The Museum of the Waxhaws

10/10/2026

Hear the engine. Watch history move. Then meet the people who can tell you its story.

Save the date for WWI & WWII Living History Weekend at the Museum of the Waxhaws, November 21–22!

This glimpse of our vehicle demonstration is just the beginning. Explore the encampments, meet living historians, and ask the questions you’ve always wanted answered. Get close to the vehicles, uniforms and equipment that help bring these chapters of history to life.

Bring your curiosity and plan to spend the day with us. There’s something to discover at every age and every conversation offers a chance to learn something new.

Saturday: 10 AM–4 PM | Sunday: 10 AM–3 PM
General admission: $12 | Family pass: $35
Veterans and children 5 & under: Free

Step into history. Leave with stories to share.

10/10/2026

Sometimes, the best view of history comes from standing inside it.

Looking out from the historic barn at the Museum of the Waxhaws homestead, blue sky and green leaves fill a window framed by weathered wood. Sunlight slips between the boards, revealing grain, knots and the texture of a building made for work.

Barns were part of the rhythm of rural life places to store, shelter, mend, and prepare for another day. Preserving them helps us remember the everyday labor behind the history we tell.

Next time you visit the homestead, pause inside and look up. There’s something special about seeing today’s sky through an old barn window.

10/09/2026

Courage wore many uniforms. Come discover their stories.

Step into the past at the Museum of the Waxhaws’ WWI & WWII Living History Weekend, November 21–22. Meet living historians, explore their encampments and hear about the people who served on the battlefield and beyond.

Behind every uniform was a person. Through conversations, questions, and a close look at the equipment of the era, discover the everyday experiences behind extraordinary chapters of history.

Bring your family, bring your curiosity and help us keep their stories alive.

Saturday, November 21: 10 AM–4 PM
Sunday, November 22: 10 AM–3 PM
General admission: $12
Family Pass: $35
Veterans and children 5 and under: Free admission

10/09/2026

Fall has arrived at the homestead! Our gardener, Pat Willinger, has dressed the historic wagon with dried cornstalks to welcome the new season. His care and creativity bring so much charm to this special corner of the Museum of the Waxhaws.

Come enjoy a little history and a touch of fall! Visit the museum and gift shop Friday or Saturday, 10–5 PM.

10/09/2026

Your weekend plans could use a little history! Visit the Museum of the Waxhaws to explore our region’s past, then stop by the gift shop for something special to take home.

Museum & Gift Shop open Friday and Saturday, 10 AM–5 PM. Every visit helps keep local history alive!

10/08/2026

10/08/2026

Behind every uniform is someone passionate about keeping history alive.

These living historians give their time, knowledge and heart to sharing the stories of the past. Through conversations, demonstrations, and the sights and sounds of an encampment, they invite you to step into history and leave with a deeper understanding of the people who lived it.

When that much passion comes together, it creates a weekend you’ll remember.

Join us November 21–22 at the Museum of the Waxhaws for our WWI & WWII Living History Weekend. Meet the people, ask the questions, and experience the history.

Saturday 10–4 | Sunday 10–3
General admission: $12
Family Pass: $35
Veterans and children ages 5 and under: Free

10/07/2026

The Mysterious Battle of the Waxhaws Drawing

Charging horses. Raised weapons. Infantrymen caught in the chaos. This dramatic drawing brings the Battle of the Waxhaws to life but who created it?

Preserved in the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University, the image is believed to be a nineteenth-century preliminary sketch for a possible lithograph. The artist remains unknown, and no finished print has been identified.

The battle it portrays unfolded on May 29, 1780, when Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s British and Loyalist troops overtook Colonel Abraham Buford’s retreating Virginia Continentals in the Waxhaws. A swift cavalry assault overwhelmed the Americans, leaving more than one hundred dead and many others wounded or captured.

Reports that soldiers were attacked while attempting to surrender helped give the engagement its enduring name: Buford’s Massacre. Historians continue to debate the battle’s final moments, but accounts of the bloodshed fueled Patriot anger during the Southern Campaign.

Created decades afterward, this drawing is an interpretation rather than an eyewitness record. Its charging horses and struggling soldiers show how later generations remembered the Waxhaws: a place of violence, suffering and powerful Revolutionary memory.

Yet the image holds a mystery of its own. Who drew it? Was it ever made into a finished print or did this sketch remain an unfinished vision?

Sometimes, the objects that preserve history leave us with questions as compelling as the stories they tell.