Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Mac Davis gestures as he relates a story about a coon hound.

Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Diane Sheppard drops into the character of "Crystal," a 6-year-old girl.

Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

The Rev. Tom Terry told a few tales from his childhood in Hampton County.

Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Ed Smith makes a point as he casts out a fishing tale from his boyhood in Manning.

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The stories, like the entertainers who told them, were homegrown.

Although the Salkehatchie Stew project brought in professional storyteller Sheila Kay Adams to relate some of her Appalachian tales from the mountains of western North Carolina, local people took the stage primarily during "Barnwell County Boil," the Barnwell County version of the Stew.

Many of the local storytellers spun their yarns June 13 at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville during the second day of the two-day event.

Frances Chavous sees multifaceted benefits from Salkehatchie Stew growing its own local storytellers. Chavous is the head of the Stew project.

Storytelling by local people is the preservation of that area's memories by the people who best know them, she said.

"That's what we want to develop - people to tell their own stories," Chavous said.

Local stories are unique - and uniqueness brings tourism to that area, she said.

Salkehatchie Stew is a project to culturally and economically develop Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Hampton and Colleton counties through music, drama and storytelling.

The Rev. Tom Terry, a Baptist preacher, told of a rogue-ish uncle and his peculiarities that stemmed mainly from the fact he was wanted by the law. The story was from his childhood growing up in Hampton County.

Mac Davis wanted to make sure his audience didn't mis-identify him before he launched into his story.

"I didn't write ‘Baby, Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me.' He's from Texas and has hair. I run into that all the time," Davis said of having the same name as the 1970s pop singer.

Davis said he often has to set people straight that he hails from Denmark, S.C., not the Scandinavian country.

"You speak great English and have a Southern accent too," is a comment Davis occasionally hears, he said.

Davis regaled the audience about a childhood story of his father getting a mail-order Kentucky blue-tick hound that they take on a "short" coon hunt into the swamp - on a school night too, he said.

They return in the wee hours of the morning, minus the dog, which was never seen again, he said.

Anglers might hook the fish, but the fish hook the stories.

"As I was growing up in Manning,..." Ed Smith began his tale.

Smith, of Barnwell, told about several comical incidents he remembered from his boyhood while hunting and fishing stories in that area.

One story involved culprits tying a pot lid on the fishing line of the unsuspecting "Preacher McCoy," who thought he hooked a prizewinner.

After a great struggle, the preacher yanked the pot lid into the air, free of the waters of Black River and realized he had been the punch line of someone's joke.

"Fish or no fish, that's the best pull I've had on this river," Smith quoted McCoy to end the story.

One story came from a 6-year-old girl - sort of.

Diane Sheppard, a retired teacher from Williston, held a storytelling session particularly for children.

In it, Sheppard, 70, drops into character of Crystal, a first grader who talked about living with her parents, dog and dolls.

One piece of advice from Crystal: "Don't kiss your dog on the mouth. It don't taste good."

Barefoot and dressed in capris and a t-shirt, Sheppard mimicked the mannerisms of little children during her performance by fidgeting; absentmindedly crunching up her doll "Piggy Tail" and rocking back and forth.

"I remember a lot of the habits of the children," she said.

Sheppard has been honing her child act for 29 years, playing mostly to small groups - audiences no larger than 30 are the best size, she said.

"I learn enough about a group to interact with about 10," Sheppard said.

Other local people who spun tales included Frankie Peters about military stories, Theda Ravenstar on native American folklore and Barbara Still on reminiscences on the railroads.