By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter
SIX MILE — Six Mile was incorporated as a town in December 1910, making 2010 its centennial anniversary.
Its quaintness is wrapped in a mere square mile, and the 2010 US Census reports a population of 585 residents; however, while Six Mile may be small when measured geographically or by population density, it certainly has an incredibly rich history.

Celebrating 100 Years of History and Heritage
In honor of this momentous occasion in Six Mile’s History, Mayor John Wade, Town Council members and the Centennial Committee have compiled a collection of approximately 250 historical artifacts, newspaper clippings and photographs into a visual history exhibit that will be placed permanently on the walls of Six Mile’s Community Center.
On December 11, Six Mile’s Visual History Exhibit will be unveiled, and people are invited to visit the Community Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Beginning December 13, the exhibit, which documents the Six Mile community before 1910 and continues through 2010, can be viewed by the public anytime during normal working hours.
On December 10, Six Mile is hosting an invitation-only banquet that will feature guest speaker Lindsay Graham.
Anyone who has never visited Six Mile has this incredibly special opportunity to do so. It is quintessential small town America: community residents know one another by name and there is not the hustle and bustle associated with larger cities. In the case of Six Mile, it is true that good things come in small packages.
How Six Mile Got Its Name: Folklore and The
Legend of Issaqueena
According to legend, the history of Six Mile can be traced back to the French and Indian War, which took place in late 18th century Colonial America. In the later part of the 1700s, the geographical area of Pickens County belonged to Native Americans from the Cherokee Nation. The Native Americans had developed an intricate network of trails and paths, the most heavily traveled of which was a route that connected Charles Town (modern-day Charleston) with Keowee.
Popular folklore attributes Six Mile’s name to the Indian maiden Issaqueena. James Francis and James Gowdy established an Indian trade based out of Ninety Six, located in present day Greenwood County. Assisted by Francis’ two sons, Alan and Henry, the business grew to become the largest of its kind operating outside of Charleston during the 1750s.
During his trips from Ninety Six to Keowee, Alan Francis fell in love with Issaqueena, the daughter of one of the tribal chiefs. The relationship between the colonists and the Native Americans began to deteriorate. After Issaqueena overheard news of a Cherokee plan to attack her beloved’s fort in Ninety Six, the maiden set out on horseback to warn Alan Francis about the impending assault on the people of Ninety Six. Issaqueena marked her journey by giving numerical names to the creeks and rivers she passed on her route from Keowee. This is why present day Pickens County is home to Mile Creek, Six Mile Creek, Twelve Mile River, Eighteen Mile Creek and so forth. Interestingly, the distance between Greenwood and Keowee is approximately 96 miles.
Thanks to Issaqueena’s warning, the people at Ninety Six were able to flee and survive the Cherokee attack. Alan and Issaqueena were married and had a child. Together, they built a house on stumps on a mountain and the area, located in Oconee County, is now known as Stumphouse Mountain. Because of her allegiance to her lover and the perceived betrayal of the Cherokee Tribe, Issaqueena became a targeted outlaw. Eventually a group of men from the tribe was sent to kill Issaqueena. She fled and in her attempt to escape, she leapt over a waterfall. Her pursuers, thinking her dead and being wary of evil spirits around waterfalls, departed. Issaqueena, however, had landed safely on a ledge just a few feet below. Issaqueena Falls was named in honor of the courageous maiden.
Each year, on the third Saturday in May, Six Mile pays homage to this fantastic legend with a celebratory Issaqueena Festival. Main Street is closed from Liberty Highway to Six Mile Baptist Church. The annual festival combines free entertainment, arts, crafts and other assorted vendors and, of course, a variety of culinary delights. May 2011 will mark 24 years that the Issaqueena Festival has been hosted in Six Mile.

