Wedding & Event Venue Near Kingstree, SC.

Final touches on exhibits are underway at The African American Archives of Williamsburg. Located to the left of the Williamsburg Historical Society Museum at 127 Hampton Avenue in Kingstree, SC, the Archives focuses on preserving the voices of Black and African American people in Williamsburg County, past and present, famous and not-so-famous. A ribbon cutting for the new space will take place on June 23, at 5:30 p.m. as a part of a two-day African American Heritage Celebration presented by the Williamsburg Historical Society and C. Williams Rush African American Museum.

Author Gordon Rhea will speak at the ribbon cutting and be available for book signings. He is the author of “Black Freedom Fighter” a biography about Stephen A. Swails. Swails was the first African American commissioned as a combat officer in the United States military, and after the Civil War became the mayor of Kingstree. He also served as a SC State Senator for 10 years and served three terms as President Pro Tem. Swails’ family is one of three families whose ancestries are traced on the walls of the Archives. The Waiters Boyd family and Anthony Tisdale Shaw family genealogy are also on display. As visitors move through the museum, they experience the history of Williamsburg County, precolonial times to current day, through the story of the African Americans who have lived there.

Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Kingstree in May 1966. Visitors are invited to watch his “March on the Ballot Boxes” speech in one of the installations.

“Sixty-five percent of this county is African American. To ignore that history is a mistake,” says Billy Jenkinson, who has been a part of the historical society close to 50 years.

Wendell Voiselle, Director of the Historical Society says, “We had some African American artifacts, but not a lot. We needed to dig around and get more history of the African American people of Williamsburg County.” He is passionate about the mission to preserve protect and present the history of the county. “To do that we need to make a more concerted effort to get that information. There is a block before 1870, and not a lot of information that you can find. That is why it is important to get the stories from individual families.”

One of the exhibits at the Archives encourages community members to sit down with their relatives and friends in the recording booth and ask questions, tell stories, record history. The interviews are then archived for generations to come. It’s the community’s opportunity to help tell the story of the county.

“Williamsburg means everybody,” says Voiselle. “This is a way of redirecting that, and we have a focus now with the new building.”

The Archives is not only a museum, it is a community space available for meetings and events. It’s a space to be shared.

“It’s not only useful for the African American community but for all the community,” he says.

For more information on the ribbon cutting, opening celebration, and a list of all African American Heritage Celebration weekend activities, visit Williamsburg Historical Museum’s Facebook page. For additional Historical Museum information or questions, please visit www.williamsburgsc.org/museum or call (843) 355-3306.

Andrews native, Yatta Gayflor opened a daycare in her home during the pandemic. In three years, she quickly grew from a daycare serving a few children to A Mother’s Touch Resource Center that provides learning opportunities and mentorship for children ages 5-18 years and older. The center serves around 35 children of the Kingstree community.

Gayflor attended Greenville Technical College and Florence Darlington Technical College and studied early childhood development. She is a member of New Covenant Christian Fellowship Ministries and Mu Alpha Mu Multicultural Christian Sorority. She serves on the boards of Community Action Volunteer Experience (CAVE) and Hearts That Care of South Carolina.

She grew up around a lot of children, and has a 10-year-old son of her own. “I have been planning to start my childcare business for so long that it kept me up at night dreaming about what it would be like,” she says. She didn’t just want to just help children with homework, she wanted to teach life skills and build good citizens. “A mentor is an extra parent or big brother or sister. We make sure that they know what is going on in the world so we can better prepare them,” she says

Her students learn how to do their own laundry, to count money and how to make change, how to use the library.

“Instead of buying snacks and ramen noodles, we create a list so our kids can learn to grocery shop, be healthy, and know how manage their money,” she says.

Students learn about teamwork and volunteerism. She is always looking for local events that need volunteers, and loves partnering with local businesses for educational field trips. She is working with Lowcountry Medical Center on July 17 to hold a CPR Class for her kids.

She spends extra time with the older group to help them navigate the particular issues of teen years -bullying and peer pressure. She helps them get ready for college. “First-time college students should have a huge support system because there is so much happening,” she says.

