SCIWAY News, No. 5 - September 1997

In This Issue

Plan Your Vacation or Weekend on SCIWAY
New South Carolina Web Sites
Read Carolina English Teacher Online
Two More South Carolina Library Catalogs on Web
Water Tower Reports Keep Pouring In
More on Markers
Upcoming Festivals, Shows, Events
Mystery of the Month

Plan Your Vacation or Weekend on SCIWAY

South Carolina has such a rich variety of places to visit and so many interesting things to see and do that it's hard to know what your options are, much less choose among them. To help with the information part of this problem, we've added a new Recreation, Travel, Tourism section to SCIway (https://www.sciway.net/tourism/). It includes

40 online South Carolina visitors guides
150 links to information about state festivals, shows, concerts, arts, amusement and water parks, zoos, aquariums, planetariums, golf, tennis, professional sports teams, shopping, and restaurants
120 links for tours, cruises, gardens, plantations, historic sites, lighthouses, and museums
80 links related to outdoor places and activities such as parks, forests, refuges, preserves, hiking, camping, birding, cycling, rivers, waterfalls, rafting, lakes, canoeing, kayaking, boating, water-skiing, jet-skiing, parasailing, fishing, and hunting
180 links to state travel agencies, airlines, marinas, hotels, condominiums, bed and breakfast inns, vacation rental agencies, convention and visitors bureaus, and Chambers of Commerce

Of the 16 SCIway sections we've developed so far, this has definitely been the most difficult to get off the ground--primarily because of the quantity and variety of South Carolina recreation, travel, and tourism information available on the Internet. But we've learned a lot as we've worked, and we hope this new SCIway resource will make it easier for South Carolinians and travelers throughout the world to learn about our state's exceptional recreational opportunities and services.

As always, if you know of a useful online resource we've missed (and in this case we know we've missed hundreds), please send its address to SCIway.News@SCIway.net.

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New South Carolina Web Sites

Alice Drive Middle School - Sumter: http://adm.sumterschools.net/
Beaufort County: http://www.beaufort.com (remodeled)
Center for Network Resources and Training - South Carolina State University: http://www.cnrt.scsu.edu/
Charleston Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society: http://www.bestfriendofcharleston.org
Christian Homeschoolers Association of South Eastern South Carolina - CHASE South Carolina: http://www.chasesc.com - page no longer exists
Converse College Library: http://www.converse.edu/academics/mickel-library
Lake Murray Country: http://www.lakemurraycountry.com
Lee County History: http://sites.rootsweb.com/~sclee/leehis.html
McCormick County: http://www.mccormickcountysc.org/
News Media and Law Enforcement Directory - BellSouth: http://bellsouth.scenic.net/bellsouth/medialawguide/index.asp - page no longer exists
PASS Commission Report (on school standards) - August 1997: http://www.state.sc.us/db/news/report.htm - page no longer exists
South Carolina Military Bases: https://www.sciway.net/gov/mil_bases.html

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Read Carolina English Teacher Online

*** SCIWAY no longer has Carolina English Teacher online. If you are interested in specific articles, please contact us and we will try and help you.

The complete 1996-97 issue of Carolina English Teacher is now available on SCIway. This journal is published in printed form by the South Carolina Council of Teachers of English (SCCTE), the state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English. The first issue of Carolina English Teacher appeared in the spring of 1978. The 1996-97 issue is the fourth that has been published electronically on SCIway.

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Two More South Carolina Library Catalogs on Web

We've discovered two more South Carolina libraries that have Web catalogs--Furman University and NOAA's Coastal Services Center in Charleston. You can reach these catalogs through SCIWAY's Library section (https://www.sciway.net/lib/). New South Carolina Web catalog total: 14.

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Water Tower Reports Keep Pouring In

Thanks to several readers for letting us know about three more "unusual" South Carolina water towers:

Westminster (Oconee County) has a golf-ball-shaped water tower. We need only one more for a foursome!
Fort Mill (York County) has a water tower that looks like a baseball. This tower is located along I-77, two miles south of the North Carolina-South Carolina border. Appropriately, it's next to the stadium where the Charlotte Knights minor league baseball team plays.
Allendale and Walterboro (Colleton County) have rook-like "standpipes" similar to Belton's. Neither is currently used as a water tank, but for many years the lower portion of Walterboro's standpipe was used as a jail!

Here's hoping someone will soon create a Web site for the 10 unusual South Carolina water towers we've identified so far.

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More On Markers

First, I would like to apologize to astronaut and Navy Captain Frank Culbertson for twice calling him a colonel in last month's "Roadside Marker" story. I knew better--my head must have taken leave of my shoulders.

I would also like to thank the many readers who wrote to say that the South Carolina Department of Archives and History has published a "South Carolina Historical Marker Guide." This 235-page, glove-compartment- size book was printed in 1992 and includes the text of some 800 markers as well as maps, photos, and additional background information. You can buy this guide for $13.25, which includes shipping and handling. For ordering information, see https://ssl.sc.gov/Mall/Store/b7e76e4047434c308c53670ead743e23/MallCat/Books/Product/55b99378487443c4ada3eb576a5f21e1/ - no longer available.

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Upcoming Festivals, Shows, Events

For the latest information on upcoming South Carolina events, please see https://www.sciway.net/calendar.html.

Vivace! Fine Arts Festival - Myrtle Beach, Oct 17-26
Wooden Boat Exhibit - Georgetown, Oct 18
Wavefest - Charleston, Oct 19
Ghostbusting Tour - Georgetown, Oct 24-25
Ghostwalk - Summerville, Oct 25
WorldFest - Charleston, Nov 2-10

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Mystery of the Month

Many of South Carolina's less developed areas have an abundance of whitetail deer, and the highways that traverse these areas are spotted with occasional deer-crossing warning signs. These yellow and black diamonds picture a buck springing toward the roadway.

Late one night last spring, I was driving south on I-26 when my car's headlights struck one of these signs--and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature red-nosed deer. I blinked, took a couple of swigs of Coke (real Coke), and drove on. I knew I was sleepy.

I didn't think about Rudolf again . . . until he suddenly reappeared about two hours down the road! This time I stopped, walked back up the highway a few hundred feet, and looked the deer on the sign straight in his left eye. His nose was still red.

Since that night I've sighted at least a dozen red-nosed deer-crossing signs throughout the state--from as far north as Laurens County to as far east as Georgetown County and as far south as Dorchester County. Careful examination of these signs reveals that the red noses are not painted on (as I first presumed), but are instead clusters of seven to nine red dots. Each dot is about the size of a quarter, and they look like they all came from the same stash. Most of the clusters are round, but one is shaped like a football.

The burning question is, of course, who's decorating South Carolina's deer-crossing signs? Is this a low-budget state or federal highway beautification program that I've somehow missed hearing about? Or is it the stealthy work of a mysterious humor being who roves the state's highways in the still hours of early morning . . . armed with a stepladder and a pocketful of red dots? If you have a clue or have spotted a red-nosed deer in your neck of the woods, please write sherlock@sciway.net. Bored South Carolina drivers want to know.

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