This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.

Students from the Anderson County School District worked with the Belton Area Museum Association in South Carolina to produce this documentary featuring oral history interviews related to the Smithsonian traveling exhibition "Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America," which toured South Carolina in 2016 and was on view in Belton.

Ellis Lark (00:00): And as I was going home one day, I noticed that there was machinery moving dirt near the baseball park. And I asked dad, I said, "Daddy, what are they doing?" He said, "They're building a swimming pool." And I said, "What in the world is a swimming pool?" He said, "Well, they'll pour some cement and then they'll fill it up with water and you can go play." And so that was the building of the Honea Path swimming pool.

Speaker 2 (00:52): The Chiquola Mill financed the pool as another form of recreation for its employees and their families. And it has been around for many generations.

Lollis Meyers (01:03): I remember when they was building the pool as a young boy. Daniel Construction Company built the pool and they started building the pool in 1946.

Danny Hawkins (01:12): The mill owned the pool. The mill built the pool for its employees. So if you were employed at Chiquola Mill, you were able to go there and swim.

Speaker 5 (01:12): The pool is an impressive structure.

Lollis Meyers (01:26): The dimensions on that pool is 150 foot long and 50 foot wide. It's the same as an Olympic pool, except for if it didn't have the kiddy part broke in, you would have an Olympic pool. Also that pool holds 350,000 gallons of water.

Danny Hawkins (01:44): It's got the deep end separated from the shallow end by a little concrete walk there, which is very nice to keep the people who cannot swim up here on one end, and the people that can swim down here on the other end.

Speaker 2 (02:00): The pool is now open for all residents of the area, but it wasn't always that way.

Danny Hawkins (02:05): Now as time went along, the mill started giving permission to the town of Honea Path that everyone can come swimming then. So if you lived in Honea Path, you could come. There was no charge for anybody to get in the pool when I was a lifeguard. Now that did change because we started selling a sort of ticket, if you will, or permission to come. It cost you $1 for the entire summer.

Speaker 5 (02:30): Many young people learned to swim at pool.

Lollis Meyers (02:33): A boy pushed me off the 10 foot area of the pool and said, "You're going to have to swim or else." Well, I learned to swim right quick, right there.

Asset ID: 2022.23.03

Find a complete transcription at www.museumonmainstreet.org