The biggest reward for Gayflor is to attend her kids’ award ceremonies. She sees her lessons spread from child to child in school. Success is contagious. She works with her kids on mental health and self-esteem. She matches kids with mentors that are accountability partners to help the young adults navigate through life.

A Mother’s Touch continues to grow. Gayflor has added library, museum and college tours. She takes the kids to community events. “Our outings help broaden our children’s mind so that they know there are endless possibilities, opportunities, and resources that’s accessible to us,” she says. She is currently in need of two 12-15 seat passenger vans or a bus to transport students and continue to provide exciting opportunities for them.

This summer she is offering a summer literacy program for grades first to fourth that focuses on reading, math and science. The cost is $25 per week, per child. And there is still room in the program for more students.

The afterschool program is offered year-round at the Way Makers Community Center from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. for working parents. There is a commitment fee of $40 a week per child. The Saturday Exploration program is held twice a month at the cost of $50 per child. This year students are going to be studying the brain, heart, spine, foot, and lungs. They will also build mini farms, gardens, and cities. The children will have a chance to “Travel around the world with Miss G” in Kingstree. Every month she also hosts an event at Burger Kings so the kids can dance, chat over food and bond over planned activities.

Community members can purchase a $5 hand to support the Mother’s Touch All Hands On Deck campaign. The goal is $3,500.00, and hands will be posted on the center’s boards to let the kids know they are supported and cared for.

For information about available programs for kids ages 5 to 18, for information on how to become a mentor, or for donation or community partnership information, call (843) 401-9747, or email Yatta Gayflor at amtexperience29556@gmail.com.

Second Annual Singletary Family Reunion

Kingstree is home to a population of just over 3,000 and Williamsburg County numbers exceed just over 30,000 proud South Carolina citizens and enjoys its share of tourists from around the world. During July 13-16, among the group of tourists, will be a caravan of more than 30 Singletary family members hailing from varied cities as far away as Brockton, MA and Las Vegas, NV, several areas in Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and New Jersey.

But this caravan journey has particularly special meaning because members of the Singletary family will enjoy their second family reunion. They will honor the origins of their oldest known ancestors, Caesar and Aramintha Singletary, who were married in 1869 and lived in Nesmith, in the area formerly known as Turkey Township.

Dr. Shawnna L. Thomas-EL, a sixth-generation descendant and staff member at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA, has always been intrigued by the historic journeys and experience of African Americans. As the family historian, she effected U.S. Census data to uncover information about their ancestral origins. During the pandemic, family members began meeting on a monthly Zoom call, dreaming of the time when they would be able to come together safely, which they did during the first family reunion in August of 2022 in Waldorf, Maryland, the home of the family’s matriarch and fifth-generation descendant, Ella Louise Harrison. Harrison is a retired U.S. veteran who just celebrated her 85th birthday.

“We knew how important it was for our family to stay connected,” Harrison said. “And while the Zoom calls were wonderful, I yearned for us to be in person and to embrace each other. When we learned the significance of Kingstree, and Williamsburg County South Carolina to our family’s history, we knew we had to come here. I am so blessed to live to see it.”

Family members traveling to Kingstree range in age from Harrison at 85, to the youngest eighth-generation descendants, three-year-olds Moriah Hamilton and Zephaniah Greene.

Cassandra Williams Rush, MPH of the C. Williams Rush Museum of African American Arts & Culture worked closely with the family to curate a customized experience for their time in Williamsburg County on Friday, July 14, which will include an excursion to the Singletary Cemetery in rural Kingstree that bears their family name; Williams Vineyard & Farm Tour and history presentation; a luncheon and presentation hosted by the Rush Museum of African American Arts & Culture and tour of Kingstree. The family is staying in historical Charleston with a planned visit to the International African American Museum where the family holds a charter membership. The reunion will conclude with a family service on Sunday.

Urologist turned full-time author, Martha Boatwright Boone, hasn’t quite hung up her stethoscope. Her new novel The Unfettered Urologist: What I Never Had Time to Tell You in A Fifteen Minute Office Visit shares her expansive knowledge of urological health, and guides both patients and medical practitioners through common sense, intuition, and both scientific and alternative medicine. Throughout her 35-year career, she has written about, lectured on and continued her study of urology. She’s counseled thousands, done podcasts, YouTube Videos, and written newsletters. In her new book out this week, Boon is excited to take the opportunity, if only on the pages, to divulge all the things she wanted to tell her patients.

