‘We own it’: Former plantation, Clevedale offers ‘feast for modern pilgrims’
Subject
Clevedale; South Carolina; Modern Pilgrims
Description
Spartanburg County has grown by approximately 18% over the last decade. And similar double-digit growth has happened in Greenville County, attracting not only new industries, but people. Some who are rethinking Thanksgiving celebrations.
Executive chef William McClellan is feeling the pressure on deadline.
“You’ve got to get it right,” McClellan said. “It doesn’t matter who’s on the guest list because everybody’s VIP.”
And he’s accustomed to being under pressure after decades crafting menus for celebrity and presidential events.
“That list includes both President bush’s — George H. and George W., and President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama,” McClellan said.
But there’s something about feeding 80 modern pilgrims — a collective of strangers for Thanksgiving Day dinner.
“I don’t want to mess that word up,” he said.
Dinner at Clevedale Historic Inn and Gardens is not a Friendsgiving, it’s a feast for modern pilgrims. At a site that’s both rich in heritage and hospitality, where fellowship is the main course.
“The truth is we’re all pilgrims,” said Paul Abernathy, Clevedale Historic Inn and Gardens co-owner. “Nobody gets out of early life alive. All of us are on a pilgrimage and we go different paths. This is one day we can bring everyone together in one place to do one thing.”
To feast and fellowship at Clevedale, a Spartanburg bed and breakfast, that previously served as a plantation established in the late 18th century operated by the Cleveland family.
“I think it took some people off guard,” said Pontheolla Abernathy, Clevedale Historic Inn and Gardens co-owner. “People would come to the door and would knock, and I would open the door and say, ‘hello’ – and sometimes (strangers) would say things like, ‘Are you Elizabeth’s girl?’ or ‘How long have you worked here?’ And then I would say, I don’t work here, in that sense. I own it.”
It was a plan the out-of-towner, or pilgrim had as a child.
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Source
Publisher
foxcarolina.com
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