Cattle ranching and hunting! Those are the activities Harry Frank Guggenheim used his Daniel Island land for. And they’re also the answers to the first Daniel Island Historical Society “What Do You Know” history quiz. Mark Morgan was the winner of our first puzzler…. the only entry to get both answers right!
But the quiz is more than an opportunity to win a contest. It’s also a chance for all of us to learn a bit more about Daniel Island history. For instance, as you walk through Smythe Park did you ever realize that just 60 years ago it was part of a hunting preserve?
Present day Smythe Park is an area that once served as the site of deer and dove hunting on Daniel Island. In the morning, guests of Mr. Guggenheim would hunt at his “Cain Hoy” Plantation and in the afternoon on Daniel Island. It was so popular that a shed was built in this area for the skinning and rendering of the deer. Did we mention “exclusive”? Only Guggenheim guests had access to hunting on Daniel Island.
Guggenheim would purchase the lower two thirds of Daniel Island in 1946 and starting raising cattle on the land soon after. By mid-1960, his herd was over 2,000. Late in 1969, Guggenheim was battling cancer and sold most of his herd for one million dollars. The northern part of Daniel Island remained a cattle ranch until the early 1990’s. Near the intersection of present day Delahow and Woodford Streets was a cattle corral, two grain silos, and a truck scale. The cows were weighed as they came onto the ranch and again as they left for market.
Read the Daniel Island News article at http://www.thedanielislandnews.com/news/what-do-you-know