The interest in creating a Greater Piedmont Chapter began approximately twenty years ago and culminated at an organization meeting on 24 May 1976 at the Palmetto Club in Columbia, SC.
Nine Explorers from North and South Carolina met that day. George Fulton and Horace Byrne conducted the meeting. George Fulton explained the procedures to be followed in petitioning for Chapter status. He also indicated that an initiative to establish a Greater Piedmont Chapter might be welcome and favorably regarded by the Chapter Relations Committee.
Horace Byrne noted that ten members must petition The Explorers Club for a charter to form a new Chapter, and already twenty-five members had signed petitions in the four-state region for the new Chapter. A motion was adopted to forward the petitions and documentation to New York for action by the Chapter Relations Committee and Board of Directors of The Explorers Club.
On 15 June 1976, the Chapter Relations Committee recommended approval of the creation of the Greater Piedmont Chapter to the Board of Directors. The minutes of the Chapter Relations Committee state: "the area is to include North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Presently we have 44 members in that area and 29 have signed a Petition for a Chapter formation."
Horace Byrne was asked to act as interim Chairman of the Greater Piedmont Chapter. Plans were begun for an inaugural meeting of the Chapter in the fall of 1976. Dr. F. John Vernberg invited members to consider the Hobcaw Barony, site of the Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine Biology and Coastal Research as a location for the inaugural meeting.
The Greater Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers Club was inaugurated on 30 October 1976, in Georgetown, SC. Horace Byrne and George Fulton worked diligently to bring the Chapter into existence and organize the inaugural meeting. To emphasize the importance of the event, officials from The Explorers Club in New York in attendance included: Mr. Virgil Kauffman, President; Dr. Charles F. Brush, First Vice President; Dr. George V. B. Cochran, Second Vice President, and others. The meeting included a tour of Hobcaw Barony and Blakes Reserve, a bird rookery in Georgetown County, SC. The inaugural banquet was held at the Sea Gull Inn in Georgetown. Further details are contained in a Press Release.
The spring weekend meeting of the Greater Piedmont Chapter was held at Duke University from 18 - 20 March 1977. Participants toured the Duke University Medical Center, the Hall Laboratory for Environmental Research and the Duke Forest.
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©1997 by The Greater Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers Club
