32 www. ReadMPM. com | www.MountPl easantMagaz i ne. com | www. ShemCreekRes taurant s . com land in the 4 Mile area. “Our family cultivated and planted over 100 acres of farmland,” said Ascue. “Daddy wanted every inch of land to be farmed. It was hard labor.” Ascue’s family belonged to New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. “Daddy would give us 5 cents for Sunday School and 3 cents to buy candy or johnny cakes afterward at Mr. Bull’s store, which is now a restaurant. Then we’d take off our shoes and walk home,” she remembered. “Sometimes, I ride by there now just to be reminded of it. It makes me feel good.” Ascue and her seven siblings loved listening to family stories that their grandmother told them. “I enjoyed being around my family and growing up around cousins. My relatives all lived right there. It was a close-knit community,” she said. In reminiscing, Pearl continued, “What I miss most is I wish we had more farmland – being beholding to the soil instead of Walmart. There is some Greenbelt property we can use for farming. It first began with little individual fenced plots but now it must be done in containers because the soil is no longer conducive to growing.” She further mused over an interesting twist of fate. “My mother was from 10 Mile and my daddy was from 2 Mile. My husband is from 10 Mile and I’m from 2 Mile. It’s funny how we each married someone from that other area!” Freddie Jenkins grew up in the African-American settlement community of Snowden, but his father’s family was from the Cainhoy area. “My grandfather worked at the old Cainhoy Plantation when Guggenheim purchased it in the 1930s,” he explained. “We were living In Cainhoy when I was born, but the house burned down when I was a baby, so we moved to Snowden where my mother, Vera Ellis, was from. Her mother was a Seabrook, and she was from 7 Mile,” elaborated Jenkins, adding that his uncle worked as a dairyman at Boone Hall in the 1930s. Jenkins remembered swimming in Butler Creek on Longpoint Road when he was young. “We’d also go fishing or catch crabs and shrimp there,” he noted. “We did it for enjoyment but also as a staple to eat. We rode bicycles around the neighborhood or played basketball, baseball and football but only after our chores were done – and only afterward! They had to be done by noon.” As a teenager, Jenkins worked on farms to earn spending money and buy school supplies. He attended Laing High School in 6 Mile. “Laing was for the black kids and the white kids went to Moultrie. Laing was a vocational school where boys learned woodworking, carpentry, brick making and other trades,” said Jenkins. “We knew we had to get into the world.” Jenkins served in the Army after high school but still lives in Snowden. His aunt gave him property there where he built a house. One thing he enjoys about the area today is its proximity to amenities like the gym, restaurants, stores and gas stations. Jenkins can even walk to some. But he recollects a time when you might only see a few cars drive by on Longpoint Road in the morning, and no other cars throughout the day. He is concerned that heirs’ properties in communities like Snowden are now being lost to development. Jenkins serves on the board of the African American Settlement Communities Historic Commission that endeavors to preserve and protect them. “They began so that people would always have a place to live where their families were,” he said. “Each community has its own identity, but we are there to provide support in whatever way we can.” The Lofton name is another that rings familiar in Mount Pleasant. Multiple generations are buried in the old graveyard at Christ Church. But Marianne Lofton Allen’s father, Alexander Lofton, had grown up in McClellanville, settling in Mount Pleasant following his military service during World War II. Five years ago, he co-authored a our town Pear l Vanderhor s t Ascue. Fredd i e Jenk i ns .
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