Virtual Travel Video: Limestone Springs, South Carolina

Our latest Virtual Travel video focuses on the story of Limestone Springs in Cherokee County, South Carolina. 

Limestone Springs was located in the Piedmont region, in what's now the town of Gaffney, SC. Throughout the 19th century, it attracted many people from the Lowcountry and Midlands due to its medicinal springs and mild climate. The area was also home to a limestone quarry, which would eventually play a role in building one of our nation's most distinctive monuments.

In 1849, a request was sent throughout the United States asking for rock to aid in the construction of the Washington Monument. In South Carolina, this request was answered by Thomas Curtis, the president of Limestone College (located, of course, in Limestone Springs). Founded in 1845, the college was the first institution of higher education for women in the state. Curtis owned the nearby limestone quarry, from which a large slab of limestone rock selected. This stone was engraved with the state seal, and sent on to Washington. If you visit the Washington Monument today, some of these stones with commemorative seals can be seen from inside the elevator shaft! 

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Posted on June 5th in Virtual Travel Series