church. It is here in the church cemetery that Thomas Green Clemson and his wife Anna Calhoun Clemson are buried.

Thomas Clemson is the founder of Clemson University. and his wife Anna Calhoun is the daughter of Vice President John C. Calhoun. Following Vice President Calhoun's death in 1850, Thomas and Anna eventually inherited the Fort Hill Plantation.  It was from Fort Hill that Clemson founded the agricultural college that is today known as Clemson University.

General Barnard Bee

Also resting here in the church cemetery is Civil War General Barnard Elliott Bee. It was during the first battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 that Bee uttered the words, "Rally around the Virginians, There stands Jackson like a stonewall." From that day forward General Thomas J. Jackson would be known as "Stonewall" Jackson. The next day on July 22, 1861, General Bee was kill on the battlefield at Manassas.

After finishing my quick visit to St. Paul's Church, I made a short drive up to Clemson University. My first stop was at Woodland Cemetery. It is here, in the shadow of Clemson's Memorial Stadium that legendary football coach Frank Howard is buried.  It was Howard that started referring to Memorial Stadium as Death Valley.

Also located at Woodland is the Fort Hill Plantation Cemetery and the Calhoun Family Cemetery. While Vice President Calhoun is buried in Charleston, several of his relatives are buried here.

Coach Howard's Rock

Just a short walk down the hill from Woodland Cemetery, is  Memorial Stadium, which is home to  2017 NCAA National Football Champions. Today the east gate was open and visitors could actually touch Howard's Rock and run down the hill.

A few years back I was able to attend the Clemson - Wake Forest Game here at Memorial Stadium. I must say if you are a college football fan, then attending a game in Death Valley should be on your bucket list. There is no way to describe the scene when the Tigers rub Howard's Rock, run down the hill and 85,000 people erupt. It is a totally awesome environment.

Fort Hill Plantation House

Just a short walk up the hill from Memorial Stadium is all that remains of the original Fort Hill Plantation; the home of Vice- President John C. Calhoun. When Calhoun died in 1850 the plantation was divided among his children. The home eventually became the home of Vice President daughter Anna Calhoun and her husband Thomas Green Clemson.

When Anna died in 1875, Thomas inherited the property. In his will Clemson bequeathed the property to the State of South Carolina for the purpose of establishing an agricultural college which is today known as Clemson University. Thomas also stipulated that the Fort Hill Mansion should never be torn down or altered and it should always be open for "Public Inspection." Today, Clemson University has preserved the historic home as a museum which contain almost all of the original furnishings.

By the time I finished with my visit to Clemson it was time to head back toward Greenville, but I had one more stop to make before returning to my hotel. Woodlawn Memorial Park is just a short drive up from my hotel on Plesantsburg Road and it is the final resting place of the one of the greatest baseball players who is NOT in the Hall of Fame, Joseph Jefferson "Shoeless Joe" Jackson.

In 1919 "Shoeless Joe" was a member of the Chicago White Sox who played in the World Series. Jackson discovered that seven players had gotten together to throw the World Series. He was offered $20,000 to join them but  adamantly declined. The gambler used his name to lure bettors and as a result Commissioner Kennesaw Mounatin Landis banned all of the player from professional baseball for life. Following the ban Joe returned to Greenville where he became a successful shop keeper, running a dry cleaning business and later a liquor store.  He lived the rest of his life here in Greenville and died of a heart attack in 1951.

After paying my respects to "Shoeless Joe" I ended my day with dinner at Sticky Fingers BBQ and returned to my hotel to watch the evening session of the tournament.