Events 2019

2019 Yorkville Historical Society Meetings:

  • January 31, 2019 Our banquet
  • February 28, 2019 We were delighted to have the Honorable Bridget M. Wright as our scheduled speaker on the more than 100 year history of Wright Funeral Home. Isaac “Bub” Wright Jr. was a master craftsman who began making caskets in the early 1900s. In 1914 he began Wright Funeral Home. A two-story building served as a funeral parlor and chapel, with an embalming room operated at the rear of the building. The second floor served as a casket making shop. Isaac Wright died in 1918, but his widow, Fannie C. Wright, continued to operate the business. Wright Funeral Home was among the earliest black-owned businesses in York and remains family-owned after 100 years. It played an important role serving the African American community during the era of racial segregation. The Wright family also operated a grocery store, which was replaced by a modern brick funeral home in 1985. In 1998, the original funeral home building was repurposed as the Alice Wright Smith Historical Museum. More information is available here: http://www.wrightfuneralhomesc.com/about/about.php and https://yorkvillehs.com/v2/projects-2/historical-markers/historical-marker-wright-funeral-home/
  • March 21, 2019  We were delighted that Sara Johnson, Preservation/Restoration Specialist at Historic Brattonsville, Culture & Heritage Museums, spoke to our group about upcoming enhancements plans for the McCelvey Center.
  • April 25, 2019 We were delighted to have Cassidy N. Bryant, MPH, President & Founder Wonder Station Mobile Children’s Museum as our speaker. Her presentation was about her project to establish a Wonder Station Children’s Museum to serve York, SC and surrounding areas. The museum will provide a diverse, creative center for hands-on learning through permanent and revolving exhibits and programs that are meant to inspire creative thinking and imagination in children. Cassidy graduated from University of North Carolina at Pembroke with a BS in Health Promotion and from Purdue University Global obtaining a Master of Public Health.
  •  May 30, 2019 We were delighted to have Sandi Ludwa as our speaker.  She is originally from Chicago, and considers herself a Yankee who embraces the South.  Sandi earned a B.S. in Business and Labor Relations  from the State University of New York and  later returned to college to earn a M.A. in History from Winthrop University. Our America: Discovery Through Our Civil War, is her second publication.  The first, Ashes to Incense: Emancipation from Jim Crow, is of a local nature dealing with the Rock Hill and surrounding community.
  • June 27, 2019 This meeting was an ice cream social. The theme was patriotic and military since it is between Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Members and guests were encouraged to wear patriotic clothing and to bring photos and memorabilia of when they were in the military.  Zack Lemhouse played patriotic music. Mayor Eddie Lee made a presentation about what is happening in York.
  • July 25, 2019  Donna Wylie made presentation about her book, Dark Corner of War, a biography of Charles Sumpter Wylie. Donna Wylie, the niece of Charles Sumpter Wylie, honors her uncle’s legacy with this in-depth biography of his childhood, adolescence, and participation in World War II. She combines historical research, government correspondence, and documents along with family stories and interviews with relatives.  The heart of the book is Sumpter’s letters that he wrote home while overseas in the Pacific Theater. Also included within the biography are the return letters written by his sister, Martha, and mother, Cora.
  • August 29, 2019  Carey Tilley, executive director of the Culture and Heritage Museums made a presentation about Historic Brattonsville projects and the history of the Brick House, which will is under restoration.
  • September 26, 2019  Nancy Sambets, the Director of Archives at the Historical Center of York County under the Culture & Heritage Museums presented “The Scotch-Irish Influence on Country Music”, a paper by the late Michael C. Scoggins, Historian with the Culture & Heritage Museums.
  • October 24, 2019 We were delighted that writer and photographer Bill Fitzpatrick, author of South Carolina’s Sacred Places: What They Are, Where They Are and How to Get There: The Ultimate Mobile Travel Guide to Over 600 Historic Churches, was our speaker.
  • November 21, 2019 We were delighted that Seth Duncan, the York City Manager spoke to our group about what he has seen so far and what he sees for the future of York, SC.
  • December, 2019 No Meeting – Our wonderful Tour of Homes and Sites instead.

2019 Special Events:

  • Yorkville Historical Society Free Guided and Self-Guided Tours March 29, 2019  as part of the Humanities Festival The Yorkville Historical Society offered both guided and self-guided tours of the York Historic District. Use this link for a helpful map.
  • Hampton-Preston Mansion Field Trip Wednesday, May 1, 2019 8:30 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m. This was another great field trip that included a guided tour of the mansion, a box lunch and optional tour of the gardens.
  • Stories of the Stones, the Historic Rose Hill Cemetery Tour, Saturday, November 2, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.  at Rose Hill Cemetery at the corner of East Liberty Street and Cemetery Street in York, SC. Tickets were available during the tour at only $5 per person, with children 12 and under Free.  These fascinating guided tours lasted about one hour.During the tour, visitors found out the answers to:
    • Which Yorkville merchant lost his 5 year old daughter to a terrible accident?
    • Who built the York Building and the Rose Hotel?
    • What York lady became the State Regent of the DAR
  • Holiday Tour of Homes and Sites in the historic district of York, SC    Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8,  3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. both days.  We had 5 historic homes, a business and a church on this year’s wonderful tour.