11 minute read
SC STORIES
Sharing the story
As a child growing up in the Lowcountry, Dawn Dawson-House enjoyed learning about the exploits of African American history makers, including South Carolina civil rights leader Rev. Joseph DeLaine and Robert Smalls, a former slave who represented the Palmetto State for five terms in Congress. Those lessons were learned at the family dinner table as well as at church and other social gatherings around her hometown.
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“The community of Beaufort won’t let you forget that African American history is important,” Dawson-House says. “Our teachers, our families, our festivals and events, you were surrounded by African American heritage. I found it interesting because it spoke to us.”
Since January, Dawson-House has been the executive director of the WeGOJA Foundation, a nonprofit working to document and promote African American heritage sites throughout South Carolina. Pronounced we-GO-juh, the name is an acronym of principled words from the Yoruba and Wolof languages spoken by the people of western Africa who were brought to the Carolina colony and enslaved.
That work is done through historical markers, listings on the National Register of Historic Places and entries in The Green Book of South Carolina online travel guide (greenbookofsc.com). Teacher guides are provided for instructors, and a Family Reunion Toolkit was launched in April to encourage the large number of African American families who gather in South Carolina to incorporate historic site visits in their weekends.
Dawson-House, who spent nearly 25 years in public relations for the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, believes there’s no time like the present to embrace the stories of our past.
“The more we can share the story, the more we can convert interest into advocacy, and advocacy into activism, we can start telling our true story better,” she says. “It’s not just for tourism, but for the public’s full understanding and appreciation of
history.” —MICHAEL BANKS PHOTO BY MILTON MORRIS
Dawn Dawson-House
CLAIM TO FAME: She recently accepted the job of executive director at the WeGOJA Foundation (wegoja.org) after a long career in communications with the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. ALMA MATER: Graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1985 with a degree in journalism. “I thought I was going to be the next Oprah Winfrey, but got out into the real world and realized I couldn’t pay rent.” FAVORITE STATE PARK: Landsford Canal State Park in Catawba with its “gently tumbling” whitewater and fields of rocky shoals spider lilies. “It’s a beautiful sight.” TIME TO UNWIND: Dawson-House enjoys Mexican food and spending time with friends and family. She and her husband of 26 years, William House, who works with the S.C. Attorney General’s office, are planning a train trip through the Canadian countryside.
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BY HASTINGS HENSEL PHOTOS BY MIC SMITH
CRUCIAL TO OUR ECOSYSTEM Snakes like this nonvenomous rat snake are found throughout South Carolina and help keep rodents under control.
WITH A CORN SNAKE CURLED AROUND HIS LEFT HAND AND
a copperhead wrapped around a snake hook in his right, unfazed zookeeper Blake Milburn continues his educational snake talk at the Edisto Serpentarium by spitting out wisdom about venom.
Many people believe the best way to tell a nonvenomous snake from a venomous one is to stare into the snake’s eyes. It’s not a safe or a foolproof method, but as a general rule of thumb, nonvenomous snakes have round pupils and venomous snakes have vertical pupils “like a cat’s eyes,” he says. “But I don’t suggest you get that close to a snake if you don’t know what it is.”
More than 50 snake-obsessed and wide-eyed kids and their parents burst into laughter. Milburn’s talk seems to confirm a universal truth—not much else in the world, with the possible exception of animation and sugar, can quite capture a kid’s attention like a snake.
When it’s question and answer time, the kids, brimming with inquisitiveness, nod excitedly as their hands shoot up in the air. The first one called on points out a caterpillar inching its way along a railing where the harmless corn snake now rests.
“My money’s on the snake,” Milburn jokes, and the crowd erupts into even more laughter.
In fact, it’s that exact blend of education and good humor that’s at the cold-blooded heart of the Edisto Serpentarium, the only facility in South Carolina dedicated exclusively to reptiles—the snakes, lizards, alligators and crocodiles that fill us with equal parts awe and fear, but which it turns out are essential to our livelihoods.
“Snakes are very important to our ecosystem,” says the Serpentarium’s head zookeeper, Jessica Clamp McNeill. “They
eat lots of things that need their population to be regulated— mice and rats, in particular. Snakes eat those things that can cause humans to get sick.”
She cites the fact that cottonmouth venom was once used to clot blood for hemophiliacs, and that all antivenom used to treat snake bites comes from the venom itself. She relates these snake-facts while standing in the middle of the Tropical Atrium—a perpetually toasty room that houses local venomous snakes (copperheads, cottonmouths, canebrake rattlesnakes, etc.), local nonvenomous snakes (corn snakes, black racers, etc.) and exotic species not found in South Carolina (Mojave rattlesnakes, ball pythons, reticulated pythons, etc.). It’s the first uu
EWWWWWW! Elsie Newton, 11, from Isle of Palms, gamely displays a ball python.
—JESSICA CLAMP MCNEILL, HEAD ZOOKEEPER (LEFT)
CHARMING THE CROWD Zookeeper Blake Milburn enthralls visitors during an educational talk at the Edisto Serpentarium.
DISTANT COUSINS Snakes share the Edisto Serpentarium with other reptiles such as alligators and this bearded dragon.
stop visitors can peruse after paying admission in the gift shop, and for most kids, it’s like stepping into a dream world.
“What’s that?” asks one kid, pointing to a huge snake lounging in a human-made river inside the atrium.
“That’s a green anaconda,” McNeill answers.
“Everything you see in there is real.”
“Yep,” she laughs. Then sensing another education opportunity, she strikes: “The green anaconda is a species of boa. But we can’t put pythons in here because they don’t live in the same part of the world, so they don’t get along. You have to keep them separate. They call it the rule of old world versus new world.” Indeed, if there’s one thing Jessica Clamp McNeill knows, it’s snakes. McNeill’s father and uncle—Teddy and Heyward Clamp—opened the Edisto Serpentarium to the public in 1999 when they moved to Edisto from Salley to start a construction business and brought their love of the serpentine with them. “Heyward was the snake guy, and Teddy was an alligator guy, and they wanted to educate people on what they loved,” she says of how they started the “family business” and built the entire facility themselves. “It was just their passion and their thing. There’s no way to recreate the knowledge unless they share it, and I just happened to be the kid lucky enough to receive it.” Each day, the facility hosts special event programming, such as venom extractions, snake talks and alligator feedings. In fact, as she prepares for another demonstration in which kids have the GET THERE ultimate chance to hold an alligator for The Edisto Serpentarium is located at photographs, she says, “The more people 1374 Highway 174 in Edisto Island. we can expand to and come see us and HOURS: Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. our cool snakes, the better we are for Tuesday—Saturday. Spring and fall season the future. Because we’re also trying to hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays, make sure people know why all these Fridays and Saturdays. creatures are here and why they need to ADMISSION: $16.50 for adults and $12.50 stay here.”for children ages 4–12. Kids 3 and under are free. Over by the king cobra tank, she DETAILS: Visit edistoserpentarium.com or call (843) 869‑1171 for showtimes and more adds, “A lot of people are afraid of snakes and afraid of alligators, but to information. have an understanding of the cool stuff they’re around for? It’s awesome.”
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