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Movie to bring history to life
6/11/2009 12:21 AM
By ROB NOVIT
Senior writer

Dr. Deidre Martin, a USC Aiken vice chancellor, loves history - and what could be more exciting than to work in a building steeped in history.

The Pickens-Salley House, located on the USCA campus as the Chancellor's Office for the past two decades, was built near Edgefield in 1829. Originally called Edgewood, the residence has been home to two unusual women that give it its present name - secessionist governor's wife Lucy Pickens in the 19th century and businesswoman/suffragist Eulalie Salley in the 20th Century.

Their achievements will soon be seen on film. Martin, as executive producer, Chris Koelker, as director, and other Aiken residents are creating a documentary about the women's lives and how they were intertwined with the residence.

Visitors at USCA last weekend might have done a double-take or two to see people in period costumes riding in front of the Pickens-Salley House in a horse-drawn wagon. Most of the actors are Aiken residents.

"Our goal," said Martin, "is to tell all the history, from the Civil War era through the Winter Colony days and on to today. The name of the project is 'Edgewood: Stage of Southern History,' because this house was almost like a stage."

The production will feature Ciara Lee Chaltas as Lucy Pickens. Remarkably, for the past three years Chaltas has done reenactments and made appearances as Pickens. The other performers include veteran community theater actors and volunteers, including a two-year-old charmer named Grace Viseth as Pickens' daughter.

The Humanities Council, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is sponsoring the project. Support is also provided by the Porter Fleming Foundation and the S.C. National Heritage Corridor grant program.

Joining Martin and Koelker on the project are assistant director Dr. Maggi Morehouse and director of photography Jamie Koelker. Morehouse, a USCA associate history professor, previously collaborated with Chris Koelker on a video documentary, "Hometown Heroines: Four Southern Women Remember World War II."

The new production will provide separate segments on Pickens and Salley. Instead of dialogue, Koelker chose Judith Goodwin - who works for Martin in USCA's Office of Advancement - as the narrator. Goodwin will take on the persona of the house itself.

"Chris came up with that," said Morehouse. "The house will know everything, telling the story of these fantastic women."

Lucy Pickens was known as the "Queen of the Confederacy" after her husband Francis became the South Carolina governor just three days before the state seceded from the Union in 1860. Lucy passionately supported secession and the war effort.

Just a few years earlier, Pickens and her husband had lived in Russia, where Francis Pickens served as the U.S. ambassador.

At the time Lucy Pickens was a young woman in her mid-20s but was politically engaged well ahead of her time. She became a favorite in the Russian court of Alexander II and his wife. Pickens named her new daughter Francis Eugenia Olga Neva, also called Douschka.

In later years Edgewood was abandoned and then restored by Eulalie Salley in 1929. Ironically, Salley -- the founder of Eulalie Salley and Company Realtors - was a strong supporter of women's rights, including the right to vote.

She had Edgewood taken down and carefully reassembled in Aiken. The residence was later moved a second time to its current location.

The story of Chaltas' involvement in the project could be a movie in itself. Koelker was writing the Civil War part of the documentary earlier this year. She stopped by the Pickens-Salley House one day to hang out and get to know Lucy as a person a little better.

Koelker had no idea that Chaltas had discovered Lucy Pickens about three years ago. Chaltas said she and Pickens had red hair and even resembled each other somewhat. Chaltas began reenactment efforts, and while Koelker was conceptualizing Pickens that day, the reeneactor was just a few miles away at the Battle of Aiken. Chaltas learned about the Pickens-Salley House and stopped by late that night to take a look at it. After all, stories have around for years that Pickens' spirit remained in her beloved house following her death in 1899.

She returned the next day in costume with her husband David, who portrays Robert E. Lee. Goodwin and Martin took one look and called Koelker, who quickly drove to the campus.

"We were so stunned and taken aback," said Koelker. "She is a beautiful vision of Lucy Pickens."

As for Chaltas, she was astonished to have such an opportunity.

"I'm honored to do something permanent, to portray someone so amazing," she said. "Lucy is forgotten, as she never wrote a diary while doing everything for the Confederacy and her house. She just needs to be remembered. I've been all over the South, putting Lucy out there so people will know who she is."

The production team will film the Eulalie Salley segment in the fall. Martin said they have spent the past year researching the two women.

"It's been so cool and we want it to be accurate," Martin said. "Folks like ETV may be interested in the program. As a long-term goal, we want to develop a curriculum for it that could be used in middle schools."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.

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