This presentation focuses on Oral History and its value to a community. Dr. Williams will share stories from two projects which he directed: the Appalachian Oral History Project and the Great Smoky Mountains Project. In the late 1970s Dr. Williams was one of the campus directors for an oral history project which covered four states … Read more
You might be surprised to learn that corn, beans, and squash were not always important and that eastern North American Indians once depended on the now-extinct crops of marshelder, goosefoot, and maygrass. Learn about Indian gardens through time, find out how plants were domesticated, and discover the role of women in the domestication process.
Wait a minute – don’t we all know what is a vegetable? Or do we? Discover what we’ve learned from over 600 interviews. Do we agree on a definition of vegetable, and do we agree on which foods are vegetables? The answers will surprise you.
This program explores and celebrates the art of storytelling through the tales founded in the southern states of the U.S. with specific origins from South Carolina.
(K-12 OR Adults)In this delicious workshop, poet and educator Kimberly Simms will lead attendees in writing their own “recipe” style poems. Attendees will also discuss several sample poems to help them explore ideas about food and life. The workshop includes a structured poetic form and a craft lesson so that writers of any level can … Read more
(An illustrated talk) Tom brings back the Sunday drive with memories and sights to be seen today. Times were mom, dad and the kids would head out to see the countryside. Back in the Burma-Shave days, mom-and-pop drive-ins and gas station biscuits fed folks. Cheap gas filled cars, and people made Sunday drives through a … Read more
“South Carolina Country Roads” takes readers on a journey down forgotten routes and lesser-traveled byways. Join Tom as he shares photos and discusses what he discovered along the 10,000 miles he drove deliberately avoiding the interstates. Discover the bones of the land, the DNA of real life—rural icons, old home places, oddities, vanquished communities, and relics … Read more
The South our forebears knew lingers … rivers free of dams, old-timey religion camp meetings, classic BBQ haunts, old home places, rice plantations, a night on a primitive barrier island untouched by man, the High Hills of Santee, and a sentimental journey down US Highway 1. Experience why the South remains iconic. Fading but hanging … Read more
Tom often writes about the vanishing ways, places, and traditions that have blessed the South with a sense of place: small towns that close at noon Wednesdays, vanishing country stores, telephoning fish, wasp attacks in church, casting spells to remove warts, and more. He brings the Southland of yesteryear alive … despite change and newcomers … Read more
