Ruth Ballou on wed 27 mar 02
My first experience with clay as a child was pluffmud. I grew up in
Charleston on the banks of the Stono River. We'd go swimming at low tide
and I would coat myself with pluffmud from head to toe. It has a wonderful
silky feel. I hear you have to go someplace special called a spa and pay a
lot of money to do that now.
South Carolina has an interesting clay history, dating back to colonial
times for Europeans, and earlier for the native population. The Historical
Society in Charleston is a great place to spend an afternoon looking up the
old documents. A very pure kaolin was discovered on the SC, Georgia border,
on Native American soil. The land was acquired by an inverstor, and I'm
sure there's a story to be told here. The clay was highly valued and
transported back to England for the porcelain industry. If I am not
mistaken, this same clay is now known as Georgia Kaolin, though it was
originally discovered in South Carolina.
Ruth Ballou
Silver Springing, Maryland
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