NEXT REUNION
National Society of Claiborne Family Descendants
2015 IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
"Antebellum Charleston: Before the War"
Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 8, 2015
Contact: Susan W.H. Rura 410-465-4778 or e-mail at frank9111@verizon.net.
Registration Form
Location. We will gather along Meeting Street north of Broad Street, within a 3 square block quadrangle. This provides hotel choice in pricing and amenities as well as access to a public parking garage (behind the Mills House Hotel) should one choose lodging on the edge of town and drive in just for the day.
Hotels. Rooms have been secured for the Claiborne Society at two nearly adjacent locations for November 5-8, 2015 Thursday-Sunday.
1) The Mills House Hotel at 115 Meeting Street, has 15 up to 25 rooms for our group until the end of August. Best rate for Friday and Saturday nights is $329/night. Reservations for the Mills House Hotel can be made by calling 1-800-874-9600 or 843-577-2400, identifying as member of Claiborne Society or Susan Rura event, and supplying a credit card number.
2) The Meeting Street Inn ($239/night), at 173 Meeting Street, offers 10 double rooms available to us until the end of September. Reservations for The Meeting Street Inn can be made by calling 843-723-1882.
All group attendees will be responsible for their own room, tax, and incidental charges.
Early reservations are recommended. House and garden tours will be over, but local college events will happen in early November.
Schedule
Thursday, November 5th Arrival and Registration:
From 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., at The Mills House Hotel, 115 Meeting Street, the Claiborne Society can gather in the "Best Friend" Lounge. There will be a Reunion 2015 booklet, gift bag, and name tag to retrieve. Some archives will be on display. Additionally, relax, visit with cousins, and enjoy hospitality of specialty canapes. To find the Best Friend lounge, enter the Mills House from Meeting Street and turn right into the parlor.
Friday, November 6th Optional Private Tour:
The Friday tour is a "Charleston Tea Party Private Tour" for a limited group (24), cost $100/person, which will take us into select homes and gardens, with tasting of Southern recipes.
Led by Charleston guides, Mrs. Laura W. Hipp and June McKnight, by van and by foot, we will see and hear commentary detailing the wealth and lifestyle of Charleston during the Ante-Bellum period [between the Revolution and the War Between the States]. This prosperity was made possible by special knowledge of agricultural products, such as rice and indigo, burdensome physical work, and sea trade through the port of Charleston.
The tour, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will include visits to: the East Battery B&B for a southern breakfast buffet on the upper balcony overlooking the harbor; the Heywood-Washington house on Church Street; a restored 18th century Church Street home; Dr. Wilson's Limehouse home, whose furniture inspired the Historic Charleston Reproductions; and a garden on lower King Street. We finish with a private home visit on Tradd Street for Tea/light lunch with Charleston "receipts" served with silver and Cantonware china on linen.
An optional final stop will be a tour of the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon at E. Bay & Broad Streets; those declining this opportunity will be returned to the hotel. Only superlatives can be used to describe this place: last structure built by the British in Charleston; built in 1771; built on original seawall fort (1698), which is now visible; visited by George Washington where he ate and danced; a "national treasure" as one of 3 most historic colonial buildings in the U.S.; site of Constitution ratification; and now owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Saturday morning, November 7th Claiborne Society Business meeting:
This will be our 27th year since the first gathering of our group at the Cedars B&B on the Jamestown Road in Williamsburg, Virginia. What an adventure it has been! A lot has been achieved: places visited, puzzles solved, all with the continuous documentation of our journey. It is time to compile our archival data from our ancestral quest into a play-book for the next generation. Many others, just as we did, will want to visit Romancoke, Sweet Hall, Maryland's Kent Island, or see where General Cleburne died at the Battle of Franklintown. Or they will want to know about the archeological dig of artifacts or the DNA study which determined Claiborne/Cliborn ancestral lines. How can we best do this? Our genealogical research of our ancestors continues. What next? Come prepared for a lively discussion.
Also as we gather for our biennial business meeting, we will conduct organizational business of electing officers for the next two years and selecting the next Reunion (2017) location.
Saturday afternoon, November 7th:
This will be a free afternoon for those who wish to continue discussion of Claiborne ventures, roam Charleston, or have lunch with cousins. This is a pedestrian-friendly town which has many possibilities. Enjoy!
Saturday evening, November 7th Group photo, banquet, Award, speaker:
The Planters Suite at The Mills House Wyndham Grand Hotel will be the site of the 2015 Claiborne Society banquet. The room, on the second floor, has a distinguished iron balcony, which overlooks Meeting Street.
We will gather from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. for a fine southern sit-down meal. Additionally, we will pose for our Claiborne Society group photo, present the Claiborne T. Smith Award, and enjoy our banquet speaker.
Sunday morning, November 8th New Officers' Board Meeting:
This is a business meeting for newly elected officers.
PARTICIPATION.
Anyone who wishes to help with Reunion 2015 should contact Susan Rura at 410-465-4778 or e-mail at frank9111@verizon.net.
