Hundreds of people turned out the afternoon of Saturday, December 6, 2025 for the gathering at the Hagood Mill Historic Site Pavilion in memory of Dennis Chastain. Friends of Dennis and Jane formed a line that lasted the duration of the event, as they paid their respects to Jane and fondly remembered Dennis.

It’s still hard to believe that he’s gone, having unexpectedly passed away in his sleep. I was shocked on Friday, November 21 to hear that he had passed away that day. Everyone was shocked. It was totally unexpected. You might not know when the last time might be that you see someone.

The photograph above brings back a memory with friends Dennis and Jane on the top of Sassafras Mountain on Earth Day, April 22, 2019, the day of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the observation tower on the highest peak in the state of South Carolina. Many years earlier, when I was the Editor of The Pickens Sentinel, I went to Sassafras Mountain for the first time, with Dennis and Pickens Mayor Ted Shehan and a Pickens High School student who was shadowing Ted that day. At that time, a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina planned to build a home there, and Dennis asked me to write a story, which I did, about the need for the state to preserve the land that should belong to the people of South Carolina.

Dennis was well known as a local historian and writer. I have said that he was a wealth of knowledge. I was privileged to hear him speak at several events, and I have been serving with him and Jane on the Pickens County 250 Committee.

In September, we lost Anne Sheriff, another friend and Pickens County 250 Committee member and a Pickens County Historical Society board member, another person who made a remarkable impact on our county. She and Dennis both worked for a long time toward the rebuilding of Fort Prince George. I’m sorry that neither of them will be able to see it when it happens.

Dennis was a good man who will always be remembered fondly.

Click on this link to read the in-depth story on Dennis published in November, a few days after he passed.