Curiouser and Curiouser

We slept in a little bit this morning and had brunch at the appropriately named Curiosity Coffee Bar, a highly-rated little place just a couple of blocks from the White Rabbit (our Alice-in-Wonderland-themed bnb). Curiouser and curiouser, we spent the rest of the day at the South Carolina State Library. 


The library staff were quite accommodating of our multiple requests from the stacks (I don't have a pic of the big pile of books we left behind at the end of the day). 

The things we're curious about make some people (Kef and Dad specifically) shake their heads. Today's finds included a listing of early settlers to South Carolina, among which was my 5 greats grandfather Samuel McGill, described among the "poor protestants lately arrived from Ireland on the encouragement of the Bounty given by this Province." His age was listed as 23, and he was granted that bounty of 100 acres. Although we knew he was born in Ireland, we didn't know what year. So this 1766 listing from a council meeting gave us his arrival year, approximate birth year, and the township of his land grant. And such is the way of a genealogist... one little listing in an obscure book can move you forward, inch by inch.

map of townships in South Carolina


Another fun find in an equally obscure book was a hand-drawn series of plats from 1759 with... wait for it... names! Haha... the holy grail for a person who wants to stand on the land where their ancestors stood.



This time it was my 6th great grandfather Ulrich Buser (aka Boozer), an immigrant from Switzerland to Saxe-Gotha. I had been hopeful to find more about this interesting little Swiss-German immigrant enclave, and I was not disappointed. I took many pictures of the pages from these books and now just have to go back and read them in detail...there's no time for that in the moment! Anyway, Ulrich's plat is right along the Congaree River, so now I have to try to overlay that hand-drawn map with a current-day map of the river to try to identify what now stands on his land. That's my next to-do after I post this...but before bed so that we can possibly go drive there in the coming days.

It was too cold for mom in the library, so we left a little earlier than we might have (about an hour before closing) and came back to enjoy a nap at the rabbit house. Plus beautiful blooms in their full glory already!


Then we were off to have dinner at another highly-rated local spot, the Ambrosia Taverna. We had really been looking forward to this one because it was a top-rated restaurant in the area AND Greek AND just a couple of blocks from the Rabbit. I have to say we weren't enamored with their takes on moussaka and pastitsio (the spices were a bit off and mom didn't love their addition of red peppers and zucchini to the eggplant in the moussaka), but the ambiance was lovely, the wait staff friendly, and the phyllo trio of appetizers quite nice (although not as good as the saltier, butterier versions that we make, and who puts melted cheese on top of spanikopita and tiropita??). 



Tomorrow's excursion is to the State Archives, and we are very hopeful for more land grant information there...and who knows what else!

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