Thicketty Creek, just north of Grindal Shoals

The Pacolet River – from the modern bridge. Grindal Shoals ford was less than a mile upstream from here.

Sandy Run Creek where it is crossed by Bobby Faucett Rd. This spot was once John Foster’s land

The region of northern Union County where my Fosters lived

Here I paused to take a picture. I thought the valley was pretty. It turned out to be Foster and Jasper land in the distance and I was standing next to James Moseley’s home place to my left.

 is not as rich in farm land or industry as areas further south in the county.  In pioneer days land near water was highly prized and the valley of the Pacolet was premium.  But floods and soil erosion mean that today where once a community thrived near the ford across the Pacolet on John Grindal’s property, today there is just bush.  Gone are the textile mill, the stores and houses.  Today the Ridgerunner Hunt Club seems to be the chief landowner.  The hopes and efforts of this community and memories of the bloodshed for it at the time of the Revolution left with most of the residents by the time of the Civil War.  Frederick and Jarrett Foster left for Tennessee between 1830 and 1840.  Perhaps Thomas Foster left for Alabama then Texas, we aren’t yet sure.  John Foster, Jeremiah, John Jr., and James Moseley remain only in memory and the soil.