Genealogy Research & Exploring Newberry, SC

We left the campground this morning around 10:30 to drive the 16 miles south to Newberry to do genealogy research in the library and court house.

We stopped at the Wells Japanese Garden to walk in the garden and take photos. The Wells Japanese Garden was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

After leaving the Japanese Garden, we drove around taking photos some of the homes and churches in Newberry. We were really impressed with the architectural details on the turn-of-the-century homes in Newberry.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

We parked the car by the Memorial Park which is across the street from the Newberry Opera House. In the 1920's the Opera House was converted to a movie theater, but was
closed in 1952. It was renovated in 1996 and now hosts musical performances.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

We walked around Memorial Park taking photos of the memorials honoring local veterans from the Revolutionary War to the Viet Nam War.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

After taking photos of the monuments in Memorial Park, we decided to eat lunch at the Firehorse Deli across from Memorial Park.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

Mike ordered the French Dip sandwich and I ordered the Reuben. There was only one person working behind the counter there, so we had to wait a bit for our food while he prepared sandwiches for the people who ordered ahead of us. While we waited for our food, we talked with a few of the local ladies about the area and RVing. Mike and I ate 1/2 of our sandwiches and then swapped to try each other's sandwich - they were both excellent.

After lunch we drove a couple of blocks over to the Newberry County Library. I spent about 2 hours searching through local history books and didn't find any information on our ancestors.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

Our next stop was at the Newberry County Courthouse Annex and the Probate Court office. Andrea was the first person we saw in the Probate Office and I told her I was interested in researching wills. She showed us into the Records Room and indicated the Will Index Books and then where the microfilm reels were located. I looked through the Indexes and the only wills I found were for Mike's 5th great grandparents William and Mary Scott.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

Mike located the microfilms for their wills and I had Andrea show me how to operate the microfilm reader (there are so many different types of readers - it's like learning all over again).

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

I made copies of William's will and estate records (1810) and Mary's will and estate records (1819). While I was searching through the microfilm, Mike took photos of the framed Confederate money inside the Probate Office entrance.

From Sightseeing in Newberry, SC

I thanked Andrea for her help and paid $3.20 for my copies ($.20 a copy). Andrea told me that if I needed anything else researched, just contact her and she would be happy to help.

By now it was 4:15 and we headed east to the Wal-Mart Supercenter in town to do more shopping for items we didn't find at the Laurens Supercenter yesterday. We got back to the campground just before 5:30 and Tinker was really happy to see us. This is the second day in a row that we were gone most of the day and Tinker didn't get his lunch until we got home!

We started hearing thunder about 7:00 and then just before 7:30 the rain moved in and we had a good hard rain for about 20 minutes. Mike looked out the window and saw water flowing over our patio mat, so tomorrow we'll have to put the mat on the picnic table and hose it off and let it dry before we pack it away tomorrow.