[Scmusenet] "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley" Book Signing at the Pickens County Museum

[Allen Coleman]

Meet the Author of "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley"

Jerry Vickery and Johnny V. Hester to sign their new book at the Pickens
County Museum

Thursday, January 22, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

 

Thursday, January 22, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., author, Jerry Vickery will sign
his book "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley," in the
LaVonne Nalley Piper Auditorium at the Pickens County Museum. The public
is invited to meet Jerry Vickery and Johnny Hester during this book
signing.

 

Written by Oconee native and long-time Easley Progress owner and editor,
Jerry Vickery, "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley," is
the biography of Johnny V. Hester.  For decades the Hester family was
part of a group of sharecroppers who worked long hours each day under
the hot southern sun to eke out an existence from the rich bottom land
of the Keowee River valley.   

 

Johnny Hester and his family rarely left their community except to
deliver cotton to the gin. Johnny's stories help us understand this area
as it was seen by some of the people who helped form it. There are
stories of hardship and loneliness balanced with love of family and
hope.  When asked about these "hard times", Johnny, who now lives in
Easley, says "we just had to learn to rise above them".

 

Author, Jerry Vickery describes his work, which includes a wonderful
collection of photographs as "showing how humor was used to handle such
hard times".  Vickery says "Hester, who is in his late 60's, is blessed
with a photographic memory and recalls with great detail the ups and
downs of his life - the impact of government on sharecropping society -
and how Duke Energy changed it all . . .forever."

 

Today, ninety percent of the land where Johnny grew up and the setting
for these stories are at the bottom of Lake Keowee. But whether you were
born here or have just moved to this community; all who read "The
Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley," gain a better
understanding of an important group of people who once called the valley
home.

 

Bring a copy of "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley," that
you have already purchased to be signed or purchase one at The Museum
Shop that evening for $16.00.

 

This program is part of the museum's continuing effort to provide a
variety of entertaining and educational programming for the community
and is funded in part by a donation from Reliable Automatic Sprinkler
Co., Inc. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part
by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from
the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the
National Endowment for the Arts.

 

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is located at 307 Johnson
Street in Pickens. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday
9a-5p, Thursday 9a-7:30p, and Saturday 9a-4:30p.  For additional
information call 864.898.5963.

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