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“The Hedges” was the home of nationally prominent sportsmen, Rogers L. Barstow, Jr. and Harry D. Kirkover, who introduced and developed both Polo and Steeplechase racing in Camden. Their activity resulted in national prominence for the area and made both equine sports the dominant part of the area’s culture and tradition. Camden is now recognized as one of the nation’s earliest sites of organized Polo and enjoys the title “The Steeplechase Capitol of the World.”

Rogers L. Barstow, Jr. was only 23 years of age when he came to Camden. This exceptionally handsome scion of an immensely wealthy old Massachusetts family had just inherited a vast fortune. He arrived in Camden in his private Pullman car with “a bag of gold in one hand and a Polo mallet in the other.” It is reputed that he stated that he liked the area but there was nothing to do here. A skilled Polo player, Barstow immediately organized, trained and outfitted a local polo team. In 1898 he laid out and developed the Polo field that is the third oldest in the country. It is now on the National Register and is still in use. Barstow, organizer of the Camden Polo Club (one of the oldest in the U.S.P.A.) was a great teacher and his Polo team prospered in Camden. It is believed he commissioned the Camden Country Club Challenge Cup of 1901, which is one of the oldest Polo trophies in the United States. Polo ponies were unknown in Camden at that time and he dazzled the local residents when he brought his personal string of 22 Polo ponies to town by railway and paraded them through Camden on the way to their new home, the stables built behind Barstow’s home.     TOP

Barstow married in 1898 and commissioned the internationally known New York Architect, William S. Richardson, of the Architectural firm, McKim, Mead and White to design a lavish mansion and stables for him in Camden. He hired David R. Williams of Mulberry Plantation to oversee the construction of his new residence. With his continual extravagant entertaining and a who’s who list of nationally prominent houseguests (including the duPont family and their young daughter Marion), his home, to the delight of local citizens, became the glittering social center of Camden. The dashing Great Gatsby-like Barstow forever changed the social climate of the quiet, small southern town of Camden and was known as the “Father of Polo”. Barstow duplicated the social activities and amenities that he enjoyed in Boston in Camden and by doing so enhanced its attractiveness as a destination for the impending invasion by wealthy Northerners seeking winter residences. His activities were beneficial to Camden almost immediately. A northern acquaintance of his decided that Camden needed a luxury hostel for wealthy Northerners and built the imposing Kirkwood Hotel. The proposed site included land recently acquired by Barstow and the decision to put it there was strongly influenced by Barstow and also by the adjacent Polo field and nearby golf course that he had recently introduced. Completed in 1903, this was Camden’s finest hotel.    TOP

Years after Barstow had spent all his millions and left Camden, horseman Harry D. Kirkover came to Camden from his winter home in Southern Pines, North Carolina to see a Polo match. He was so impressed that he decided to relocate his winter residence to Camden and did so in 1925. He purchased Barstow’s home, renaming it “The Hedges”, and revived its equine traditions. In 1926, Mr. Kirkover convinced his close friend and fellow New Yorker, Ernest L. Woodward to relocate to Camden. Woodward did so in 1926 purchasing “Holly Hedge” across from Kirkover’s home, “The Hedges”. Mr. Kirkover, a Harvard graduate, was a great sportsman, world traveler and excelled in many areas. He was a championship level tennis player and golfer. He was considered to be the foremost trap shooter and competitive marksman in the United States. He was a skilled horseman and excelled in fox hunting in the Genesee Valley of New York where he lived. Kirkover was an active fox hunt organizer and huntsman in that area and brought his skills to Camden. He was a highly successful breeder of hunting dogs and his kennels of pointers and setters at “The Hedges” were considered to be the finest in the United States, dominating national competitions for years. Mr. Kirkover also was a respected steeplechase horse trainer, having trained the famous steeplechase winner, Hotspur. He was active in these circles throughout the United States and England and was in great demand as a steeplechase judge.    TOP

