Sam McMillan (center), retired vice president of operations at Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, enjoys the barn porch with his father, Paul (now 97), and wife, Jody.
Photo by Josh P. Crotzer
When Scottish immigrants came to the United States in the 18th century, they ventured down the spine of the Appalachians and settled in places that looked like home. Those who ended up in Oconee County found a series of creeks, valleys and river bottoms, which were attractive places for them to plant what served them best, corn.
Their homes had gardens where they grew vegetables and fruit orchards, most often apples. They kept chickens and cows and fed them the corn. In other words, they were self-sufficient and very independent.
I felt like I was driving back in time when I recently visited Sam and Jody McMillan, who live in the small Oconee County community of Madison, nestled on the banks of the Tugaloo River.
Just like Sam’s Scottish forebearers, the McMillans work hard. After 40 years at Blue Ridge Electric, Sam recently retired as vice president of operations. Throughout those years, he and Jody have carried on the family legacy of working a garden—planting corn, beans, peas and okra—and sharing it with relatives, friends and co-workers.
And just like their ancestors, the McMillans want a place to sit at the end of the day where they can look at their garden tilled and their chickens fed and appreciate what they’ve done with their own hands.
That place is a small porch off the barn. It’s the place where Sam and Jody find rest and peace. It’s where they could grieve after the death of their 16-year-old daughter in 1992 and where they reflect on the memories they’ve collected through 40 years in that valley.
That little barn porch overlooking the valley around it occupies just 96 square feet, but it inhabits so much more. It is a perfect example of the difference between space and place. As they sit in their metal spring-motion chairs and look across their land and the river, the McMillans can see hundreds of years into the past and generations into the future.
I like to think that electric co-ops serve places, not spaces. Co-ops have maps that can tell you the exact distance the closest pole is to your meter, or how many miles of line are providing power to members. But there are no maps that can tell us the value of family histories as rich as the soil they’ve tilled. No data can quantify the type of service co-op members enjoy when the people serving them are caring neighbors like Sam and Jody. No book can completely capture the story of South Carolina’s people, their land and their places.
But I’ll try.
In upcoming editions of this column, I will take us to other places of importance in our state. They aren’t all homes overlooking a rural landscape, like Sam’s barn porch. But enduring within them all are histories, memories and meanings that make them special and uniquely South Carolinian.
Mike Couick is president and CEO of The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc., the statewide association of not-for-profit electric cooperatives.