Crosby store still making hunting memories

Crosby family building as it appears in 2013

Wood Duck taxidermy inside the old store

The Colleton suburb of Mashawville, just south of the county seat of Walterboro, has always been a travel corridor involving Charleston and Savannah. This story involves former Mashawville resident and carpenter Herman H. Crosby Sr. and his life after World War II. First drafted when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Sergeant Crosby was stationed in Europe until the end of the war. Upon returning to the Lowcountry, Crosby decided to start a small business similar to a country store, and he used his family land to log and mill the pine and cypress trees to construct the store building in 1945. Despite a decent business, opportunity knocked for Crosby in 1949 when the local game warden position became open, and despite some duress about night hunting at that time, Crosby accepted the challenge. Let the record show that the night hunting was addressed by the game warden in record fashion and that he went on to pass a love for the outdoors along to his sons, including one son going on to follow in his footsteps as a game warden. In 2006, local realtor Miles Crosby secured ownership of the building his father had constructed, and he hired a moving company to transport it back from Highway 64 and deeper onto the family property where he now resides. The building now serves as a meeting place for the Crosby family and members of the Crosby Brothers hunt club. The hunting memorabilia and decorum inside makes it a natural gathering place before or after any hunt next door at the club where Miles serves as huntmaster. Sitting on the porch of the old building, and glancing across the freshly burned pines over to the duck pond, I can see how the wooden building is going to be central to serving up more family memories.

Cypress paddles and heart pine flooring

Herman Crosby Sr. served in WWII and as an S.C. Game Warden

To view the rest of my feature article click Colletonian.

To view past blog entries about Colleton County family history click here.