- Marion County Museum – The building which houses the museum was built in 1886 and the longest operating public school in South Carolina when it closed in 1976. The Marion County Historical Society with the county’s assistance maintained the building with no plans for its future. In 1980 Maggi Hall, teacher, historian, historic preservationist, who restored the 4,000 of McIntyre House adjacent to the building, requested permission from the historical society and the county to complete restoration of the building and turn it into a much-needed county museum. Permission was granted.
- In 1982 Hall applied for a $100,000 grant from the SC Department of Archives and History to restore the cupola, re-roof the building, centrally air condition and heat the structure. The project was funded. In 1983 Hall received the SC Department of Archives and History award for “Adaptive Restoration of A Historic Facility.” After the cupola was rebuilt Hall installed the original school bell found in a local junkyard.
- As the Founder and Director of the museum, she also received additional grants and personal donations. As a volunteer for four years, she collected and conserved hundreds of artifacts. She took a leave of absence from teaching to create the museum’s educational outreach program and pursue permanent funding
- Hall started a fundraiser in 1985 to reconstruct the double front porches. In discussion with the SC State Archives and History, she was aware that future grants would also be available for the project.
EARLY HISTORY:
In 1886 the Marion Academy Society chartered in 1811, built its fine new educational facility for children of white residents only. The Academy remained a private school until the late sixties then transferred ownership to the Marion County School District after which it became the Marion Graded School.
A number of buildings in Marion’s historic district, including the Academy, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 4, 1973. In 1976 the Academy Building closed its doors and thus became the longest operating school facility in the state.
The school district donated the building to the Marion County Historical Society with a promise from the county to assist in maintenance. The building was used occasionally for special events with the society eventually desiring to establish a museum.
BECOMING A MUSEUM:
Hall contacted property owners throughout the county requesting artifacts. Excited invitations to visit attics were overwhelming. The items Hall recovered included numerous Marion Academy textbooks, one with homemade paper dolls hidden between the pages, report cards, even a lunch pail.
Additional items included hundreds of period clothing, furnishings, and agricultural items used by former residents of the county. The Tilghman House had the largest home and attic in Marion and Hall was given carte blanche to take what she wanted.
At the same time, Hall was creating the Marion County Museum the state was developing its museum. Hall partnered with their staff, took classes at the state museum as well as the Smithsonian, becoming knowledgeable in conservation techniques. One of the upstairs classrooms became the archive and conservation lab.
A local old timer told Hall he thought the original school bell that had hung in the cupola was in a local junkyard. Hall visited the yard, found the bell, and had it hauled to the museum to await placement in the soon to be rebuilt cupola.
RESTORATION BEGINS:
Hall initiated fundraisers to collect 30+ late 1800 slant-top wooden school desks in order to re-create what an original classroom looked like. When Hall visited the Smithsonian she discovered they had such an exhibit and made a promise she’d do the same for the old Academy Building. It took her over a year to locate the desks from various parts of the state and beyond.
Each desk had to be stripped, sanded, restained, and the wrought-iron legs painted black. Hall had a diligent volunteer to assist, Jane Waldrop. Hall and her husband had bought the McIntyre House from the Waldrops.
Hall and her family painted rooms with the assistance from trustees at the county prison. She raised money to build an exhibit case in the front hall, acquired an antique square grand piano, and even had her husband pull her down Godbold Street in an 1800 buggy she acquired from a local resident.
In order to borrow artwork from the state museum, a specific type of gallery would need to be designed. Hall had the windows enclosed in the downstairs northwest room to eliminate sunlight. Indirect track lighting was installed. The rotating art exhibits were borrowed monthly from the state museum in Columbia.
In 1982 Hall applied for and received a $100,000 grant from the SC Department of Archives and History to reconstruct the missing cupola, re-roof the building, and install a central HVAC system. After the cupola was completed Hall installed the original school bell and had a rope attached from the bell through the ceilings of the second and first floor to the completed 1890’s classroom.
