Dicey Langston.
Have you heard her name?
If you don’t recognize her name yet, we plan to change that!
Dicey Langston is a TR legend. But, she’s more than that too. She’s not just a legend, she was a real person.
Dicey grew up, settled down and lived a large portion of her extraordinary life right here in Travelers Rest. (Even if it wasn’t officially called Travelers Rest then.)
What’s extraordinary about Dicey?
Where do we begin?
We have to start pretty long ago.
As in, revolutionary long ago.
Let’s go way back, say about two hundred years?
Dicey was only a teenager when the rumblings of war were everywhere. She did not see herself as too young to take part – and in a big way. Dicey acted as a spy in the war, often risking her own life to cross enemy lines and deliver messages. At that point in time, she was living in what is now Laurens County.
(You can read more about Dicey in at least three books written by regional authors. All of which are available for order at As The Page Turns.)
Dicey grew up to become another sort of hero – a mother of twenty-two children! Her legacy is long-lasting in TR and there are many folks who can trace their lineage back to Laodicea Langston. She and her husband Thomas settled in TR to raise their family. Together they had a farm, a store and a small inn too. Dicey was then known as Dicey Langston Springfield.
You can read a lot more about Dicey’s story right here in an article by Jason Greer.
Dicey and Thomas raised their children on a farm on Tigerville Road, where she eventually passed away. You can see a small stone monument to her now, at a farmhouse near Enoree Baptist Church.
Langston Middle School in Greenville is named after Dicey.
One way in which TR is working to honor Dicey is with a bronze statue on Main Street – near the gazebo. A few years ago, we shared the story of the women behind this idea.
The artist, Nick Ring, has already been commissioned and is currently working on the statue. We’d love to help move this project along and finish fund raising for the artist, the statue and its installation. We can’t wait to celebrate this addition to downtown Travelers Rest.
Read more about the project and follow along with updates on the Facebook page here.
Donate to the Go Fund Me Campaign here.
(Spend a few minutes scrolling through the donors – it’s pretty special to see how many of Dicey’s descendants are donating to this memorial.)
