SCIWAY News, No. 19 – February 1999

In This Issue

• Buy South Carolina–A New Electronic Commerce Directory
• Chicora Foundation Black History Studies Now on SCIWAY
• New and Notable South Carolina Web Sites
• SC Department of Commerce Launches New Site at New Address
• The Case of the Disappearing Judicial Department
• A Good Month for Nicknames!
• Upcoming Festivals and Events
• Surprises of the Month: South Carolina Flyers and Crawlers
• The Bravest Librarian in South Carolina

Shop SCIway–A New Electronic Commerce Directory

To make it easier for South Carolinians and others to find South Carolina online businesses, SCIway has started a new Web directory called Shop SCIway (https://www.sciway.net/shop/).

To be included in Shop SCIway, a Web site must enable visitors to order and pay for products online (with a credit card) ... and clearly indicate where in South Carolina the business is located.

So far we have an interesting mix of more than 30 state online businesses. I hope you will visit Shop SCIway often -- and buy from South Carolinians. and if you know of a South Carolina business that sells its products online, please send its Web address to business@sciway.net.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

Chicora Foundation Black History Studies Now on SCIWAY

Most of the books I buy and read are about Southern history, especially Robert E. Lee and the Civil War. But this month I have read five short studies about South Carolina slaves and free blacks that are as captivating as any battle book ... and so close to home.

All of these historical/archaeological studies were produced by the Chicora Foundation of Columbia (http://www.chicora.org), and all focus on the everyday life of South Carolina slaves and freedmen: how they got here ... where they lived ... what they ate ... where they worked ... what they owned ... how they died ... how they were buried ... how they dealt with freedom.

I'm happy to say that thanks to the cooperation of the Chicora Foundation and the financial support of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina (http://www.southcarolinablues.com), you can now read all five of these quiet but eye-opening studies on SCIway (see https://www.sciway.net/hist/chicora/slavery18.html).

We have put a lot of time into making these publications easy to read online, and we hope they will be particularly useful to our state's K12 teachers and students. But all South Carolinians–black and white, young and old–would benefit from reading them, and I hope you will take time to read at least one.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

New and Notable South Carolina Web Sites

Anderson County Office of Economic Development - formerly Anderson County Development Partnership

http://www.andersoncountytoday.com - site no longer available

Carolina Arts Online

http://www.carolinaarts.com

Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission–remodeled

http://www.ccprc.com

Columbia College – remodeled

http://www.columbiasc.edu/

Formation of South Carolina counties: a timeline–new address

https://www.sciway.net/cnty/history/timeline.html

Greenville Griffins Rugby Team–Division II RugbySouth champs!

http://www.greenvillerugby.com

North Augusta

http://www.northaugusta.net

Pendleton

http://www.townofpendleton.org

South Carolina Legislative Audit Council

http://lac.sc.gov/

Upstate Theatre!

http://www.innova.net/~vsix/Theatre/ - site no longer exists

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

SC Department of Commerce Launches New Site at New Address

This week South Carolina's Department of Commerce unveiled an impressive new Web site at a new address: http://www.callsouthcarolina.com/ - site no longer exists. This address matches the site's purpose and slogan, "Answering the Call of Business."

Call South Carolina offers lots of useful information about state business advantages and incentive programs. It also includes a new online service called "SiteSCope," which enables companies to search for vacant land and buildings that meet their requirements.

While this site is geared primarily toward companies that might move to South Carolina or expand their existing SC facilities, it also provides a wealth of information about our economy and communities that will be useful to researchers, journalists, and students. However, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat to download much of this information.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

The Case of the Disappearing Judicial Department

The day before I mailed the January issue of SCIWAY News, I found the South Carolina Judicial Department's Web site, which was loaded with great information and statistics about South Carolina's courts. I was happy to locate this site because I had theretofore found little information about our courts on the Internet. (Two useful exceptions: SC Supreme Court opinions and Administrative Law Judge information provided by the University of South Carolina's Law Library–see http://www.law.sc.edu/library/ .)

Naturally I included the site in SCIWAY News' "New and Notable" section. But the morning after I mailed last month's issue, I was flooded with messages from readers who had tried to reach the site only to see this notice:

Access Denied: Your site has been denied access to this server.

The good news is that the Judicial Department is going to put some of its information back online. You should be able to reach it by the end of this week at a completely different address (http://www.judicial.state.sc.us).

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

A Good Month for Nicknames!