The Early Settlers:
Agriculture and Industry
Around the early 1800s, the earliest white settlers — a mixture of Scotch-Irish, Dutch-German and English pioneers — migrated to Six Mile because of its location along the Keowee Trade Route famous for prosperity. Proficient farmers, the European settlers are credited with the vital role agriculture played in Six Mile’s economic development from the 1800s to World War II. Agriculture was paramount to South Carolina’s economic, social and political development.
The Happy Berry Farm, founded in 1979, continues to thrive in Six Mile and serves as a reminder of the agricultural history upon which the town was founded. Wooded areas surrounding the farm were opulent cotton fields until the early 1900s when soil erosion and the boll weevil forced farmers to abandon them. For many years, Six Mile was a tightly knit farming community. The legacy of “integrity, industry, and independence” characterized by settling business deals with handshakes and helping neighbors in need is still evident today.
The community’s first post office was established in 1878. The community was incorporated in 1910, and a few establishments including saw mills, blacksmith, welding and barber shops, furniture stores, groceries, service stations and a mortuary began to spring up over the next few decades. Six Mile remained chiefly a farming community until World War II, when many men went overseas to fight and still others moved to bigger cities to obtain jobs. After the war, it became unprofitable to grow cotton, and textile mills began to spring up around the area.
The 1950s brought Six Mile street lights throughout the community, and in 1968, Mayor Kay Baumgarner operated the first telephone exchange.
Over the years, Six Mile has lost some residents to jobs in other counties. Employment opportunities usually require traveling out of town, and the number of businesses diminished once automobiles became widely available. Since then, Six Mile has become a community with strong ties to larger cities where townspeople find more jobs, goods, and services. Today, many residents earn a living working for Clemson University or Duke Power.

Educational Advancement
Founded on July 25, 1836, Six Mile Baptist Church remains one of the oldest existing entities in the town of Six Mile, predating other businesses or establishments by several years. As early as 1876, there was a desire among the member churches of the Twelve Mile Baptist Association to build a Christian high school to educate the local boys and girls. At the time, there were several smaller schools dispersed throughout the countryside where attendance was often influenced by the weather, swollen streams, deep muddy roads, trails and lengthy walking distances.
In 1910, the Twelve Mile Baptist Association, along with help from the Home Mission Board, began what would one day become part of the history of Six Mile Elementary. Six Mile Baptist Academy, which opened on the first Monday of October 1910, included a boy’s and girl’s dormitory. By 1920, there were 74 boarders and 130 local students.
In 1919, a tragic fire — the result of a faulty wiring system — destroyed the administrative building and classrooms.  The building was reconstructed, but soon after the girls’ dormitory was destroyed by fire from an overheated wood-burning stove.  It, too, was rebuilt. Burdened with debt, the Six Mile Baptist Academy was closed in 1927. By 1928, the public school system had become strong enough to provide a school for the Six Mile Community. It purchased the administration building and classrooms from the academy to be used as a high school. A new elementary school was built nearby.  
Six Mile Elementary continues to be at the forefront of educational advancement. Under the leadership of Principal Clif Alexander, the 2010-2011 academic year at Six Mile Elementary marks the second year of single gender classrooms being implemented in second, third and this year fourth grade levels at the school. There is a great deal of scientific evidence that advocates single gender classrooms, because boys and girls learn differently and have varied responses to teaching methodology. As a community, Six Mile values education, as demonstrated by the implementation of “outside-the-box” state-of-the-art programs.

Dr. Peek and Six Mile
Baptist Hospital
The fire in 1919 may have destroyed the girls’ dormitory at Six Mile’s Baptist Academy, but the reconstructed building managed to find other uses over the years. Dr. David E. Peek established the first hospital in Pickens County in the town of Six Mile. Heralding from North Carolina, Dr. Peek and his wife moved to Six Mile, where they established the 15-bed hospital in 1925. When he outgrew the 15-bed facility, Dr. Peek purchased the girls’ dormitory that once belonged to Six Mile Baptist Academy. His $1,900 investment turned the building into a 40-bed hospital. Today, Dr. Peek’s hospital is home to Six Mile Retirement Center.
Dr. Peek had a lifelong dream to build a larger hospital on top of Six Mile Mountain, so patients and medical staff would have a bird’s eye view of the town below. Shortly after the completion of a building that would be a nurse’s quarters, Dr. Peek, only in his early 50s, died of a heart attack in 1942. When Dr. Peek died, so did his dream of a hospital on top of Six Mile Mountain.

