Miss Queen and the Judge

Frances Hagood was the youngest of nine. She was petite, pretty, and precocious. Her father doted on her and called her “Queen” and she was soon known as “Miss Queen” in Pickens County. Her father did not want her to marry and she cared for him until he died in 1904 – and that same year she married Judge Thomas Joab Mauldin.

They built an addition to the house, originally built in 1856, added fluted Ionic columns, and expanded the porch to include a porte cochere —and it became known as the Haygood-Mauldin House. The Judge built an adjacent law office to match the classic revival style of the house. Mauldin served as the 13th Judicial Circuit Judge of South Carolina from 1914 until his death in 1931.

The Judge ruled in the courtroom but Miss Queen ruled Pickens County.

When Miss Queen became State Regent for the Daughters of the American Revolution, she would take the Pickens train to Easley to connect with the train that would take her to Washington, DC, to attend conferences. As a member of the Red Cross, Miss Queen rolled bandages for WWII, she organized the Pickens chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, visited schools to teach children the importance of Memorial Day – and then there were the picnics on the lawn, the teas, and entertaining. If it was “happening” in Pickens County, Miss Queen was doing it.

Today, the Hagood-Mauldin house is owned by the Pickens County Historical Society and sits on a tree-shaded street in downtown Pickens. Filled with antiques and memories, it is open the third Saturday of the month, from April to October. The tours are free, but donations are appreciated.

Martha Seaborn-Bolding has been a docent at the Hagood-Mauldin house since 2010. She enjoys telling visitors about the various antiques, like the sideboards in the dining room, made in Pickens County, and notes that each drawer has a lock. She describes past traditions. When the Judge died in 1931, Miss Queen dressed him in his finest suit, and propped him up in the chaise lounge in the parlor. When people arrived for the visitation, she escorted them into the parlor, took the Judge’s hand and introduced each one, saying “Judge, Mr. Bowen and his wife, Sarah, are here to pay their respects.”

Marianne Holland and Carolyn Yarborough were in the 5th grade at Cedar Rock Elementary School when Miss Olive Boggs Newton , their teacher, announced that Miss Queen would be coming to their class to observe Memorial Day. Miss Queen had the children gather flowers to bring to school and they all marched to the cemetery to place the flowers on the graves of veterans. Yarborough remembers that Miss Queen was dressed in silky-like material, and wore her hair in a French twist. “She had a big impact on my life,” she said.

Most old houses have mysterious sounds that go “bump in the night” and the Hagood-Mauldin House is no exception. Ken Nabors, president of the Pickens County Historical Society, and general handyman, has noticed some strange occurrences involving the candlesticks on the mantle. Sometimes the brush and mirror in Miss Queen’s bedroom will be moved and once he found it on the floor. While Nabors has had no specific encounters he said “I wouldn’t want to spend the night in that house.”

Seaborn-Bolding admits to a strange feeling of heaviness in the air sometimes, and she occasionally feels a chill. “It makes me feel like I am invading Miss Queen’s privacy,” she said.