Actor Mark Walberg broke the internet recently when he was shown visiting Aiken, Sc and found a supposed 24-hour gym to be closed.
Walberg is not the first celebrity to visit Thoroughbred Country, Aiken has long been a favorite of celebrities, and some have bought homes and lived there.
In fact, a tally of A-list celebrities who have enjoyed the distinctly Southern town is quite long.
At the turn of the 20th Century, Augusta had become a mecca for wealthy Northern tourists who would escape the harsh winters in favor of golf outings and picnics on Lake Olmstead.
The reason Augusta was chosen was because the eastern rail line ended in the Garden City. Naturally, the leaders of Aiken at the time wanted in on the action and grand hotels such as the Hampton Terrace in North Augusta as well as golf courses sprung up across the river from Augusta.
According to the South Carolina Picture Project, Hampton Terrace was a resort within itself, boasting 300 rooms, an 18-hole golf course and every amenity one could imagine.
On days when the weather wasn’t agreeable, the high society folks would enjoy multiple-coarse feasts in lavish dinner halls that lasted for hours.
However, with the extension of the railroad, the CSRA fell out of favor with the elite crowd. The harbinger of the decline might have been on New Year’s Eve of 1916 when the Hampton Terrace burned down and was never rebuilt.
While Augusta mainly went back to being a textile manufacturing town, Aiken’s equestrian scene continued to grow and thrive.
Unlike Augusta, Aiken’s Winter Colony did not go out with a whimper. According to Atlanta Magazine, F. Scott Fitzgerald was fascinated with the town and its equestrian culture. The magazine states that, in 1925, Fitzgerald would model his character of Tom Buchanan, in The Great Gatsby, after Tommy Hitchcock Jr., Aiken’s world-renowned polo player. The likes of the Vanderbilts, Whitneys and Astors also found their way around Aiken’s polo scene and called the town home — at least part of the year.
Horse racing was certainly one thing that attracted Fred Astaire to Aiken. The fact that Astaire was married to wealthy New York socialite Phyllis Livingston Baker, who had family ties in the area was also a plus for the superstar dancer.
One reason Astaire only made 31 movies over a 70-year career was that he was not impressed with Hollywood and the emerging celebrity culture. Rather, he enjoyed the simple lifestyle spent with his family in Aiken.
Astaire found himself more comfortable on a green fairway with highballs than a red carpet with flashbulbs.
Astaire once told the Aiken Standard that the town was a place where he could separate himself from the characters he played on film.
“I am not the same Big Show you see in the ring when you see me at the grocery store buying milk. Out in the real world, I am just a big kid from South Carolina,” Astaire told the Standard.
While most Aikenites gave Astaire his space and treated him like everyone else, Astaire was known to dance up and down the stairs in front of the Aiken Post Office to the crowd’s delight.
During the 1940s and 1950s, more celebrities would find Aiken a comfortable place to relax between projects. According to the City of Aiken Tourism Division, Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Andy Williams were all regulars to the town.
In 1939, a relatively unknown comedian, Sarah Colley, was attempting to craft her new stage persona. She was to perform in Aiken, but at the last minute lost the hat she planned to wear.
Undaunted, Colley took to the shops and found an even better straw hat but forgot to remove the price tag. The Aiken Tourism Division reports that while on-stage the tag popped out of the hat leading to enormous laughter.
And so was born the Grand Ole Opry legend Minnie Pearl.
…And that is something you may not have known.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
