Beyond Sarah Friday's 1810 Granby Drawing
East Granby
Today, like much of Granby, on the west side of the Congaree River, East Granby (below Columbia) has been destroyed by a granite quarry. What we do know about East Granby is centered around the East Granby Hotel. Below are accounts from the people who lived during the era of Granby.
Columbia Telescope, May 14, 1816:
Granby, like London, is divided by a river, over which there was formally a bridge connecting the two towns, which are distinguished by the names of East and West Granby, situate two miles S. W. from Columbia.
From the book: Random Recollections of a Long Life:
A large sign swung on a high post, bearing the inscription "East Granby Hotel, by Henry Voss," appeared upon the hill above the boat landing near Granby Ferry, where Dunlap and I often went to superintend the loading and unloading of Barrett's boats. Voss was a tall, elderly German, in bad health, who had married an illegitimate daughter of Colonel David Myers and built a large store and tavern that were well patronized by the boat hands and others. The house stood broadside to the road, having the store in front and the dwelling in rear; a door (the upper half of glass) leading from one to the other. He had a mulatto boy, said to be his son, named Joe, or, as he called him, Yoe, to whom he was much attached, as was shown by his calling Yoe up every day after dinner and examining whether he had eaten enough, by punching him in the stomach, and, if not satisfied, by ordering him to "ko pack and eat tell his pelly stuck out." He made the acquaintance of John H. Eiffert, a very stout old double-chinned Bavarian, with sandy gray hair and a big round red face, mottled all over from excessive eating and drinking, who kept a store on Hollow Creek, in Lexington, where he had married a pretty young woman -- a daughter of Abram Mitchell, of Edgefield. Right and left shoes were just coming into use, and they fitted Eifiert exactly when the right shoe was put on the left foot, and vice versa. Many people objected to them at first, because they could not be changed every day like the straight ones. Eiffert, on his way to Columbia for goods, generally crossed the river at Granby and stayed a night with Voss, to drink and talk of old times in the Faderland. On one such trip he brought his wife along, and after supper he and Voss went into the store to spend the evening, while their wives remained behind. The old men drank freely and each complained to the other of his wife's misconduct and insubordination, till they agreed to go into the back room and give the women a "d--n vipping." The women, whose curiosity was excited by the loud talk of their "old men," listened at the glass door and gathered the purpose of their proposed visit. Then, putting out their light, they awaited the coming of their lords, who blundered and staggered in, one holding the candle and both armed with cowhides. The candle was knocked or blown out by one of the women, who secreted themselves, and left the men groping about in the dark, when Eiffert encountered Voss, and, mistaking him for his wife, exclaimed: "Now, you -- --, I gifs you hell in vonce!" and scored him unmercifully with the cowhide till out of breath, when he heard the latter calling out in piteous tones, "Mine freindt, my vife vip me !"
Below are newspaper articles about East Granby:
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