The first, depicting an unnamed Confederate solider, has stood in place since 1915, while the second, portraying abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman, is a traveling exhibit by Cashiers sculptor Wesley Wofford that just arrived in September and will be gone by the time this paper publishes. 

While it’s been around for more than a century, the Confederate statue came under fire amid a nationwide debate on the place that Confederate monuments should have in the modern public square. Last year saw a pair of opposing protests , along with hours of public comment and debate before both town and county commissioners. Ultimately, county commissioners decided to keep the Confederate statue in place. This year, they installed new plaques on the base to cover the original, pro-Confederate messaging. 

To say those changes did little to mollify the statue’s opponents would be an understatement, but Harriet Tubman’s arrival brought widespread celebration .