Other Interesting
Historical Tidbits
• At one time, Pickens County was home to more Congressional Medal of Honor winners than any county in the nation (there were only 27 in the whole country). Three of these four men were from Six Mile.
• On the night of March 13, 1929, a devastating tornado roared through Six Mile, killing nine people — five elementary-aged children, one high school-aged child and three adults. Other students, teachers and parents were severely injured during this disaster. Those killed in the storm are buried in two large graves at Six Mile Baptist Church.
This was the greatest blow ever to hit Six Mile or Pickens County. The tornado lifted Six Mile Elementary and moved it about six feet off of its foundation. According to reports, 30 minutes after the storm hit, hundreds of citizens rushed to the stricken community and offered any aid they could give. This continued for days despite heavy rain and nearly impossible roads.
• In the 1960s, Duke Power began construction of a power-generating complex that would be the largest of its kind in the world. It is located within a few miles of Six Mile. Folks expected that the presence of this mammoth complex would turn Six Mile into an urban metropolis. Plans to develop a “dream city” for a population of 100,000 people, on the outskirts of Six Mile, never came to fruition. Six Mile has remained much as it always was. Although there have been several waves of new residents over the years, the town is still largely populated by descendents of the original settlers.
• In 2010, Six Mile still does not have a police department. The Pickens County Sheriff’s office patrols the town regularly. Even without the constant presence of law enforcement, the town has little problem with crime. The Six Mile Fire Department is currently comprised of 25 volunteers, led by Fire Chief Ronnie Duncan. The department has two brush trucks, two pumper trucks, a tanker, and a blazer all housed in the six-bay fire station located beside Town Hall.

CENTRAL — D.W. Daniel High basketball coach Terrance Anthony “Tony” Christie was arrested Monday, charged with second degree assault and battery against a female student during a school day.
According to arrest warrants from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office, officers believe Christie offered or attempted to injure a 16-year-old student by non-consensual touching of her buttocks on Oct. 25.
According to Assistant Sheriff Tim Morgan, Christie turned himself in to authorities and was arrested Monday before being released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
The victim, a DHS student and former teaching assistant of Christie, according to incident reports, said the 33-year-old coach allegedly touched her buttocks and tried to touch her breast. The report also alleges that Christie told the girl to touch his penis.
According to the report, school officials had access to text messages between the victim and another student detailing the allegations.
In the report, the victim’s mother said that her daughter “worshipped” Christie, and he was “all her daughter talked about when she came home.” A week before the alleged incident however, the girl stopped talking about the coach to her mother and “she did not want to go to school (on the day of the alleged incident)” the report said.
When questioned by deputies about the incident, Christie denied touching the girl.
Efforts to reach school district officials Tuesday afternoon were unsuccessful, but district communications director Julie Thompson released a statement two weeks ago after Christie was initially placed on administrative leave prior to the Daniel basketball team’s first game.
“As is the district’s general practice, when appropriate, employees are placed on administrative leave,” the statement read. “This typically occurs when allegations or concerns have been brought to the administration’s attention. Presently, an employee is on administrative leave while an inquiry is being conducted. While the inquiry is underway, additional public comment is not appropriate.”
Since the season began, junior varsity coach Billy Gibson has been in charge of the Daniel boys’ team. Christie, a former standout for the Clemson Tigers from 1995-1999, was hired over the summer as Daniel head coach after former coach Jeff Maness left to coach at his alma mater, Berea.
Morgan explained the extended timeframe of the investigation to the Courier Tuesday evening.
“This is not an unusual amount of time between this reported case and the signing of a warrant,” he said. “We want to be as accurate and as thorough as possible in our investigation before filing charges against anyone. These type things affect a lot of lives, so it’s extremely important not to get in a rush, but to get it as right as we can and to get as many accurate facts as we can to proceed on to court.”

