Galivants Ferry Stump tradition survives, despite the times

GALIVANTS FERRY — Back before the Internet or television news or radio, even back before women could cast a ballot, this was a key stop for any Democrat courting the local vote.

Oddly enough, it still is.

While the Galivants Ferry Stump is no longer the only way for candidates to communicate with voters along this stretch of the Little Pee Dee River, one family has kept the tradition alive for 132 years by shaping it into something else: a festive party that kicks off the Palmetto State's political cycle every two years.

South Carolina is no longer a blue state, but the stump still starts with bluegrass. And it's one place along the political trail where cloggers outnumber bloggers.

Several Democratic hopefuls served up speeches here Monday, but they almost seemed beside the point. Anyone can listen to politicians talk 24-7 on cable news or YouTube these days, but these kinds of personal encounters don't come along as often.

"It's incredible that with all the different ways of communicating, we're still very popular," said Christy Holliday Douglas, the fourth generation of Hollidays who worked to organize the stump. "I think we're even more popular now because it's really hard to see someone face to face and shake hands with them, eyeball to eyeball like my daddy used to say."

Read more in Tuesday's edition of The Post and Courier.