Swamp Rabbits and Shoeless Joe #AtoZChallenge

Today, we return to Greenville, South Carolina to investigate swamp rabbits and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

No, I don't have any pictures of real swamp rabbits.  Just a statue of a rabbit I found in Greenville, South Carolina.

This will have to do, which brings up the question "why would Greenville, South Carolina have a statue of a rabbit?  And what does that have to do with Shoeless Joe Jackson?

Bear (no pun intended) with me.....

A swamp rabbit is a large cottontail rabbit (the largest cottontail, actually) and is found in the Southeast United States and Gulf Coast regions.  They are good swimmers, too.

One had a famous encounter with President Jimmy Carter in 1979 while he was fishing near Plains, Georgia.  The hissing rabbit apparently tried to climb into Carter's boat.  It may have been trying to escape some dogs.  The rabbit was dubbed a "killer rabbit".

I don't know exactly why swamp rabbits are popular in Greenville, but it could have originated as Sa local name of the Greenville and Northern Railway that began operating in 1920. After the railroad ceased operations part of it eventually became part of a 22 mile walking/multi use trail that runs from Travelers Rest, South Carolina through Greenville.   The name of the trail?  Well, of course, the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

As for Shoeless Joe Jackson, he was a baseball player that you may recall from the hit movie "Field of Dreams".  "If you build it, they will come" and the ghost of Shoeless Joe was one of them that came.  But let's start at the beginning.

In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of trying to throw the 1919 World Series to the opposing team, the Cincinnati Reds, for a payment of $5,000.  One of them was South Carolina's "Shoeless Joe" Jackson.  They were acquitted in a trial, but the baseball commissioner banned the eight players for life.  

After the scandal, Jackson returned to Greenville and ran a dry cleaners and a liquor store.  Shoeless Joe Jackson died in Greenville, South Carolina in 1951, at the age of 64, and is buried there.

Enter two somewhat lost tourists....

When we were driving around trying to find a Swamp Rabbit trail head (parking can be difficult), we passed Woodlawn Cemetery.  Something rang a bell - "quick, drive into that cemetery!" I asked my spouse.  "I think this is where Shoeless Joe is buried."

 

After a little searching, we found it.

There is also a museum devoted to Shoeless Joe in Greenville, but we were not in town the one day of the week it is open.

"S" Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme:  Exploring South Carolina and the Eastern United States.