Goose Creek's Backyard History Series Announced

Goose Creek has been fortunate enough to have a historian on hand for more than three decades with Mayor Michael Heitzler. He'll be bringing his Backyard History series back to City Hall this fall with several hot topics.

The free two-hour programs will be held at 6 p.m each Thursday at City Hall beginning Oct. 6. Even though the city is only celebrating its 50th birthday this year, the Goose Creek area has a history that dates back centuries. "We have a glorious story here to tell," Heitzler told Patch.

The schedule this year includes:

• Oct. 6: First Families Survive the Goose Creek Frontier
• Oct. 13: Murder at the Hands of the “Goose Creek Men”
• Oct. 20: Goose Creek Slavers, Planters and Merchants
• Oct. 27: Goose Creek at the Cross Roads of the American Revolution
• Nov. 3: White Men in Gray and Black Men in Blue in Goose Creek
• Nov. 10: The KKK and the Rise of the New South in Old Goose Creek
• Nov. 17: Bar Fights and the Ascension of the Modern City of Goose Creek

For the first night, Heitzler will be introducing audience members to the early settlers from Fluery family and Native American Wateree Jack.

"As we learn more about our community our story becomes more compelling," Heitzler said in a letter to residents announcing the series. "The lectures this year promise to be the best."

He also offered a preview for the first night:

The Fleury Sieur de la Plaine family followed the unseemly cow path to the fording point where they eased into the chilled Goose Creek water. The women furtively lifted their dresses while the men raised their muskets high and urged the reluctant packhorses onto the solid clay bottom.

On the opposite side the sojourners met their newest neighbors, and purchased cows from Benjamin Schenckingh. As soon as the cowboys roped the beeves together in single file, the little troupe, with beasts in tow, vanished with the morning chill in pursuit of the last mile to their frontier home.