Rural heritage meets the 21st century as Clemson marks 100 years in the Pee Dee

Published: April 23, 2012

Children learn how to cast a line at the 2012 Rural Heritage Celebration. image by: Peter Hull

FLORENCE — On the day hundreds of people celebrated South Carolina’s rural heritage, Clemson University marked 100 years of service in the Pee Dee.

During a ceremony Saturday at the 2012 Rural Heritage Celebration, officials from Clemson’s Pee Dee Research and Education Center said the center’s role today is as important today as it was a century ago.

The land grant university system in the U.S. combines research and education to speed innovation to market, said Bruce Fortnum, the center’s director. While crops and research have changed during the Pee Dee center’s 100 years, its primary function remains economic development.

The center has become the recognized name for certain fields of research, particularly tobacco, cotton and turfgrass, and regularly welcomes visiting scientists from around the world, Fortnum said. More recently, biofuels have become an important research area.

The Pee Dee research center often is referred to as one of the jewels in Clemson’s crown, Fortnum said. It grew from a sleepy agricultural experiment station into a modern, world-renowned research facility, he said.

“The center’s soils are diverse enough that Clemson scientists can cover just about all the crops of the Pee Dee, and their research benefits the economy of the entire state,” Fortnum said.

Center officials will mark the centennial by burying a time capsule containing photographs, cameras, agricultural booklets and other items. The capsule will be unearthed in 2061.

Fortnum was joined on the anniversary by former center directors Ben Kittrell, now retired, and George Askew.

Askew, now associate vice president for public service and agriculture at Clemson, said the Pee Dee center is one of the finest sites in South Carolina for agriculture research.

“This center is as relevant now as the day it was founded,” he said.

The annual outdoor Rural Heritage event featured the best of South Carolina’s homegrown foods and exhibits and demonstrations on how the state’s rural heritage was shaped.

Interactive learning exhibits located along the center’s 1.5-mile Outdoor Education Trail described the importance of natural resources found in the ecosystems of the region. Visitors were treated to falconry and raptor demonstrations, a kayak fishing class by professional bass fisherman Hal Lambert and an antique tractor show.

END

Event sponsors
Wells Fargo, Pee Dee Electric Cooperative, Florence Convention and Visitors Bureau, Carolina Eastern Pamplico Inc., McLean Marechal Insurance, Florence Amateur Radio Club, Palmetto Rural Fire Department, Choices Charter School, Pepsi Cola of Florence Inc., S.C. Department of Natural Resources; Naturally Outdoors, USDA-NRCS, Pee Dee Land Trust, Francis Marion University