Monday, July 28, 2008

Florence, SC In The Rain and The Henry Timrod House

The poet Henry Timrod and his one room school house


Henry Timrod was born on 8th December 1829 in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, William Henry Timrod, was a staunch patriot and also contributed to a literary magazine. It is no surprise, therefore, that Henry also grew up to have these characteristics.

Despite his father's early death, Timrod was still able to attend Charleston's finest school and later attended the University of Georgia. On graduating, he returned to Charleston and at first practiced law, before later becoming a private teacher. This suited him well as it also gave him time to pursue his literary ambitions.

During the Civil War, Timrod not only enlisted in a volunteer regiment, but also made the conflict the focus of his poetic works. His patriot lyrics are said to have inspired many a soldier and civilian and helped him acquire a reputation as “the laureate of the Confederacy”. One of his finest pieces to come out of this time was Ode to the Confederate Dead at Magnolia Cemetery.

Plagued by recurring illness throughout his adult life, Timrod was soon left unfit for service on the front line and instead became a war correspondent. By 1864 he had become the editor of the Columbia South Carolinian.

Despite his ill health, he married and had a son, who died shortly after the end of the war. When Timrod himself died of tuberculosis, virtually in poverty, on 7th October 1867, he was buried next to his son in the graveyard of Trinity Church in Columbia.

Only one volume of his works had been published during his lifetime (in 1860), but further collections were edited posthumously. Amongst his most memorable poems are The Cotton Boll, Carolina, and Ethnogenesis.

You can find his poems to download here:
http://www.poemhunter.com/henry-timrod/biography/


The historic sign in front of his little house


Monument in the yard and the Timrod Park in Florence


The little red caboose of the Atlantic Coast Line. Just in that moment the rain set in and I had a hard time to get around in "down town" of Florence for more photos.


This is the only one picture I could capture from the real down town area after that it was raining hard - and we left back to Charleston.


Of course, outside of Florence there was no rain anymore and I photographed this pretty water scene at sunset time.



If you like to know more about Florence, SC read here please:
http://www.sciway.net/city/florence.html

10 comments:

Double "D" said...

The photo titled pretty water is
very appealing. The physical scene
is mostly hidden, but the full scene
is depicted in the water and is spectacular.
The photo also leaves some wonderment
for the viewer, In the lower left corner
that has been some water disturbed and
the rings are still visible, Wonder what it
was, rock, fish or who knows what.
Beautiful

S-V-H said...

Hi double "d"

Thanks for your great and deep thoughts to my picture. Those rings in the water came from jumping fishes, they were going crazy about all those mosquitoes and had a great dinner, I guess - and me too,I went crazy too, they were almost eating me up!:-)

Voegtli said...

Not only a lovely picture of the one room schoolhouse but also an interesting story to go with it. I liked it very much.

S-V-H said...

Thank you Peter for stopping by and for your comment.

Anonymous said...

That one room schoolhouse looks so idealistic. A fascinating story to match. A good look into a piece of Southern history.

S-V-H said...

Thank you Diane

for visiting and for your kind comment to my post today.

Carole said...

Wondeful set of images and a nice commentary Sue. It's good to find out a little of your History. Thank you

S-V-H said...

Thanks Carol for commenting. I'm glad you like my writings and photos. :-)

Anonymous said...

What a lovely post! I love the pictures as well. Where did you take the bottom picture?

S-V-H said...

Hi dbn,

thanks for stopping by my blog and for your comment.

Unfortunately I don't know the name of that spot where the last picture was taken, sorry! :-)

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