The event will be held from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, June 18 in the gardens of the Hagood Mauldin House, according to organizer Marge Schaefer.
There is no charge for the show.
Artists selling and displaying their work include Fran Humphries, Dale Cochran, Tom Flowers, Jo Ann Taylor, Robin Giddings, Dot Kirk, Joan Miller, Michelle Barnett, Marge Schaefer, Sandra Thomas, Jo Johnson and Suzy Hart.
Music will be provided by Steve McGaha and the Young Appalachian Musicians, who will perform a free concert on the porch at 1 p.m.
Master Gardener Miriam Hendricks will give a class on creating “decorative objects for the garden” during the art show, Schaefer said.
Though the art show is free, for a $5 admission fee visitors can enjoy a tour of the Hagood-Mauldin House and a concert from pianist Elizabeth Davis, who will perform at 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Bottled water will be available for purchase during the day.
Water sales, the concert fee and donations will benefit the Pickens County Historical Society, which owns and maintains the historic Hagood-Mauldin House and Irma Morris Museum of Art.
Historical Society members are trying to raise money to fund much needed repairs to the house’s roof and porch, said Wayne Kelley, PCHS vice-president.
“When the Hagood-Mauldin House was redesigned in 1904, they added a Greek porch façade to it, with columns,” he said. “On top of the roof, it’s flat. All that water from that big house runs right onto that flat porch roof.”
Only three small drains serve the porch’s roof, Kelley said.
“The three drain downspouts cannot handle the volume of water,” Kelley said, adding that the spouts often clogged with leaves. “It’s always been a design problem.”
“I have been up there when the water has been standing on top of the porch knee-deep, which is weight beyond imagination,” Kelley said. “How the thing has not collapsed by now we do not know.”
Over time, the standing water on the porch roof has seeped into the roof and the ceiling of the porch, causing decay.
“Now the porch ceiling is giving way,” Kelley said, adding that many of the ceiling boards are only held together by paint. “This thing’s going to collapse at some point. It’s a miracle it hasn’t already.”
The porch’s roof needs to be redesigned and the decayed portion of the roof and ceiling needs to be replaced, as does the porch’s floor, Kelley said.
“The columns are sinking,” he said.
The society must find a company that is certified to work on historic homes.
Estimates indicate the work will cost just over $32,000, Kelley said.
“For construction, that’s not bad these days,” he said. “It’s a lot of money for us, because we don’t have it.”
Kelley estimates the work will take about three months once the money is raised.
The porch will also have to be painted once the repair work is done.
The South Carolina Heritage Corridor has awarded the society a $10,000 matching grant to help with the needed repairs.
The society is also applying for other grants, Kelley said.
“It’s hard to get grants to repair houses,” he said, adding that he’s been in touch with the National Trust for Historic Preservation on possible funding opportunities.
“We’re appealing now to the public to help us achieve this work,” he said.
Donations can be mailed to the Pickens County Historical Society, P.O. Box 775, Pickens, SC 29671.
Donations will also be accepted during the June 18 art show.
Attending to the house’s needs is essential, Kelley said.
“This house is very important to the Pickens County Historical Society, and to the people of Pickens and the people of this county,” he said. “It’s a rare jewel of our history. So we’ll do whatever it takes to get this project accomplished.”
The “Art in the Garden” show is sponsored by the Pickens County Historical Society, the Birchwood Center for the Arts and Folklife and the Pickens County Museum.
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