HERITAGE LIBRARY

TUESDAYS AT 10:30AM

Visit the gravesites of four Revolutionary War heroes and find out about the bloody skirmish that was fought just steps away.

Site on the SC Liberty Trail.

Corner of Hwy. 278 & Mathews Dr.

$10/ADULT • $8/CHILD

Registration required. HeritageLib.org/Tours of our nation in the late 1800s against immigrant Catholics as well as against newly freed slaves, whose educational opportunities were starting to be improved by various missionary organizations. The Blaine Amendment was originally proposed to the U.S. Constitution but failed to pass Congress. Nonetheless, 38 states, including South Carolina, passed their own similar amendments called “Baby Blaine Amendments.”

The amendment’s namesake, James G. Blaine, was a former Speaker of the House in Congress who strongly opposed Catholicism in the United States. He ran for president in 1884 using his “anti-Catholic” messaging but was defeated in a tight election by Grover Cleveland.

The South Carolina version reads: “No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct

HISTORIC FT. MITCHEL TOUR

benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”

We voted 83-27 to approve the resolution to repeal this amendment. The measure now heads to the Senate, where it needs a two-thirds majority. Then, it would finally be decided upon by voters in the November 2024 general election.

I firmly believe this new bill will allow parents to make the better choices for their children’s education. Attorneys in the General Assembly also believe it will help protect many state-funded programs such as S.C. Tuition Grant Programs, LIFE Scholarships, Palmetto Fellows, Full Day 4-K programs and Early Reading programs which could be vulnerable to legal challenge under the Blaine Amendment.

Jeff Bradley is the representative for District 123 in the State House of Representatives.

The Heritage Library provides...

Ancestry Research

Build your family tree with us.

• Experienced volunteer genealogists to assist in your research

• On-line library edition databases, census data, microfilm, vertical files, state, international, genealogy and family history book collections

The Library is an affiliate library of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and named one of the 10 best places to research your family roots by USA Today.

Hilton Head Island Historical Archives

THURSDAYS AT 10:30AM

Fort Mitchel contains the remains of a coastal defense battery erected in 1862 to protect the Port Royal Sound by way of Skull Creek from incursions by Confederate gunboats.

65 Skull Creek Dr., Hilton Head Plantation

$10/ADULT • $8/CHILD

Registration required. HeritageLib.org/Tours

The Heritage Library is the history repository for Hilton Head Island.

• Local, regional and state history collections

• African-American and Native American collections

• Vertical Files

• Local Authors

We document, preserve and present our local history.