Friends of the Aiken County Historical Museum hosts lecture series for county's sesquicentennial

Shakailah Heard, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

May 16—The Friends of the Aiken County Historical Museum's five-part lecture series, titled "Biography of Our Home: 150 Years in Aiken County," began Sunday afternoon.

The first part of the lecture series, titled "The Founding of Aiken County," was presented by Lauren Virgo, the executive director of the museum.

"Anytime you see an exhibit, a program, anytime you see an artifact restored and cared for, that is through funding from the Friends, which is why they have fundraisers like this with the Friends' lecture series," Virgo said

A lot of people don't know that the Aiken County Historical Museum is a public-private hybrid organization, which means the county government maintains the building and grounds and pays salaries, Virgo said.

During the presentation Virgo explained history in an exciting tone that kept the crowd engaged while she gave a brief history covering topics like American Indians, the Colonial era, Antebellum, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Victorian era and the World Wars.

The remaining four lecture topics are as follows:

—May 23: "The Impact of the Savannah River Site," presented by Derek Berry.

—June 6: "Three Classic Movers and Shakers in Aiken County: Evans, Jackson and Thurmond," presented by Tom Mack.

—June 13: "African American Stories from Turn of the Century — The Seawright-Ellison and Thompson Families," presented by Dr. Walter Curry.

—June 20: "Exploring the Four Corners of Aiken County," presented by Linda Johnson.

Johnson is a docent with the Friends and is the organizer of this event.

"The topic was pretty obvious because it is the 150th anniversary of Aiken County and so I wanted to showcase that," Johnson said.

"In choosing who would speak, I wanted to pick on different aspects of the county that have really affected it," Johnson continued.

Johnson also encourages people to come back to the museum to see the changes that were made while they were closed. The Friends are excited to have fully reopened and invite people to come and see the history of their area, Johnson said.

"It's just a joy to us that over the past year we've been planning things and not been able to hold a single one and that we are (able to do it) again," said Kathy Cunningham, president of the Friends.