By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter
EASLEY — The National Weather Service confirmed last week that a tornado was, in fact, responsible for the structural damage and downed power lines and trees throughout the downtown Easley area.
Officials say the twister touched down between approximately 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 30.
According to the weather service, the tornado touched down near Old Market Square in downtown and moved northeast as far as the intersection of Jameson Road and Lenhardt Road.
Easley City Administrator Fox Simons said that in spite of the damage done to homes and businesses, the Easley community was quite lucky.
“There were church basketball games going on and kids at The Spotlight Dance Studio downtown,” Simons said. “Thankfully no one was injured in the storm.”
According to the Fujita Scale, used to rate the intensity of a tornado based on the structural damage left behind, Tuesday’s tornado measured at F1, or “moderate tornado” with winds ranging from 73-112 mph, Simons said.
Main Street, specifically the stretch between Pendleton Street and South 1st, was the hardest hit area in the storm.
Businesses in the area experienced flooding and major damage to brick facades.
The building that formerly housed Vikalin’s Coffee Shop and neighboring Uncle Sam’s Antiques, located across the railroad tracks, also suffered significant injury.
Sections of Main Street were closed to traffic while crews work on clean-up efforts.
A shelter was set up by the American Red Cross at the First Baptist Church of Easley at 300 E. First Street, but the downtown area was back to normal after a couple days’ clean-up.

By Nicole Daughhetee
Staff Reporter
EASLEY — Brian James carries with him the recollections of a tornado that hit Easley in 1974.
Although he was only a toddler, he vividly remembers the grey sky and swirling funnel of blackness that touched down near his family home on Lenhardt Road. James has been fearful of tornados ever since and with good reason: Each year tornadoes kill about 60 people in the U.S., but they injure about 20 times as many.
South Carolina averages approximately 12 tornados per year. The National Weather Service reports that the tornado that touched down last Tuesday, November 30, had 105 mph winds, making it an EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
Along with his mother and fiancée, Amber Hughes, James was ready to settle in and watch a movie while rain steadily poured down outside that Tuesday night. The three of them have been staying in his mother’s single-wide trailer because James and Hughes have been renovating and making improvements to their trailer. Both trailers, along with his childhood house, are located on the family property on Lenhardt Road.
After seeing the tornado warnings on the local news, James was on high alert and checked the weather doppler on the news one last time before settling in to watch the movie.
Minutes after beginning the movie, James said he heard a loud clap of thunder and saw lightning streak through the sky.
“I kept listening for train-like sounds,” said James, “but I never heard anything like that.”
James did, however, notice that the sound of the rain had changed and was beating harder on the trailer’s metal roof. Seconds later, Hughes recalls, the trailer was being pushed back by an invisible force, and outside there were sounds of snapping wood.
Once their home started to shift under their feet, James made sure his mother and fiancée were secured under a mattress.
“Then the phone rang, and it was my neighbor. He told me that he couldn’t see my trailer,” said James. “I looked out the window, but all I could see was blackness.”
Certain that the storm had passed, James and Hughes went outside and noticed that their home was, in fact, gone. There was not much the couple could do in the darkness of that night.
Friends and neighbors, who called to make sure that no one had gotten hurt, offered the family a place to stay for the night. James and Hughes decided to wait for daylight to assess the extent of the damage. The next morning the couple came home to a devastating reality.
Standing alone in the middle of the family property are the cinderblock anchors upon which the home of Brian James and Amber Hughes once sat.
Lying about 30-40 yards behind those anchors is a violently mangled wreckage of metal and wood — broken pieces of chairs and other pieces of furniture are scattered all over the property.
“Everything that I have worked for over the last 37 years was destroyed in a matter of minutes,” said James.
“God was with us,” said Hughes. “It amazes me that none of us were hurt. The windows didn’t even break in the home where we were staying.”
Also amazing is the couple’s dog Bear. In a chain-link kennel, mere steps from the trailer’s cinderblock foundation, Bear weathered the storm unscathed.
“He’s really the only one who saw what happened,” James said of Bear. “He’s the one with the real story.”
Like so many others, James and Hughes have suffered financially in the wake of the nation’s troubled economy. A mason and construction worker by trade, James has struggled along with a dwindling job market, and Hughes takes care of her nieces and nephews during the day.
“We couldn’t maintain insurance on our trailer because we had to make a choice between food and insurance payments,” said James. “I would like to be able to cut up some of the trees that were uprooted and sell the firewood to earn some money, but I don’t even have my chainsaw anymore. I had to sell it to pay bills.”
Laurel Maco, a Preparedness and Response Specialist with the American Red Cross of Pickens County, responded immediately, offering the family shelter, food and some emergency funding. Various friends and neighbors have volunteered to lend a hand, however, surveying the twisted wreckage that is left of their home, James, shaking his head, said, “I don’t even know here to start.”
James and Hughes have essentially lost everything with the exception of some clothing they kept at his mother’s house, where they have been living. Their home and all of their possessions — many of which, because of the sentimental value, are irreplaceable, have been lost.
In spite of all that they’ve endured, James and Hughes remain optimistic.
“We should have been in that trailer and we weren’t,” James said. “We are thankful that no one was killed and for what we still have — each other.”
Anyone interested in helping Brian James and Amber Hughes can contact Laurel Maco at the American Red Cross at (864) 878-0131.