In 1928 while hunting, Mr. Kirkover came upon a stretch of land in the Camden area that he immediately felt would be ideal for a steeplechase tract. He showed the property to his friend, Mr. Woodward, and convinced him of his idea to develop it as a steeplechase course. They jointly purchased the land. Next they laid out what is now considered to be the finest steeplechase track in the United States, the first race being held in 1930. Mr. Kirkover was considered to be an expert designer of steeplechase courses and he used this skill in designing the Springdale Course and its jumps. He drew heavily on his knowledge of the tracks in this country and in England. He designed what he felt was a course second only to Aintree in England. His ingenuity in designing a drainage system for the track is a marvel to this day. He incorporated a similar drainage system at his Camden home. For the next quarter century, Mr. Kirkover ran the steeplechase course and races as essentially a one-man operation. He established the discipline and procedures that got it successfully through its crucial formative years. Under his expert guidance it prospered and is now the highly successful, nationally recognized annual event. The original office of the Carolina Cup for 28 years was in a corner of the ballroom at “The Hedges”. Here, Mr. Kirkover had a desk for himself and later added another for his assistant, Ray Woolfe. When Mr. Kirkover died, Ray Woolfe had learned enough under his tutelage that he was able to take over management of the course. During Mr. Kirkover’s period, the famous Carolina Cup trophy was kept in the library at “The Hedges”. Also during this era, most activities relating to the steeplechase races were held at “The Hedges”. All the prominent race goers and dignitaries of that period visited the home.     TOP

In 1933, the Sportsman Magazine featured “The Hedges” as one of Camden’s outstanding sporting estates. Not only had Mr. Kirkover influenced Mr. Woodward to come to Camden, but the successful steeplechase activities encouraged Marion duPont’s return as well. A man of many interests, Kirkover had collaborated with the Du Pont Company in perfecting smokeless gunpowder. Marion duPont Scott was a close friend of Harry Kirkover and gave him a large photo album of his life’s activities in Camden. She personally inscribed it to him in appreciation for his role in establishing steeple chasing and equine activities in Camden. Kirkover was dubbed “Camden’s Dean of Horsemen”. The album is now housed at the Camden Archives. When Kirkover passed away, his collection of several hundred silver award trophies were scattered, but Marion duPont Scott did acquire some of his rare hunting books, paintings and rifles.     TOP

Harry Kirkover was a world traveler and, as in Barstow’s time, “The Hedges” was a gathering place for many of the famous individuals that he knew. Among his hundreds of personal friends were Buffalo Bill Cody; Annie Oakley and her husband, Fred Butler; Jenny Jerome and her son, Winston Churchill; Lord Beaverbrook; Howard Carter (excavator of King Tut’s tomb); Sir Charles Hanson (Lord mayor of London); scores of members of England’s House of Commons and House of Lords and most of the racing gentry of Britain and Ireland. He regularly attended, and was at home at, England’s famous courses: Ascot, Goodwood, Aintree and Lepardstown. His many friends included Ernest Hemmingway, Bernard Baruch, Andrew Carnegie, Joseph Kennedy, Paul Mellon, John D. Rockefeller, Douglas Fairbanks, Bing Crosby, Kirkover’s very close friend J. P. Morgan (an annual houseguest at “The Hedges”) and the governors of South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia for over 30 years.

Shortly before his death in 1958, the City of Camden and Kershaw County presented Harry Kirkover with a joint proclamation thanking him for his great contributions – the Carolina Cup and equine sports – that have so enriched the life of the community and that of the entire area.     TOP

It seems unusual that Barstow and Kirkover never knew each other: both were Northerners, roughly the same age, Harvard men, skilled horsemen and lovers of equine sports. Each separately added entirely new equine dimensions to Camden that completely changed the culture and tradition of the community resulting in it becoming a nationally known center for horse enthusiasts. When “The Hedges” was their respective home, it was well known by its nationally famous visitors and thus “The Hedges” had a profound affect in changing and enriching a community’s way of life and permanently altering its identity, culture and traditions.

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