Visitors can talk to Revolutionary War fighters at revamped SC historic site

The screen is part of a $500,000 renovation of the visitors’ center, which reopened Wednesday with new, interactive exhibits. The goal is to draw more people to what the state parks system considers one of its most historically significant locations, said agency director Duane Parrish.

The change was part of a broader celebration of the country’s 250th anniversary, along with the battles that led to that point. Recognizing the Battle of Musgrove Mill’s significance, parks staff wanted to give visitors a better starting point into the history, Parrish said.

“What we had here before, it was just dated, no other way to say it,” Parrish told the SC Daily Gazette. “It was time for a change.”

Making sure people actually stop and learn the history of the place they’re visiting means that history will continue to live on, “so the 250th anniversary doesn’t get forgotten for the next 10, 15, 20 years,” Parrish said.

The renovations

The centerpiece of the visitors’ center in Laurens County is a pair of giant screens built into the floor, where visitors can watch exactly how the battle played out. Little icons of Loyalists approach a waiting squadron of Patriots, then retreat, with boxes representing Patriot leaders in pursuit.

Other exhibits include a hands-on element. Along one wall is a wardrobe full of jackets, hats and accessories that visitors can try on. Virtual militiamen demonstrate the proper way to wear uniforms for Patriots and Loyalists, as well as everyday garments.

Opposite that is a similar display with fake muskets, where another militiaman walks visitors through loading and carrying the weapons used at the time.

Beside him are two more screens with varying characters who can talk about their experiences during the war, including a Loyalist, a Patriot, a woman and a freed Black soldier fighting for the Patriots.

The virtual people aren’t based on historical figures but instead composite accounts of the time. They can answer preset prompts or typed questions from visitors by pulling from a database of historical information.

Although fictional and computer-generated, the figures are modeled on actual parks service employees and local reenactors, Parrish said.

The parks department wanted to make sure “everybody from a 7-year-old to a 70-year-old can appreciate this and can follow it,” he said.

People can still talk to the rangers on duty and learn the history that way. But the visitors’ center can give people another access point into learning about the site, or a standalone experience for those who might have limited time or ability to hike the surrounding trails, Parrish said.

The renovated exhibit might entice more people driving past to stop in, even if they don’t have a full day carved out to spend exploring the area, Parrish said.

“You get to have a little bit of outdoor adventure as well as come inside and learn what you’ve seen,” he said.

The site will probably draw in plenty of locals along with tourists, said Harold Thompson, who is mayor of Union, a city about 20 miles from the battlefield.

“A lot of times, people ride around on weekends in this area, just looking for places like this to come to and just enjoy,” Thompson said.

He especially enjoyed the talking characters, which he hopes will help visitors better understand and retain the site’s history.

“You sit there and you try to read it, but if you get somebody actually talking to you to explain it, that’s very nice,” he said.

A federal grant through the National Parks Service paid for nearly $159,000 of the renovation cost, according to the parks department. Another $197,000 came from state taxpayer funding as part of a wider initiative to redesign exhibits.

The rest of the money came from grants, private donations and local accommodations tax dollars, Parrish said.

A portion of that involved a Duke Energy grant program designed to support celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday. The visitors’ center received $50,000 under the initiative meant to encourage civic engagement, according to the utility company.

Preserving land and history is important to the company, especially in a state like South Carolina, which has a large amount of historical significance, said Tim Pearson, who leads the company in the Palmetto State.

During the renovations, Pearson brought his 6-year-old daughter to help paint the walls of the visitors’ center. When she got bored, a park ranger showed her videos of foxes, and she left that day with a stuffed fox that has become one of her prized toys, Pearson said.

“I think a lot of young children here in South Carolina will get to have those kinds of memories,” said Pearson, a former chief of staff to Gov. Nikki Haley.

The battle

The Battle of Musgrove Mill wasn’t the biggest, the bloodiest or the longest of the Revolutionary War, said Mark Stanford, the site’s interpretive ranger.

But the timing was essential, Stanford said.

The battle took place three days after the disastrous Battle of Camden, when General Charles Cornwallis and the British Army captured or killed an estimated 900 Patriots while another 2,000 or so fled.

The British scored another victory the day before Musgrove Mill, in the Battle of Fishing Creek in Chester County. There, Loyalists surprised resting Patriot troops, killing or wounding 150 and capturing 300.

With the resistance in the South appearing wiped out, Cornwallis considered the war all but won, Stanford said. So, British troops were shocked to meet a force of about 200 in Musgrove Mill the following day.

“Cornwallis had no idea these men even existed,” Stanford said.

Militiamen led the British troops and Loyalist militia into an ambush, and an estimated 130 of their 500 fighters were wounded or killed. The surprise Patriot victory encouraged more men to enlist, regrowing the Continental Army and boosting morale and support in America, Stanford said.

“It was the fact that these men stood and fought and won here that changed that dropping tide for the Patriots,” Stanford said.

Most of the states where fighting took place claim their battles turned the tide of the war, and in most cases, they’re right, Stanford said. The war was won through a series of small victories that put the British in the position for defeat, he said.

Musgrove Mill was one of those quietly influential fights, Stanford said. Without the resurgence in support the fight caused, the Continental Army likely wouldn’t have had the troops for the Battle of Kings Mountain or the Battle of Cowpens, two key victories for the Patriots.

“Without that victory at Kings Mountain, the war probably would’ve been lost here in South Carolina,” Stanford said. “But without the victory here at Musgrove Mill first, those militiamen would not have gone to Kings Mountain, most likely.”

Stanford, who led a two-hour hike retracing the fighters’ steps Wednesday morning, said he finds it remarkable that the place where that battle was fought remains open to anyone interested in visiting.

The battlefield is “somewhere we can actually walk, 9 to 6 every day, seven days a week, as long as the park’s open,” Stanford said.

“You can learn this history,” Stanford said. “You don’t have to travel to New York, Philadelphia, even Virginia and Yorktown. You can come just a few miles down the road, right here at Musgrove Mill, and learn that important history.”