The Swamp Fox at Ox Swamp: Manning Mural

[ FOR BETTER RESOLUTION, CLICK ON IMAGE ]
We always seek and glady receive suggestions for interesting places to visit. When we get a tip on a good barbecue restaurant, we take note. When such a tip comes from a State Trooper, we follow up at maximum legal speed with high hopes. We found one of his two recommendations and will report on that at a later date. In the process we found another one of our favorites: a roadside mural, in Manning, SC.

Manning is the seat of historic Clarendon County. We figured that we could cover the town in a few minutes on our original mission, but in the process we ran up on the mural. We can't claim to have known of it in advance and the background on the mural we had to research after the fact. This is part of a series with the other murals located at Paxville, Summerton and Turbeville, SC.

This one is painted on West wall of the Manning Fire Station at the corner of Boyce & Boundary Streets in Manning. Artist, Will Anderson of Statesburg, SC, painted this dramatic mural in 2001. It depicts the South Carolina Revolutionary hero, Francis Marion confounding British troops at Ox Swamp. It was here that British Colonel Tarleton had pursued Marion for six hours only to lose him in the Ox Swamp upon which he reportedly said that even the " Devil himself couldn't find that old fox " . Thus did Francis Marion receive the nickname, " Swamp Fox " at Ox Swamp.