Page 14 - Camden Kershaw 2018

ATTRACTIONS

Historic & Battle Sites

The African American
Cultural Center of Camden
This City of Camden museum highlights the
rich history of the African American community
of Camden and surrounding areas. Under
the auspices of the Camden Archives &
Museum, exhibits on African American history
will be new every six months. Open Monday,
Wednesday and Friday 1 pm-4:30 pm and
Saturday 10 am-4 pm. Closed major holidays.
Admission is free. 517 York St., Camden. For
more information, call 803-425-6050, email
archives@camdensc.org or check it out on
Facebook (@africanamericancamden).

Lafayette Cedar Tree / The Camden Oak
Frenchman Gilbert du Morteir Marquis de Lafayette and Johann Baron de Kalb arrived in South Carolina
in 1777 to join American forces in their fight for freedom; de Kalb would be mortally wounded. Lafayette, on
a return trip to America, accepted an invitation to lay the cornerstone of a monument to de Kalb in 1825.
He was to stay in a grand mansion so newly completed that
no landscaping existed. To decorate the grounds, two rows
of branches snapped from cedar trees were placed in the
ground. A single cedar which took root still stands today at
1121 Broad St. in front of the Kershaw County Courthouse,
built after the mansion burned.
The Camden Oak was a sapling as Camden picked itself
up from the devastation of the American Revolution. It bore
witness to hundreds of years of history and growth. A split-
rail fence, informational signs and benches surround the
historic tree’s remains at the corner of Meeting and Church
streets in Camden.

Historic Robert Mills Courthouse
Designed in 1825, the fully-restored Historic Robert Mills
Courthouse features a copper roof, brick floors, vaulted central
hallway and double arched ceilings downstairs. The second
floor courtroom is restored to conform to the building’s 1845
renovation. Mills, the first American-trained architect, also designed
the Washington Monument and the U.S. Treasury Building in
Washington, D.C. Now serving as home to the Kershaw County
Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center, the building is open
Monday through Friday 9 am-5 pm, and Saturday 10 am-4 pm. It
is closed major holidays. 607 Broad St., Camden. 803-432-2525.
www.kershawcountychamber.org

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