TRAVELERS REST HISTORY--200 years!!!

This year citizens of Travelers Rest are celebrating the bicentennial of their community. This celebration is sparking great interest in area history and attractions as many events and programs unfold.

Recent activities include publication of a 16-month keepsake history calendar available at City Hall and an art contest with a local history theme involving area schools and students. Future plans include a 5K run on the Swamp Rabbit Trail between Travelers Rest and the Furman campus; organization of a Historical Society; development of a local museum; a celebration planned for early fall near the birth date of the community; placement of genealogy material in the local library; publication of a current history of the town; and a year-long series of programs on "Travelers Rest History and Heroes" at the Sargent Branch Library.
Two of the heroes being recognized are Dicey Langston and her husband Thomas Springfield who greatly contributed to the success of the Patriot cause during the Revolutionary War. Greenville County Council declared Wednesday, May 14, "Dicey Langston Springfield Day."
Laodicea (Dicey) Langston made her mark in history during the Revolutionary War at the tender age of 16. Over the years, fact and folklore become intertwined and difficult to separate, and so it is with the tale of Dicey Langston. We know that her family lived in the Laurens District of South Carolina, an area with many British Loyalists, so it was easy for her to overhear Loyalists' plans and information. She often traveled through the night in dangerous territory to impart secret strategies to her Patriot brothers.
Even when the Loyalists suspected that she was relaying information and threatened that her father, Solomon Langston, Sr. would be held accountable for her and her brothers' actions, Dicey persisted in her resolve to warn her brothers of trouble.
Making good their threats, a group of local Loyalist scouts appeared at the Langston home to kill her father in revenge for his sons' rebellious activities. One of the men drew a pistol and aimed it at the old man, but Dicey dashed between her father and the weapon. The scout ordered her out of the way, but she clung to her elderly father, declaring that she would take the bullet aimed at her father's heart. Her brave act softened the heart of the Loyalist scout, and the party left them alive and safe.
She was approached again on the road from Spartanburg by a company of Loyalists who demanded that she tell them whom she had just visited. They held a pistol to her breast and ordered her to divulge the information or "die in your tracks." She exclaimed, "Shoot me if you dare! I will not tell you." As the officer was about to squeeze the trigger, another man threw up the gunman's hand and saved her life a second time.
"Bloody Bill" Cunningham and his Loyalist scouts planned to raid the settlement where Dicey's brother, James, and his friends were living. Dicey heard the rumor and was determined to warn them. She waited until dark and walked many miles, crossing streams and marshes. She nearly drowned crossing the Tyger River, which was out of its banks from recent rains. Finally, tired, shivering and wet, she reached her brother's residence, to warn him of Cunningham's intentions to destroy his company. She found the men cold and hungry and quickly made them hoecakes before hurrying back in the night to arrive home before she was missed. The next day, when Cunningham's scouts attacked the settlement, they found it deserted, thanks to "Daring Dicey," as she became known.
Later, her brother James left a rifle with Dicey to keep until needed. He asked some Patriots who were near her father's house to bring the rifle to him. When they arrived, the leader, Thomas Springfield, asked for the gun. She ran upstairs to retrieve it, but on the way realized she had not asked for the password her brother had given her. She wondered if these men could be Tories.
After returning with the rifle, she asked for the password. Tom Springfield smiled, "It's too late; we have the gun and it's holder too!" Dicey coolly turned the gun toward Springfield and said, "Oh, do you think so? No, you don't, and you won't get this gun unless you give me the correct password." Her tone of voice and look of defiance communicated her earnestness and he quickly gave the password. The tension broke and the men jovially teased that she was a brave young lady quite worthy of being James Langston's sister.
After the war, Dicey Langston married this friend of her brothers. Tom Springfield and Dicey lived near Travelers Rest where there is a marker today across from Enoree Church honoring this brave heroine. The couple reportedly parented 22 children after they each fought for the cause of American freedom and liberty.