528 tea bags tell the story of a Revolutionary War heroine with Laurens County roots
October 7, 2026
The Laurens County Museum will display “Behethland’s Loom,” an award-winning piece by South Carolina artist Andie Thompson, alongside the American Revolution Experience traveling exhibit when it comes to Laurens later this month.
Thompson created the work from 528 used tea bags. The piece reflects her family connection to the Revolutionary War through her ancestor, Behethland Butler, a woman the Daughters of the American Revolution recognize as a South Carolina heroine of the war.
Both “Behethland’s Loom” and the traveling exhibit will be on view at the museum Oct. 31 through Nov. 12.
A heroine with roots on the Little River
Behethland Foote Moore was born in December 1764 in Fauquier County, Virginia. Around 1768, her family moved to South Carolina and settled along the Little River in Ninety Six District, in an area that became Laurens County when the South Carolina General Assembly divided the district into counties in 1785. Her father, Capt. Frank Moore, who had served in Virginia troops during the French and Indian War, died about two years after the move.
Her mother later remarried Capt. Samuel Savage, and in 1774 the family relocated to the Saluda River, in an area that later became part of Edgefield County. Behethland received more schooling than most girls of her era and was educated in Camden.
Her most celebrated act of courage came in 1781, as war swept through the South Carolina backcountry. When word of danger needed to reach Capt. Wallace, who commanded a small force across the Saluda River, no man was available to carry the message. Behethland, then a teenager, volunteered. Accompanied by her young brother and a friend, Fanny Smith, she paddled a canoe up the river in the middle of the night to deliver the warning. The alert was passed along to Col. Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, whose troops were then retreating under orders from Gen. Nathanael Greene.
Accounts of the period also describe her confronting British soldiers who raided her family’s home for food and livestock, and stepping between a Loyalist raider and a servant he threatened to beat.
The morning after her nighttime river crossing, a young American dragoon officer, Capt. William Butler, stopped at the house to ask questions. The two married in 1784. William Butler went on to serve in Congress and as a major general commanding South Carolina forces during the War of 1812, leaving Behethland to manage the family farm, business and household during his long absences.
The couple raised seven sons and one daughter. Among them were Andrew Pickens Butler, who served as a U.S. senator, and Pierce Mason Butler, a South Carolina governor who was killed leading the Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican War.
Behethland Butler died Dec. 2, 1853, and is buried in the Butler United Methodist Church cemetery near Saluda. A DAR chapter in the Upstate bears her name.
About the traveling exhibit
The American Revolution Experience is a joint project of the American Battlefield Trust and the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Locally, the Sullivan-Dunkin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Battlefield Trust are presenting the exhibit at the Laurens County Museum.
The pop-up exhibition began as an online project in 2022 and is touring libraries, historical societies and museums across the country through 2027. It features 12 display panels and three interactive digital kiosks that use storytelling, primary accounts and illustration to introduce visitors to ordinary people whose choices shaped the war, including Patriots and Loyalists, women, Black and Native Americans, and international allies. The illustrations are the work of South Carolina-based artist Dale Watson.
The exhibit is supported in part by matching funds from the National Park Service’s American Battlefield Protection Program.
The display is part of Laurens County’s observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
Admission to the Laurens County Museum is free. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and is closed Sunday and Monday.
