The road to ninety-six

Study a map of South Carolina to find a city in the western part of that state called “Ninety-six.” I grew up in the state and heard the city got its name from being ninety-six miles from the state capital (Columbia). This was not true. Look online for a variety of explanations. One of them is that the topography of that area supported nine ravines that ran from East to West and six ravines from North to South. I think this explanation is also suspect.

There appears to be some elevation up to Ninety-Six, but there is no indication that the topography is high enough to support water flow in different directions, furthermore, I can find no indication that Ninety-Six has as many individual natural springs generating these streams. . Supposedly the name stuck to the early 1700s, for which a frontiersman would have named it. A trading post is mentioned, and it seems that whoever put the first trading post there might have given the name.

Search the web for “Cherokee Trail” to learn that the native Cherokee had a society that spanned several states in the southern US, which had towns, and these towns supported communication and trade through a variety of ways. walking trails. One such trail radiated south from the Cherokee town of Keowee in the South Carolina highlands. Guess what? Keowee is ninety-six miles to the northwest. The trail was heavily traveled by Cherokees who brought furs to trade for mostly metal tools and firearms.

Probably one or more of today’s state country roads between Ninety-Six and Keowee ran over the sidewalk. Part of State Highway 11 near Seneca, South Carolina is known to be built on top of another similar road leading out of Keowee. The Cherokees could not have imagined how forgotten their once prosperous nation could be; how lost their names and achievements are among the people of the future who live in the region. It bothers me, for some reason, to wonder if these people mattered or if their story has been maligned. However, I am grateful to be alive to have that opinion.

In the Christian Bible, search the web for 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The apostle Paul wrote the verse in a letter to the members of the early Christian church in Thessalonica, around AD 52 (52 years after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ). I take comfort in this verse, because it supports the foundation of Christianity, that God has a plan for each of us and wants us to know it. The only question is: do we acknowledge him as our God, pray to him, and seek his grace to help us understand our path through human life? I think he knows our history, he is very interested in our path and walks with us at every step, always wanting us to feel that he is there.

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