This month we received many more nicknames and mottos for South Carolina places. Here are several, with more to follow next month.

Greenwood is called The Emerald City because of its lush green setting, and Summerville is knows as Flowertown because of its famous azaleas. Gold used to be mined near Smyrna, and Sumter is called The Gamecock City because it was named for Revolutionary War General Thomas Sumter, whose nickname was "Gamecock of the Revolution."

Walhalla's nickname, Garden of the Gods, stems from the word "Valhalla," which is a heaven for slain warriors in Norse mythology. Folks in Walhalla, located in the northwest corner of the state, take their nickname seriously. In fact when you're there, you can even tune into WGOG radio (http://wgog.com)!

If you know of other South Carolina nicknames or the reason behind one we've already listed, please send this info to news@sciway.net. I'd particularly like to know why Florence is called The Magic City. May have to visit there. Sometimes I could use a little magic ... and some Spartanburg sparkle!

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

Upcoming Festivals and Events

For the latest information on upcoming South Carolina events, please see https://www.sciway.net/calendar.html.

Native Islander Gullah Celebration - Hilton Head Island - Feb 5-28

Clemson Shakespeare Festival - Feb 14-27

Writing the Civil War Conference - Columbia, Charleston, Feb 25-26

Myrtle Beach Marathon - Feb 27

Governor's Rural Summit - Columbia, Mar 1-2

Reedy River Run (10K) - Greenville, Mar 6

Faith and healing conference - Charleston, Mar 6-7

Lowcountry Instructional Tech. Conference - Charleston, Mar 10-12

Festival of Houses and Gardens - Charleston, Mar 18 - Apr 17

WineFest - Hilton Head Island, Mar 20

Flowertown Festival - Summerville, Mar 26-28

Carolina Cup Races - Camden, March 27

Cooper River Bridge Run - Charleston, March 27

Family Circle Cup Tennis - Hilton Head Island, Mar 27 - Apr 4

Assistive Technology Expo - Columbia, Mar 30

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

Surprises of the Month: South Carolina Flyers and Crawlers

Most of the time my favorite place in the world is simply "outside." And one of the delights of being outside is a surprise encounter with a beautiful butterfly.

Now, thanks to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota (yes, North Dakota), you can encounter almost 100 species of South Carolina butterflies (as well as more than 50 species of moths) just by pointing your browser to

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/checklists?species_type=All&tid=69

Of course, there are some outdoor surprises I'd rather miss ... and most of them crawl on the ground. So I am grateful to Gene Ott, a Laurens County environmental consultant, and to the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory for developing two excellent websites that allow me to learn about South Carolina reptiles and amphibians indoors.

South Carolina Reptiles and Amphibians - Gene Ott

http://web.infoave.net/~ottg/scherps.htm

Reptiles and Amphibians of the Savannah River Site - Univ of Ga

http://srelherp.uga.edu/

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

The Bravest Librarian in South Carolina

Last April we started a new online bulletin board called "Ask SCIway." This simple service enables anyone using the Internet to ask or answer a question about South Carolina.

Ask SCIway currently includes three history forums and two genealogy forums, all of which are expertly moderated by Peter Wilkerson of the South Carolina Historical Society (http://schistory.org/).

But Ask SCIway also receives a variety of questions that are unrelated to history and genealogy, and for a long time we wrestled with the problem of how to handle these "other" questions. Then on July 9th I received a short email message from Camille McCutcheon, a reference librarian at the University of South Carolina Spartanburg (now University of South Carolina Upstate) (http://www.uscupstate.edu/). Camille wrote that she used SCIway a lot and asked if we needed any help.

Are egrets beautiful? Is pluff mud sticky? In about 30 seconds I was talking with Camille on the phone: Would you be willing to moderate a new SCIWAY forum called, I winced, "Everything Else"?

After a thoughtful pause, Camille calmly said, "I'd like to give it a try." I thought to myself, this is a brave lady.

In the seven months since that joyful Thursday, Camille (a Columbia native) has done an outstanding job of moderating Ask SCIWAY's "Everything Else" forum. Week after week she conscientiously provides online answers to a wide range of questions about South Carolina ... or points people to resources they can use to find information themselves.

I greatly appreciate Camille's hard work as well as the USC Spartanburg (now USC Upstate) Library's (http://www.uscupstate.edu/library/) support of her efforts. She has helped people throughout South Carolina and throughout the world learn more about our state.

Top of SCIWAY News No. 19

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