In 1983 Hall received the SC Department of Archives and History award for “Adaptive Restoration of A Historic Facility.”
As Founder and Director, she received additional grants and personal donations. As a volunteer for four years, she collected and conserved hundreds of artifacts then took a leave of absence from teaching to create the museum’s educational outreach program and pursue permanent funding
Hall started a fundraiser in 1985 to reconstruct the double front porches. In discussion with the SC State Archives and History, she was aware future grants would be available for the project.
MUSEUM PROGRAMS:
As Founder and Director of the museum Hall received additional grants, private funding, and took educational classes at the Smithsonian and the budding SC State Museum. As a volunteer for four years, she collected and conserved hundreds of artifacts. Hall took advantage of the state museum’s outreach programs utilizing rotating art exhibits for the museum.
The county’s first concert series was initiated by Hall with various musical events on the grounds. She even collected a dozen antique pianos for a concert and piano exhibit in the art gallery. From 1983 to 1986 she directed the SC Arts Commission Rural Arts Program for the county.
Hall planned and implemented several successful annual wildlife oriented weekend festivals partnering with Wildlife Action, Inc. of Mullins, Marion’s neighbor. WLA was a hunting and conservation organization where Hall and her husband volunteered.
From 1982 to 1986 Hall held educational classes at the museum teaching students the value of history as they sat in the antique desks of long ago.
MUSEUM PUBLICATIONS:
From 1981 to 1986 Hall wrote a monthly newsletter informing members of upcoming events. During those same years, she published calendars featuring historic buildings which became a popular fundraiser.
In 1983 Hall wrote and published a first for the county, “A Driving tour of Historic Marion County, SC.” That same year she organized a committee that collected family recipes from residences, enlisted Ray Govis, a local artist, to sketch historic buildings for the cookbook. This attractive keepsake sold out the first month it was printed. Hall was asked to enlist four historic homes to be included in an upcoming book of Bed & Breakfasts in South Carolina. The homes were not B&B’s before the project but in order to be included had to promise to do so for at least two years.
Several History and English professors at Francis Marion University across the Great Pee Dee River in adjacent Florence County and where Hall’s husband taught philosophy were asked by Hall to write an outdoor drama, “Francis Marion, Swamp Fox.” They agreed and began work on this arduous yet exciting task. Location for the presentation would be held on several acres of land owned by the county that separated the museum from Hall’s residence, the historic McIntyre House.
Hall volunteered as director from 1980 to 1984 while employed as the city school system’s Learning Disabilities Clinician. However, the museum had become such a vital educational facility Hall left the classroom to become the museum’s paid director. Her goal was to enlarge the museum’s educational outreach program and pursue permanent funding from the county and the school system.
In the Spring of 1986 Hall acquired from the Smithsonian and Francis Marion University (where her husband Ronald was a professor) the historic and original slave cabin located on the college campus which was originally the 19th Century Gregg Plantation. The university had offered it to the Smithsonian but the Smithsonian had one so this valuable artifact was given to the Marion County Museum. Hall arranged for free transportation from campus, 20 miles away. Its new life would be as an educational outbuilding for teaching colonial crafts, and storytelling and art classes.
The summer of 1986 Hall planned the 100th Anniversary of the Marion Academy Building with a Civil War re-enactment behind the museum. Canons boomed, art booths, food vendors, local music groups abounded. At High Noon the cornerstone, placed in the building during construction 100 years earlier, was chiseled out and opened to the excitement of hundreds of visitors as well as television and newspaper representatives. Hall peered inside to find – much to everyone’s disappointment – the remnants of tattered illegible papers and a few coins. Museum commissioners stood beside her ready to place inside the cornerstone a protective plastic covering that held a 1986 Silver Dollar, a $25 Government Bond, and the annual board minutes. This would be Hall’s last act as director. She returned to her first love, special education, and turned the museum over to a new director.