Ancestral Archaeology

As I think I mentioned in yesterday's entry, Mr. W's great grandfather worked here in Aiken at The Willcox as the chef at the turn of the last century.  (This is the reason we decided to come stay here for a couple of days.)

This morning, we asked the concierge for some ideas as to what to do today, and she gave us a pamphlet containing a comprehensive driving tour of historic Aiken, with some 94 points of interest.  Imagine our surprise and delight when we discovered stop 59 -- Jasmine Cottage.  The description is included in my collage here, along with a photo of The Willcox, and one of the cottage.

When we mentioned our discovery to the concierge later in the day, she was so excited she had her photograph taken with us, and when we returned to our room in the afternoon, we were surprised to find a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us!  How very lovely!

Also, the concierge told us the most wonderful story this morning.  The Willcox was closed, locked up, and left abandoned in the 1950's for several years before being bought and lovingly restored in the 1980's.  During the 1950's and early 1960's, the concierge was a young girl growing up here in Aiken.  Because she is black, she was not allowed to enter the town library, so she and other young black kids used to sneak into the boarded up Willcox, and read the books they found here.  She said they also spent many happy hours playing at being hotel keepers!  Now she's in charge of the place -- how great is that!