Meriwether Monument
Meriwether Monument is a historic site in South Carolina, at a modelled elevation of 83 m. Burks Mountain stands 142 m to the west-northwest, 17 miles off. The nearest named place is Calhoun Park, a park less than a tenth of a mile away. Savannah River Scenic Byway passes 11 miles off. 5 named summits stand within 25 miles.
The story
The Meriwether Monument is a 21 feet (6.4 m) tall obelisk erected in 1916 at John C. Calhoun Park in North Augusta, South Carolina, to commemorate Thomas McKie Meriwether (December 4, 1852 – July 8, 1876), the only white man killed in the Hamburg massacre when white supremacist militias attacked African Americans in coordinated political violence, seeking to restore the Democratic Party to power and disenfranchise African American voters. The massacre occurred in 1876 and was part of a violent political campaign at the end of the Reconstruction era. The monument was erected 40 years later during the Jim Crow era. An inscription on the marker states:
In life he exemplified the highest ideal of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By his death he assured to the children of his beloved land the supremacy of that ideal. Protests at the monument were organized in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd as part of Black Lives Matter activism. Alterations to the park including interpretive panels have been proposed. In 2020, one of Meriwether's descendants, Brittany Meriwether Williamson, called for the monument to be taken down. Former North Augusta mayor, Bob Pettit, asserted the monument was protected under South Carolina Heritage Act, which restricted the removal or alteration of certain historical memorials. A subsequent legal interpretation by South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson concluded that the monument did not fall under the protections of the Heritage Act. Despite this, Wilson noted that because the monument had been erected by the South Carolina General Assembly, legislative approval was still required for its removal. In 2024, three informational plaques were installed on site explaining the history of Hamburg, the massacre, and the monument itself. The monument is situated within a park named in honor of John C. Calhoun, a politician from South Carolina who served as vice-president of the United States. He was an adamant defender of slavery.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q111915057, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Inscription
- In life he exemplified the highest ideal of Anglo-Saxon civilization. By his death he assured to the children of his beloved land the supremacy of that ideal.
How to reach it
- 11.0 mi off the Savannah River Scenic Byway, National
Named places within 25 miles
- Calhoun Park: 0.0 mi
- Living History Park: 0.3 mi
- Georgia Avenue-Butler Avenue Historic District: 0.3 mi
- Creighton Park: 0.3 mi
- Wade Hampton Veterans Park: 0.5 mi
- Springfield Baptist Church Birthplace of Morehouse College: 1.3 mi
- LaFayette Visits Augusta: 1.4 mi
- The Celebrated Revolutionary War Hero, Marquis de Lafayette Visited Augusta in March 1825.: 1.4 mi
- The Mayham Tower: 1.5 mi
- General James Oglethorpe: 1.5 mi
- And They Went Down Both into the Water: 1.3 mi
- Tower of Aspiration: 1.3 mi
- Mastro And Forever Young: 1.4 mi
- Oraiste Agus Liath: 1.4 mi
- The Spirit of Funk: 1.5 mi
- Morris Museum of Art: 1.3 mi
- Augusta Museum of History: 1.6 mi
- Woodrow Wilson's Boyhood Home: 1.8 mi
- Lucy Craft Laney Museum: 2.2 mi
- Aiken County Historical Museum: 14.6 mi
- Village Fruit and Vegetable Garden: 0.2 mi
- Japanese pocket garden: 1.3 mi
- Boardman Family Garden: 2.3 mi
- The Terrace: 2.9 mi
- Pollinator Garden: 7.1 mi
- Augusta Cotton Exchange Building: 1.5 mi
- Old Academy of Richmond County Park: 1.9 mi
- Gertrude Herbert Memorial Institute of Art: 2.0 mi
- Augusta Exchange Club Fairgrounds: 2.5 mi
- Amen Corner: 3.1 mi
- Sand Bar Ferry Bluff: 5.2 mi
- New Savannah Bluff: 8.9 mi
- Barney Bluff: 14.5 mi
- Silver Bluff: 14.5 mi
- Lower Silver Bluff: 15.5 mi
- Poverty Hill: 5.2 mi
- Whites Mound: 13.7 mi
- Carey Hill: 14.5 mi
- Burks Mountain: 16.6 mi
- Rhodes Mound: 17.4 mi
- Hamburg: 1.5 mi
- New Savannah: 8.7 mi
- Ellenton: 24.0 mi
- Willie Barton's Spring: 13.4 mi
- Bebbington Springs: 13.8 mi
- Coker Springs: 14.5 mi
- Phinizy Swamp Nature Park: 7.6 mi
- Christopher D. Spiller Longleaf Pine and Pollinator Trail: 17.3 mi
Summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of Meriwether Monument. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burks Mountain | WNW 300° | 142 m | 16.6 mi |
| Poverty Hill | NNW 331° | 130 m | 5.2 mi |
| Carey Hill | NW 326° | 120 m | 14.5 mi |
| Rhodes Mound | SSE 160° | 34 m | 17.4 mi |
| Whites Mound | SSE 164° | 33 m | 13.7 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:33 | 19:07 | 19:40 |
| June solstice | 06:19 | 20:05 | 20:42 |
| September equinox | 07:17 | 18:53 | 19:26 |
| December solstice | 07:29 | 16:47 | 17:25 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Feb–May, Sep–Dec.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 49 | 52 | 59 | 67 | 75 | 81 | 84 | 83 | 78 | 68 | 58 | 51 |
| Precip in | 3.8 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 4.0 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 3.8 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Augusta Daniel FLD AP, 5 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikipediaWikidataOpenStreetMap element node/12108761975
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