Having visited the two parks in Cheraw, we headed west through Chesterfield County and into Lancaster for the two parks there. Here, we met up with our friends that live in the Rock Hill area. Tiffany and I worked with Kimberly at a camp back in the day (Summersalt – put on by the SC Baptist Convention), and Kimberly has since married Andy, and they have two kids Nicholas and Timothy.
Andrew Jackson State Park is located in an area where our seventh president grew up. Lancaster is right on the border with North Carolina, and both sides of the state line claim to be the actual place of his birth. Regardless of where he was physically born, this area was his home for a while. One of the most interesting things we saw here was a statue of a young Andrew Jackson made by Anna Huntington. If you’ve been paying attention to our journey, that name Huntington should be familiar. Back in February, we visited Huntington Beach State Park, which has Atalaya Castle, a home that belonged to the Huntingtons. We learned there that Mrs. Huntington sculpted many things there, including animals. It was neat getting to make that connection at AJSP.
At the park, there is a museum and an old school building. The museum does acknowledge that Jackson’s legacy isn’t exactly rosy. There are also a couple of trails; however, high winds from storms the previous day had dropped a lot of debris, closing the trails.
Our time here was short. Tiffany didn’t get to see much as she was tending to an ant bite that Sage had gotten on her foot. We all got to see some things in the museum and had a peek in the school building. Teagan found a couple of frogs, of course. With the trails closed, and with the prospect of some hiking at our fourth and final park of the day, we decided to leave and head just a few minutes down the road to Landsford Canal.
Now having been to AJSP, I’d love to read more about Jackson, the role he played in the War of 1812, and his decisions surrounding Native Americans, among other things. (Side note: In the museum, they had some sheet music of ‘The Battle of New Orleans’. Does anyone else know that old tune?) I know there have been discussions of replacing Jackson’s image with Harriet Tubman’s on the $20 bill, but there has been no date set, to my knowledge. Ahh…the complexities of history, the virtues and faults of individuals, commemoration (acknowledging vs. honoring)…
Beavers in the Park 