COUNTY — An accident on U.S. 123 near Cartee Road claimed the life of a Central girl on Saturday.
Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said that 14-year-old Tabatha Renee Kelley, of 946 Norris Hwy. in Central, was killed in the accident, which occurred around 2:50 p.m.
Tabatha Kelley, a ninth-grade Liberty High School student, was a passenger in the vehicle. The coroner said the vehicle, a 1997 Chevy SUV, went down an embankment and hit a tree.
According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the vehicle was traveling north on U.S. 123 when the driver of the vehicle lost control, overcorrected and travelled down the embankment.
The Pickens County Coroner’s office said Kelley was restrained in a seat belt during the accident, and the cause of death was blunt-force trauma.
Three others were in the vehicle during the accident. The driver and two passengers were transported to Greenville Memorial for treatment. All were wearing seat belts.
Following the tragedy, friends of the victim flooded a Facebook memorial page to post condolences in memory of Kelley. As of Tuesday, nearly 900 people had joined the page and hundreds of posts had been made in Kelley’s honor.
The highway patrol continues to investigate the accident.

COUNTY — The Christmas parade season is now in full swing, as Easley, Six Mile, Central, Clemson and Liberty have all held their annual parades.
This Saturday, the final three parades of the year will take place.
First up will be the seventh annual Norris Christmas parade, set for 11 a.m. Saturday. For more details, contact Ann at (864) 639-2033.
The annual Dacusville Christmas parade will follow, with the first vehicles heading out at 2 p.m. This year’s theme is “Christmases of the past, present and future.” For more information and to obtain entry forms, contact Sharon Holliday at (864) 419-6757 or Pat Porter at (864) 444-5794.
The final parade of the season will be held at Pickens Saturday night starting at 5:30 p.m. The parade’s theme is “Christmas Characters” Entry forms can be obtained at Pickens City Hall or by going to www.discoverpickens.com.
For photos of last weekend’s parades, please turn to page 8A.

By Rocky Nimmons
Publisher
PICKENS — The city of Pickens is moving closer to getting a chance at either leasing or buying Pickens High School’s Bruce Field.
During Monday night’s monthly council meeting, council was told that the city was in discussion with Pickens County School Board Superintendent Henry Hunt about both possibilities.
“We would love to have it,” Pickens Recreation Director Cheri Anthony told council.
Mayor David Owens told council it would be an asset to the city to keep the facility. He added that the city still needed to study the cost involved in maintaining the stadium and wait to hear further from the school district on their thought on selling or leasing the property.
In other business, council voted to pass the final reading of ordinances that will raise water rates in light of the upcoming renovation planned for the city’s aging water plant. The increase will raise rates to city residents $3 per month for water and $2 per month for sewer service. Those outside the city will see a $5 water rate increase.
Owens told council letters have been sent to inform all customers of the added cost. The increase is expected to be seen on city water bills during the February billing cycle.
Council also voted to pass the final reading on ordinances that will amend the city budget and procurement codes. The amendments would make the budget more closely mirror that of neighboring city municipalities and that of the state model. The biggest change would be the need for sealed bids for expenses from $5,000-$10,000.
Council then voted to pass the first reading of an ordinance to rezone a parcel of land on 316 South Lewis Street to RM-16.
Councilman Carlton Holley informed council that the Pickens Senior Center on Hagood Street would be available for Christmas parties and other events at a rate of $15 per hour. He said the center offers a full kitchen and plenty of parking for those looking for a nice place for the holidays.
Holley said that availability could be obtained by calling the center or city hall.