The Horry County Museum and the Horry County Historical Society present a lecture by Karen Stokes on Saturday, April 8th, on Ann Pamela Cunningham: The South Carolinian who saved Mt. Vernon.
The founder of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Ann Pamela Cunningham, created the organization responsible for saving and restoring the home of President George Washington, Mount Vernon. Upon seeing the state of Washington’s home in 1853, Cunningham challenged the women of the south, and later the women of the entire country to save the historic property. After convincing John Augustine Washington III to sell the property, Cunningham and the organization she founded, raised $200,000 to purchase the mansion and two hundred acres. Through these actions, she established one of the earliest preservation and heritage organizations in the United States.
Karen Stokes has been an archivist with the South Carolina Historical Society since 1994. She has a B.A. in English from the College of Charleston and an M.S. in library and information science from the University of South Carolina. Her main focus is the processing and cataloging of the manuscript collection, and her primary area of interest is South Carolina in the Confederacy. She has published a number of articles on South Carolina history, and is the co-editor of Faith, Valor, and Devotion: The Civil War Letters of William Porcher Dubose, a collection of correspondence in the Historical Society’s archives.
The program will begin at 1:00 pm in the McCown Auditorium located at 805 Main Street, Conway SC. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcgmuseum@horrycounty.org. To view a full list of programs, visit our website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.