MICHAEL GAFFNEY DAY
Morning showers do little to dampen festive atmosphere
By JOE L. HUGHES II Ledger Staff Writer joe@gaffneyledger.com

Local resident Shirley Randolph gives tours inside the Michael Gaffney Cabin during Saturday's festivities.

When Michael Gaffney established a store at the intersection of two Indian trails in 1803, none of his thoughts were about his legacy more than 200 years later.

The Irish emigrant's gamble would soon be given a stamp of approval as the outpost on the Broad River bustled into a city, with a county taking root as well.

Local residents got an opportunity to show their appreciation at the annual Michael Gaffney Day on Saturday.

For most of the week, organizers were concerned about the weather which called for rain for most of the morning, which washed out tours of the Michael Gaffney cabin and other activities scheduled outdoors.

Although clouds hovered over the area much of the day, everything would go as planned, giving both the young and old a lesson on how the city and county came to be.

"We're trying to instill in everyone, especially the young people, about the history of Gaffney and how this area came to be," said Pat Throneburg of the Gaffney Visitors Center.

Ledger photos / JOE L. HUGHES II As part of this year's Michael Gaffney Day festivities, visitors were given the rare opportunity to go inside the historic Gaston Shoals Hydro Plant.

Downtown Gaffney stepped back into the early 1800s over the weekend as visitors received the opportunity to take a closer look at the Michael Gaffney cabin and take a tour of the Gaston Shoals Hydro Plant and Dravo Dam at a tent set up by Duke Energy.

"Visitors had a lot of new things in the cabin and around the county this year that made this year's Michael Gaffney Day special and unique," Throneburg said.

Artists from the Cherokee County Alliance of Visual Artists (CAVA) were on hand for arts and demonstrations, showing off some of their work, which included paintings and old-fashioned church dolls.

"We wanted to give everyone something we grew up with and relate it to how people in Michael Gaffney's era also used it in their time," Throneburg said.

While the morning portion of the day-long event focused on the Michael Gaffney cabin and the downtown area, the afternoon session took place at the Cherokee County Historical and Preservation Society (CHAPS) museum on Johnson Street.

Exhibits showcased the city's first family, along with others on the Gaston Shoals plant and the beginnings of electric power in Cherokee County.

"We wanted to do something special for the event, so we decided to show some new items in a few of our exhibits," said Billy Pennington of CHAPS.

Michael Gaffney family Bibles dating back to 18th Century and a family tree painted by local artist Tyler Brown, as well as water meters and other items from the Dravo and 99 Island dams, were on display.