Burdine Cabin Link to Methodist History

After the opening of the SC Rock Art Center and the construction of a concert pavilion that could seat hundreds, what's the next project for the Hagood Mill?

Hagood Mill site Manager Eddie Bolt told members of the Pickens County Historical Society last month that it could be reconstructing the Burdine cabin.

“It needs to be done,” Bolt said, calling it “one of the more urgent, high-priority things.”

Bolt thanked the historical society members who went to the county and said, “This building's got to be saved,” before it was too late.

“People always wait until it's too late,” Bolt said. “They wait until it's completely fallen in before they say, 'Can you come over here and save this thing?'”

The cabin's logs and the rocks they rested upon have been saved by the county and are being stored until the reconstruction begins.

The former home of the Samuel Burdine family could provide a physical reminder of the lives of the early settlers in this area.

“We may not find many more Pickens County cabins,” Bolt said. “There's not just that many out there.”

There are two cabins currently on the Hagood Mill site, the 1791 Murphree cabin and the 1830 Hagood cabin.

The Burdine cabin also provides a connection to Francis Asbury one of the first bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

“I'm afraid a little indifferent while that was all going on,” Bolt said. “It was only after, when I read about Francis Asbury, that I realized what a treasure we have in those logs. Those were such interesting times in America.

Asbury's mother had a dream that told her son was destined for great things – but not in his home country of England.

“The voice told her that her son was going to do great things for the Lord in another country,” Bolt said.

When Francis Asbury was 22, John Wesley appointed Asbury a traveling preacher. In 1771, Asbury volunteer to travel to America, where he spent the rest of his life.

“Monumental raising of his hand there,” Bolt said. “He never came back.”

When the Revolutionary War broke out, Asbury stayed in America – the only Methodist preacher to do so.

“Francis Asbury was the only English preacher who stayed here during the American Revolution,” Bolt said.

After arriving in Philadelphia from England, Asbury became a circuit rider and started a truly amazing circuit route.

“Up to the Canadian border, down to Charleston, then back up,” Bolt said. “6,000 miles a year. We think about Western guys and cattle drives and what great horsemen they are, well you think about some of the guys like John Wesley and Francis Asbury, they must have called them 'Old Leatherbottom,' riding in that saddle all day, 6,000 miles a year. If you add that up over 45 years, that's 250,000 miles. That's farther than to the moon. That's riding a horse to the moon.

“Can you imagine the wilderness he saw and how it changed over those 40 years?” Bolt continued. “When he was riding in the late 1700s, there was still virgin forest.”

Asbury eventually knew his route so well, he could read on the road, developing a sixth sense for low-hanging tree branches.

But it wasn't without its dangers.

“He got thrown off a horse almost more times than you can add up,” Bolt said. One time, he nodded off and his horse threw him into the water near a mill. Asbury was nearly sucked into the mill's waterwheel.

“In his sixties, he was still ridding 6,000 miles,” Bolt said. Near the end of Asbury's life, he was unable to dismount his horse by himself and would ring a bell when he arrived at a homestead so someone could lift him off his horse.

“He was so stove up, he was in such bad shape …. he wasn't able to stand, he wasn't able to lay down, he wasn't able to kneel on his knees,” Bolt said. “So he was either sitting in a chair or sitting in a saddle.”

Asbury relied on the kindness of others on his route.

“He was never anywhere long enough to build a cabin,” Bolt said. “Two days, maybe he'd stay at a place. He'd stop at the same places (each year.) Once he made a friend, that covered that 100 miles.”

One of those stops was the Burdine cabin.

Asbury's journal mentions the Burdine several times.

One of the entries reads, “Rode from Table Rock to the home of Samuel Burdine, where they walk in wickedness, but are willing to be taught.”

“All that may have meant in those times were that they were unchurched,” Bolt said. “They weren't evil people.”

When Asbury arrived in America, there were only 1,000 Methodists. During his life, that number rose to over 300,000.

“He was such a hero to his fellow Methodists, that they were almost fighting to write his biography,” Bolt said.