Film recreates Eulalie Salley's history, 'tipsy tea' at USCA 10/19/2009 7:19 PM
By ROB NOVIT Senior writer
The "tea ladies" gathered at the Pickens-Salley House on the USC Aiken campus Sunday for a trip back in time.
The scene filmed for the upcoming historical documentary, "Edgewood: Stage of Southern History," featured legendary Aiken businesswoman and suffragette Eulalie Salley.
The site for the scene was Edgewood, now known as the Pickens-Salley House, which houses university administrators and staffers. The documentary tells the story of the original plantation house, known then as Edgewood when it was built in 1829.
Dr. Deirdre Martin, a USCA vice chancellor, is serving as executive producer for the film, which will premiere at the university in late March. The director is Christi Koelker, who has many years of media experience. Her assistant is Dr. Maggi Morehouse, an assistant professor of history at USCA.
The story of Edgewood is also about Lucy Pickens, who lived in the house for many years. Her husband, Francis, became governor in 1860, and Lucy Pickens became known as queen of the Confederacy for her passionate support of secession.
Decades later in 1929, Salley purchased the home. It was deteriorating by then, and she had the house moved to Aiken and reassembled. Salley was a prominent real-estate business owner and also a suffragette.
She often entertained people at Edgewood, and that formed the basis for the scene filmed Sunday.
In the early 1950s, Dupont families were moving to Aiken County with the construction of the Savannah River Plant, and some longtime Aikenites were alarmed by this development. Salley was greatly interested in selling homes to the newcomers and wanted everybody to get along.
She invited several women from both groups for tea, but they were not pleased to be in each other's company. So Salley got the idea of adding some bourbon to the tea, and soon everyone was getting along quite well.
Koelker and Martin transformed the current boardroom back into Salley's living room. The scene is much like the actual tea as described in the 1973 book, "Eulalie," by Emily Bull Cooper, a former news editor for the Aiken Standard.
"When you write something and have it in your head in a certain way, seeing it come to life is beyond description," Koelker said. "It's fictionalized to some extent, but it's very close to what Emily has in her book."
Portraying Salley is Carla Cloud, the Aiken Downtown Development Association executive director. She's joined by the "tipsy tea" ladies, played by Sallye Rich, Sissy Brodie, Nancy Hansen, Mary White and Colleen Reed.
Cloud called the chance to be in the documentary a tremendous opportunity.
"I was not really a history buff, but the history has come to me," she said. "I've heard about all the stories of Eulalie Salley, and what she did in her time is amazing. Even if I don't always agree with some of the things she did, what moxie she had."
Also during the weekend, the crew - led by photography director Jamie Koelker - filmed a kind of fantasy scene of the key characters from many eras dancing on the front porch of the Pickens-Salley House. They also recreated a New Year's Eve party.
Martin said, "I've worked in the house for many years and heard so many stories of the people who lived here. It's really magical, and I can't wait to see the finished product."
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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Comment Title: Last Party...
I attended the last party held at Edgewood aka Pickens-Salley House prior to it being moved to the present location. It was quite memorable, and I'm sure some stories of interest could come out from then. Wonder if any of the ladies which were a part of this "tea party" were ever present at any of the original parties which I so fondly remember?
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