RIDGEWAY – If you have old arrowheads that you’re curious about – what they were used for and what tribe they’re from – bring them to the Isaac C. Thomas Historical Museum in Ridgeway, on Saturday, and you will likely learn their history and origin.
That’s when the museum and the South Carolina Humanities, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, are hosting a program for the museum’s Heritage Series that highlights Native American History and Culture in Fairfield County.
The museum currently features a collection of arrowheads from the Ridgeway and Lake Wateree area that are on loan from the McGuirt family, as well as pottery and other Indian artifacts. A Pratt 88 painting depicting a scene from 1539 when Hernando de Soto visits the Indians will also be on display.
Attendees will have the opportunity to browse the Native American traveling artifacts exhibit on display as well.
Also included in the program will be Marcia and Vincent Campbell, descendants from the Cherokee and Monacan Indigenous American tribes via a maternal grandmother.
Marcia Campbell, who leads the intertribal Keepers of the Word Turtle Drum group, will be performing with her drum as well as performing a traditional dance. The drummers are an all-female group associated with Ojibwa, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Catawba, and Wassamassaw tribal heritage. They are known for sharing Native American traditions with audiences and offering outreach ministries. They offer educational programs, host ceremonial services, and participate in various cultural events.
The drummers are part of a broader effort to alleviate hunger and provide essential, nonperishable food to older Native American adults in need, many of whom live below the poverty line.
Speakers for the event include Joshua Shumak, Native American Affairs Program Coordinator for the State of South Carolina and Pelham Lyles, Director of the Fairfield County Historical Museum.
Shumak received the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, for his work as the Native American Affairs Program Coordinator for the State of South Carolina. He is a nationally recognized policy consultant and educator for Native American issues. He is also vice chief and publicist for the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians.
Pelham Lyles grew up in Winnsboro. Her fifth great grandfather Ephraim Liles, an early settler on the Broad River in western Fairfield County, was scalped in 1761 after the end of the Cherokee Wars.
Lyles holds a Bachelor’s degree in studio art and art history from Salem College, studied sculpture and anatomy drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, Italy, and also holds a Master’s degree in Art Education from the University of South Carolina.
After a 15-year teaching career and years of working as an artist and sculpture, Lyles became the director of the Fairfield County Museum in 1998, where she initiated and completed several historic preservation projects, including the World’s Smallest Police Station in Ridgeway, grants for preservation of Old Town Hall in Ridgeway, the Vaughn-Blair Stagecoach House in Simpson, and organized Revolutionary War surveys of local battle sites in Fairfield County.
These presenters will offer information and perspectives on both the state and local level Native American issues.
The program will be presented on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 2 p.m. The museum is located at 130 E. Church Street, in Ridgeway. There is no admission charge, and the museum is open to the public.
