Florence Heritage Foundation
 | The Heritage Foundation Meeting
When: May, 24th Where: Art Trail Gallery Dargan Street Time: 6 PM |
Florence Heritage Foundation
The Florence Heritage Foundation was originally chartered in circa 1980 when many beautiful homes and historic buildings were being torn down left and right. It was clear that unless citizens organized, there wasn't anyway to stop the current leadership. The first notable success as a group was to prevent the demolition of Poynor School - a major , heated battle because the school system wanted money, First Baptist Church wanted a parking lot and had money, and all the other community leadership considered historic preservation as a serious obstruction to growth and progress.
At the time they chose the name Heritage Foundation without knowledge of the formation of a national rightwing conservative group with the same name - but there is absolutely no connection between the two. They did not use the name Historic Florence Foundation because they addressed a wider range of issues, although preservation was the most pressing need at the time. Over the following years, they worked to place other buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and promoted public awareness of the value of historic preservation through the Florence Harllee Silver Cup Award. The award presented a sterling silver replica of Florence Harllee's personal silver cup which is on display in the Florence Museum, and was given to people that had made significant contributions to historic preservation in Florence County.
After a number of years, the organization gradually decreased in membership as they were not involved in any major preservation projects, and ultimately it was allowed to become dormant. Mark Buyck, Jr kept the 501(c)(3) status and is currently listed as President. However, it's apparent now that they need to reactivate in order to have a large grassroots organization that can address many of our local problems and projects; i.e. downtown revitalization, city beautification (strong tree ordinance and wires underground), Timrod Park, Maple Park, and East Florence neighborhood revitalization, Red Doe Plantation, historic sites markers and walking tour guide, etc. Our first meeting of the 21st century will be held at The Art Trail Gallery on Monday May 24th, with the meeting beginning at 6:00 - and preceded by "A Walk Down Memory Lane" beginning at 4:00 during which our elder Florentines will be guests to allow us to record their memories of our history.
At the time they chose the name Heritage Foundation without knowledge of the formation of a national rightwing conservative group with the same name - but there is absolutely no connection between the two. They did not use the name Historic Florence Foundation because they addressed a wider range of issues, although preservation was the most pressing need at the time. Over the following years, they worked to place other buildings on the National Register of Historic Places and promoted public awareness of the value of historic preservation through the Florence Harllee Silver Cup Award. The award presented a sterling silver replica of Florence Harllee's personal silver cup which is on display in the Florence Museum, and was given to people that had made significant contributions to historic preservation in Florence County.
After a number of years, the organization gradually decreased in membership as they were not involved in any major preservation projects, and ultimately it was allowed to become dormant. Mark Buyck, Jr kept the 501(c)(3) status and is currently listed as President. However, it's apparent now that they need to reactivate in order to have a large grassroots organization that can address many of our local problems and projects; i.e. downtown revitalization, city beautification (strong tree ordinance and wires underground), Timrod Park, Maple Park, and East Florence neighborhood revitalization, Red Doe Plantation, historic sites markers and walking tour guide, etc. Our first meeting of the 21st century will be held at The Art Trail Gallery on Monday May 24th, with the meeting beginning at 6:00 - and preceded by "A Walk Down Memory Lane" beginning at 4:00 during which our elder Florentines will be guests to allow us to record their memories of our history.
