----- Original Message ----- From: Golden Corner GenWeb Project To: herb_316 ; american-revolution@rootsweb.com ; alblount@rootsweb.com Cc: Simon, Anna ; Clayton Room ; Hyde, Paul Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 8:24 AM Subject: Re: General AndrewPickens home being unkept and unmaintained by CU Herb, I think that you might find that your concerned with a battle, that you've already lost... President James Barker of Clemson University jbarker@CLEMSON.EDU, told me that he does not have the available funding or necessary manpower to maintain their university-owned historical properties. Such as - 1. Beautiful Fort Rutledge DAR Memorial Marker 2. Restored General Andrew Pickens Slave Cemetery 3. Not talked about VP John C. Calhoun Slave Cemetery 4. Disgraceful looking Oak Treaty Memorial Site 5. Rotting Andrew Pickens Jr.'s Hopewell Plantation House. Paul, Thank you for this report. Your work is of real value to Clemson. We have recently taken two significant steps in recognizing important events in Clemson University's history. I have made life appointments to a group of Clemson alumni to develop and execute a plan for Cemetery Hill. Further, we have established a permanent position for a University Historian. A search is currently underway to fill this important position. I am very pleased that our future holds a much brighter place for important events and places in Clemson's history. I hope this information is helpful. Best wishes. Jim Barker By the way, in front of the Hopewell house was the Slave quarters. A while back, the area got plowed-over and a storage area put there. Next WILL BE the house. The Hopewell Slave Cemetery now resides within their Poultry Center - right across the street. (I realize that when you want to recruit minorities, the last thing you want to acknowledge is owning on-campus Slave cemeteries. However, these folks helped make our nation great and they should not be forgotten with the passing-of-time. Oh yes, do you know what happened to Calhoun's Slave Cemetery, that they don't want to acknowledge or talk about?) Pickens Plantation (Slaves) (N) Clemson University Poultry Center GPS = N34 39.414 x W82 50.247 Eagle Scout Cemetery Restoration Hopewell Plantation (Slaves) (N) Clemson University C248A C248BB s/a Paul M Kankula - NN8NN (Pickens County annexed this Oconee land in 1986) Brandon J Blake Same as C248a 30 Mar 2003 Feb 2003 Images Images In 2003, I asked Barker for a memorial marker, so that it could be placed at their Pickens Slave Cemetery - he said the he didn't have the available funds. HOWEVER, just down the road is (12) Granite tombstones that brag about his Soccer Team's Winning Games..! Oh yes ... the Hopewell Roadside Memorial Marker is currently being stored in the Old Stone Church for safe keeping by Knight Cox of C.U.. It's an expensive sign that was being vandalized. Maybe Paul & Anna at the Greenville News might want to be of help - their newspaper has written past stories about the university, that have produced results. Like stopping the asinine process of them releasing hundreds of balloons at the beginning of each home football game, that litters & desecrates our beautiful upstate area. I have no vested interest in this area, other than living here. However, I do know right from wrong and I feel this historical property neglect is wrong. I find it difficult to understand why such a beautiful and apparently a very well-managed university, would actually allow this to take place. Maybe it's because they simply don't want to look back, but focus on where their going? There's simply too many gifted folks working at this university, for them not to come up with a solution. While I'm on a roll... Years ago, Seniors were allowed to walk in the old Little John Basketball Arena - this was a wonderful health benefit! Then the university built this expensive Student Exercise Center, that they now wanted Seniors to pay-to-use. At that time, the expense for my wife & I, almost equaled a monthly Social Security check... So now it's necessary for us to talk outside in the freezing rain and scalding heat - using their outdoor track, that's located right next to their brand new Indoor Track & Field Building, that normally sits vacant. By the way, I'm 6'2"/300 lbs. and students were bumping into me when I tried using their elevated indoor walking track at their Exercise Center - I would hate to think what would happen to a 120 lb. 80 year old woman! So many concerns - so few answers... Regards, Paul M Kankula - NN8NN gcgenweb@bellsouth.net