She covers interstitial cystitis, urinary tract infections, incontinence, low testosterone, alternative therapies, erectile dysfunction, prostate and bladder cancer and kidney stone prevention and surgery. She shares things people can do before they go to the doctor, and how to interact with the doctor to get the best care. “It’s quality information for when you walk into the office, and it can save you money and keep you from expensive procedures,” says Boone.

“This book is important because in America alternative and traditional medicine have taken different roads, but there is so much cross over in what they can offer a patient.”

Urology is clearly a calling for Boone, not just a job. She chose the field because a department chair told her urology didn’t accept women. Males accounted for 98% of the urologists at that time, and still account for 94%. Boon was one of the first 100 women board certified in Urology.

It wasn’t an easy path. “It’s hard to get women to go into surgical specialties because it takes so long,” she says. The training and child bearing years inconveniently coincide. There is nothing convenient about going to medical school or being a doctor. She found herself working 80-100 hour weeks. She admits that she chose medicine over having children. She saw women in medicine having to pay other people to raise their children. “I felt like I couldn’t do a good job if I tried to do everything,” she says. She now has two step daughters.

Boone grew up in Kingstree. Her mother, Ruth Boatwright worked as a sales clerk for Drucker Drugs, the local drug store. Her dad, Zeke Boatwright, was a Clemson graduate and was in timber procurement with Georgia Pacific. Boone graduated from Kingstree High School in 1975.

“I grew up in the low country in a quiet, simple, middle-class family. I got my diplomas from major universities, but the biggest lessons that served me most were the ones I learned in Kingstree,” she says.

Bruce Floyd, an English teacher, taught her to love words and language. Her history teacher, Beth Cottingham taught her critical thinking. They were skills she used throughout her career.

Boone’s interest in medicine came from her years in high school working in the office of Doctor Homer Gamble. She went to the College of Charleston and then went on to the Medical University of South Carolina. She also attended Tulane University and the University of California-Davis Medical Center. She continued her education in academic medicine at Ochsner, Louisiana State University and The Medical College of Georgia, before starting her private practice. Medicine took her to Atlanta where she practiced for 25 years, 22 of which as a solo practitioner. She was named TOP DOC in Atlanta by her peers for 13 years.

Though retired for two years now, she continues to be a recognized expert in her field. She has written two additional novels, The Big Free (2018), which she has been told equates to a little bit of humor like M.A.S.H., a little drama like ER, and a little bit of House, if you are up on your medical pop culture.

The first in her Big Free series, the novel is loosely based on the first six months as a surgical resident at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. Charity Hospital was one of the free hospitals in Louisiana that were destroyed during Katrina. “That was the reason I wrote the book, I wanted them to be memorialized,” she says. The second book in the series, Mother Charity, comes out March 5, 2024.

“I’m just a small-town girl with small town values and a small-town education who has done well,” she says.

Boone’s books can be purchased online at Amazon. Signed copies can be purchased from bookmiser.net. Follow Dr. Martha Boone on Facebook: @marthabboone.

Auctioneers infielder Sy’Ree Livingston (2) bats for Mullins during game against Kingstree on April 25, 2023.

Pitcher Adam Shaw and the Mullins Auctioneers defense allowed just two runs in their 17-2 win over Kingstree to end the season.

The Mullins Auctioneers hit the field for the season finale at home against Kingstree on April 25, 2023.

Auctioneers slugger Lonnie Alston (25) bats for Mullins during game against Kingstree on April 25, 2023.

Mykell Rayson (5) reaches base for Mullins during game against Kingstree on April 25,

Dorian Smith (1) and the Mullins Auctioneers baseball team hits the field against Kingstree on April 25, 2023.

Coach Johnathan Elliott and the Mullins Auctioneers baseball team host Kingstree in the season finale on April 25, 2023. Mullins won 17-2.

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MULLINS, S.C. – Coach Johnathan Elliott and the Mullins Auctioneers baseball teams closed-out the regular season with a 17-2 win over Kingstree on Tuesday night.