Celebration event at the historic Hopewell Plantation

Clemson University’s Historic Properties and the Andrew Pickens chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, are hosting a celebration this month of the porch restoration at the historic Hopewell Plantation.  The event will be 1 p.m. Saturday, May 20. History professor Rod Andrew, author of “The Life and Times of General Andrew Pickens: Revolutionary War Hero, American Founder” will be the featured speaker. Andrew will sign copies of his book and there will be a ribbon-cutting on Hopewell’s newly restored front porch. Artifacts from the current historic preservation investigation of the site will be displayed. Hopewell Plantation, which sits on a hillside on the shores of Hartwell Lake, is a log frontier pioneer structure that was transformed into a vernacular Federal residence during the 20 years Revolutionary War Gen. Andrew Pickens lived there. The home was the site of the signing of the first treaties signed with Native American Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. The history to be interpreted at the site encompasses the Native American and Revolutionary War eras; the development of Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties; and the African-American slaves that worked for the Pickens and, later, the Cherry families.