Seneca, SC ----- Original Message ----- From: herb_316 To: american-revolution@rootsweb.com ; alblount@rootsweb.com Cc: Golden Corner GenWeb Project ; Clayton Room Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 5:26 AM Subject: Fw: General AndrewPickens home being unkept and unmaintained by CU Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 5:15 AM Subject: General AndrewPickens home being unkept and unmaintained by CU GENERAL ANDREWS PICKENS HOME "HOPEWELL" 4-6/2008 It was interesting to see the Old Pendleton Newsletter article on Gen. Andrew Pickens and his home. Hopewell.. However Hopewell is not currently occupied and is in a bad state of repair, witnessed by many pictures I have taken of the home and site. I had been by Hopewell and am currently watching it for the potential for some one to be doing something to keep the home up and as a notable place for maintaining our Heritage in SC. When I visited "Hopewell" I found the brickwork in disrepair, paint was peeling off the outside walls. A room upstairs had the window open and something sticking in it - a pure source for rot. The front porch boards were all loose and not kept in repair. Numerous holes in the boards in the wall, the out building was rusting away. The main roof had been replaced on Hopewell but the front porch roof needs to also be replaced. I did not get a chance to view the interior. To me it said CU is just waiting for it to rot down, so one can say like CU did for Col Simpson's old home outside of Pendleton, "It can't be repaired and needs to be torn down." I personally thinks it is a disgrace for all the money CU gets from the State and other sources, from their documents over $646 Million per year, to not take care of the property. To back up what I say here is another example you can see on Lebanon Road, near Mack Smith's Store in Anderson County, SC. I live about 1/4 mile from this location.. I went by to review the agriculture equipment auction at the Simpson Station on Lebanon Road. Joe Douthit, a true benefactor to Clemson U., had a once stately and well up kept two story home for his residence on the property, not historical in the same aspect as Hopewell, but reminiscent of old SC upstate homes. CU has owned this property since about 1965 when they bought Joe Douthit's old farm from the residue of the payments by the Feds for the Hartwell Lake land CU owned before flooding. They gave $300/acre for the land in 1965. The home has been rented since that time as well as the old Harold Hunnicutt residence on the Douthit station, which is also in need of repair, one example is that the roof is showing rust. I walked around the old Joe Douthit home taking pictures just as I did for the Hopewell place. At Joe Douthit's home it seems no repairs or paint has been used on the place since 1965. The roof is rusting out, mold and moss are about 2 inches thick on other parts of the roof, the front porch is rotting out and buckling, the top deck porch and veranda area is rotting, the whole place needs painting. The chimney has holes showing through it where the grout has fell out. It is a disaster waiting to rot also. I went to OP District Commission. They said it is not our place to do anything. They claimed CU was going to do repairs on Gen. Andrew Pickens home. Well if you look around at the Perks for the faculty and the students at CU you ask yourself what about our Heritage? Are we not proud of General Andrew Pickens to at least save and maintain his old home place? We need someone at CU that cares about SC Heritage. In addition there is no historical marker on the road showing it is Hopewell. There are no markers in the yard or on the home that says it is Hopewell. But having been born here and lived a few years here I and others know it is Hopewell, the home of General Andrew Pickens.. I ask simply why can't General Andrew Pickens old home Hopewell be kept up and maintained, and furnished like Tom Clemson's old home and put on display for all to view who are proud of their SC Heritage? It would make a major historical attraction if handled correctly and maintained. If not please tell me why. Please help get this item on the CU agenda of doing something about it for maintaining our SC Heritage. Herb Hendricks Retired NASA Physicist 2418 Lebanon Road Pendleton, SC 29670 Herb_316@Bellsouth.net 864 2616636 Group Administrator Hendricks DNA Project Secretary Hendricks Family Association Current Research Families; Major, Smith, Craig, Hendricks, Eskew, Rochester Web site = http://www.familytreedna.com/public/hendricks