PICKENS — The descendants of Berry and Caroline McKenzie will gather at the Hagood Mill Historic Site on Saturday for the first time in more than 150 years to celebrate their exodus from slavery at the mill to freedom in the Golden Grove community in Travelers Rest.

The McKenzie family will visit the Hagood Mill site where generations of their ancestors toiled and built the wealth of one of Pickens County’s most prosperous families. The history of Hagood Mill cannot be completely told without the narrative of enslaved families who made it thrive.

After a tour of the Hagood Mill site, the McKenzie family will travel to Cold Springs Church and to the Hagood family cemetery to pray and lay flowers on the graves of slaves in honor of Berry and Caroline McKenzie, who are believed to be buried in one of these plots.

As an integral part of Pickens County’s culture and heritage, the McKenzie family seeks to celebrate the efforts of South Carolina churches, Pickens

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