New Book about Bishopville and Lee County

On Friday, December 17, 2010

Burry Bookstore is hosting

an Author Meet and Greet

from 3:00 until 5:00 pm

Rachael Bowman Bradbury

and William P. Baskin, III

will be signing copies of

Bishopville and Lee County

This event is FREE and open to the public

In 1821, Dr. Jacques Bishop purchased a tract of land called Singletons Crossroads; and by 1828, the village was known as Bishopville. In 1902, Lee County was established and Bishopville flourished as its seat of government and center of activity. Images of America: Bishopville and Lee County is a journey back to a time when Bishopville’s Main Street on a Saturday teemed with a crowd so thick that downtown patrons had to weave their way down the sidewalk, and cotton was a booming business not only in Bishopville but in Lynchburg, Elliott, Lucknow, and Wisacky as well.

A son of the late state senator William P. Baskin, Jr. and Margaret Pittman Baskin, Billy Baskin is a lifelong resident of Bishopville.  A 1953 graduate of Bishopville High School, he finished Wofford College in 1957. In 1961 Billy graduated from the USC School of Law and practiced law in Bishopville for 36 years before his retirement in 1997.  Billy served as a municipal judge in Bishopville, also for 36 years, retiring in 1999.  He also served as Chief of the Bishopville Rescue Squad from 1967-2002. In 2002 he was a recipient of the Order of the Palmetto. Billy is an avid hiker and can often be found on the Foothills Trail.  Billy was married to the late Betty Lowder and has two adult children.

Rachael Bowman Bradbury is the great-granddaughter of the late Bishopville businessman and Lee County historian Joe F. Stuckey.  She traces her Lee County roots back to Edmund Stuckey who settled the Manville section in the late 1700s.  Rachael was born in Columbia and, although she has lived in other parts of the state, considers the capital city her home.  A 1995 graduate of Wofford College with degrees in History and French, Rachael worked in Washington, DC for the late Rep. Floyd D. Spence (2nd District, SC).  While there, one of the duties she enjoyed most was giving personal tours of the U.S. Capitol building to visiting constituents.  She became interested in Bishopville history upon reading through the research of her great-grandfather.  She is a member of the SC Cotton Museum and the Lee County Historical Society.  Rachael, her husband and two young daughters, live in Marietta, GA.