Surveyor carves out his own niche in dying art

By day, David Gillespie works as a surveyor. In his free time, he chips away at a dying art -- tombstone carving. The Pickens resident will demonstrate his artistry at the Fall Heritage Festival and Pickin' Party on Saturday Oct. 13 at the State Museum. We talked with him about his hobby, his tools and his inspiration.

How did you get started?

My fifth great-grandfather was Andrew McComb. He was a tombstone carver in Abbeville in the Colonial period in the 1780s to 1820. He carved John C. Calhoun's grandmother's tombstone down in the Abbeville area, the Indian Massacre grave in Troy, S.C. It was for Catherine Calhoun and 22 others massacred by the Indians. ... And pretty much the reason why I carve is because he carved a good bit, but when he died, there wasn't anyone to carve his (tombstone). And we know about where his grave is. And I got into it to mainly carve his. Mainly, we didn't have the money to put one up, and we thought it would be real significant to be the one to carve it. Read more