Beaumont Historical Celebration

On 9/11/2010 Beaumont Mill Village had a historical celebration and the Beaumont United Methodist Church. My husband's mother, Peggy, grew up in Beaumont. Stan lived for awhile in Beaumont as a young boy so they have strong ties to the little mill village behind Beaumont cotton mill. So Stan and I took Peggy to the celebration. They had several speakers and then a free hot dog picnic behind the church. There was a representative from the Preservation Trust of Spartanburg, City Councilwoman Linda Dogan presented a plaque that names 9/11/2010 as Beamont Day, the President of the Beaumont Neighborhood Association, a speaker who gave the history of the Methodists in the upstate and especially the Beaumont UMC, and a local historian who gave the history of the mill village. The house behind the church which is owned by the church, was set up with old photos and newspaper clippings as well as old copies of the Beaumont "E" ("E" for Excellence) newsletters.








Beaumont was once a beautiful hill that was part of the Cherokee hunting grounds. It was named Beaumont from the French, "beau" meaning beautiful and "montagne" meaning mountain, "Beau" "mont". It is situated on Chinquapin Creek and was run with steam engines. It is beside one of the railroads that criss cross Spartanburg, which is also nicknamed Hub City for all the railroads that intersect in Spartanburg. We heard interesting stories about life in a mill village. There was Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Beaumont. Stan and I met at Roselane Presbyterian Church in 1977. Beaumont used to have a park and baseball field and I watched some of the Harris' play softball games there back when Stan and his brothers and sisters played. In fact, when I was a little girl, my Dad was city engineer and he was an organic gardener. The city used to dump the leaves they picked up at the back of the Beaumont Park. We went with Dad in his old truck to get a load of leaves to mulch his garden. The truck got stuck in the leaves and the friction and heat from the muffler and tires started a fire under the truck. He got us girls out safely but the truck was completely burned up!
Peggy (with her back towards me) is a very social person and she remembers everybody! Her children are like that too. They never go anywhere without seeing someone they know.

The little church was full.












For more history on Beaumont, check out my post on Beaumont at:
Beaumont Mfg Co.