South Carolina from A to Z

“G” is for Greenwood County (456 square miles; 2020 population 71,074). Located in the lower Piedmont southwest of the Saluda River, Greenwood County was created in 1897. Its boundaries were carved out of Abbeville and Edgefield Counties. Thus, Greenwood joined four other new counties, all established in 1897 to strengthen the rural base of Ben Tillman's political machine. The new county possessed...

“G” is for Greenwood (Greenwood County; 2020 population 23,356). In 1850 the village of Woodville's name was changed to Greenwood and the town was incorporated in 1857. After the Civil War, Greenwood became a bustling railroad town.  The local economy, based on agriculture and transportation, was altered dramatically in 1890 with the opening of the Greenwood Cotton Mill. The town emerged as a cent...

“C “is for Clemson University. In 1888 Thomas G. Clemson left his Fort Hill property and an endowment to the state in order to create a separate agricultural college. Additional funding came from the federal government through the Hatch Act and Morrill Act, which provided funds in support of agricultural and land grant institutions. Clemson Agricultural College opened in 1893. From its inception u...

“M” is for Malaria. Malaria was arguably the most significant disease in the history of South Carolina. It is a parasitic infection caused by protozoa known as plasmodia and transmitted by anopheline mosquitoes. Two types of malaria dominated in South Carolina. Both are highly debilitating diseases that produce lethargy and vulnerability to other infections. The first, and milder form, probably ca...

“L” is for Lancaster County (549 square miles; 2020 population 100,926). Lying in the north-central portion of South Carolina between the Catawba and Lynches Rivers, Lancaster County was created in 1785 from the northeastern part of the Camden Judicial District. The county was named for Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which many early settlers originated. These pioneers were mostly small farmers, gr...

“K” is for Kiawah Island (Charleston County; 2020 population 1,626). Kiawah is a small barrier island situated south of Charleston between the mouths of the Stono and North Edisto Rivers. It is named for the Kiawah Indians, who lived in the vicinity at the time of European contact. In the early eighteenth century planter John Stanyarne purchased the island and cleared it for indigo production. Ind...

“J” is for Jamestown. Jamestown was the first Huguenot settlement on the Santee River in what became Berkeley County, across the river form the Georgetown/Williamsburg county line. Huguenots settled the Santee region soon after 1672, when the Lords Proprietors resolved to create a colony, or square, of twelve thousand acres at Jamestown. The first church of St. James Santee was built before the vi...

“I” is for Iodine. The chemical element iodine is relatively rare. It occurs naturally as a trace element in certain soils, rocks, seawater, plants and animals. In humans, it is largely found in the thyroid gland, which secretes iodine-bearing hormones responsible for regulating metabolism. A deficiency of iodine causes an unsightly swelling of the neck and jaw known as goiter. In the late 1920s t...

“D” is for Duke’s mayonnaise. Eugenia Duke mixed her first batch of mayonnaise in her Greenville home sometime in the early twentieth century. Unlike the commercial versions that were coming on the market, there was no sugar in Duke’s mayonnaise recipe. And thanks to her use of cider vinegar, her product had a pleasing tartness. During World War I Duke sold sandwiches to servicemen stationed at ne...

“C” is for Clark, Septima Poinsette (1898-1987.) Educator, civil rights activist. Born in Charleston, Clark attended Avery institute and completed its teacher training program in 1916. Her first job was to teach at Promise Land School, an overcrowded and underfunded rural school for African Americans on Johns Island. In 1919 she was one of several Black Carolinians who successfully petitioned the...

“C” is for Clarendon County (607 square miles; 2020 population 33,415). The first Clarendon County was created in 1785 but was combined with Claremont and Salem Counties to form Sumter District in 1800. In 1855 the legislature established Clarendon District from the southern half of Sumter, which became Clarendon County in 1868. The county was named in honor of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, one...

“C” is for Claflin University. Responding to the urgent need to educate former enslaved persons, northern Methodists established Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1869. The Claflin family of Massachusetts provided financial support to start the institution. The university opened its doors in October 1869 and students were admitted without regard to race, color, creed, religion, o...

“C” is for Clemson (Pickens County; 2020 population 17,780). This college town began as town of Calhoun around a railroad depot. Incorporated in 1892, it was located about a mile from the new campus of Clemson Agricultural College. Due to confusion caused by the simultaneous existence of post offices named Calhoun and Calhoun Falls in other parts of the state. In 1943, a residents’ petition result...

“H” is for Horry County (1,134 square miles; 2020 population 365,449. Horry is the largest of South Carolina's forty-six counties, forming a wedge between North Carolina and the Atlantic Ocean. The county was named for Peter Horry, an officer in the Revolutionary War. The Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Pee Dee Swamp on the west and south made communication with other South Carolinians difficul...

“C” is for Civil Rights Act (1964). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed all spheres of public life--social, political, and economic. It guaranteed all American citizens access to public facilities, accommodations, and schools that received federal money, as well as ensuring their ability to vote in federal elections and to be employed on a nondiscriminatory basis. The act proved to be important...

“B” is for Board of Public Works. The national trend toward improving waterways and other public facilities led South Carolina to create the Board of Public Works in December 1819. The board hired William Jay to develop stock plans (to save money) for new courthouses and jails. In 1820 Robert Mills replaced Jay. Mills revised plans for buildings under construction and developed plans of his own. M...

“B” is for BMW. The German upscale automaker Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) originated in 1916 as an aviation-engine manufacturing company. The company expanded to produce motorcycles and automobiles in the 1920s. In 1994 BMW opened its first complete automobile manufacturing line outside Germany in Greer, South Carolina. The Spartanburg County location won out over 250 other localities around the...

“B” is for Bluffton Movement (1844). On July 31, 1844, under a large oak (the Secession Oak) in Bluffton SC, the first organized political movement with the express goal of South Carolina's independent secession from the United States was born. The “Bluffton Movement” as it became known, was a call to secession if the South was not guaranteed its rights to slavery, a lower tariff, and states’ righ...

“B” is for Bluffton (Beaufort County; 2020 population 28,230). Bluffton originated as a summer resort from antebellum plantation owners of Saint Luke’s Parish in Beaufort District. Located on the twenty-foot high bluffs of the May River and facing the cool, southerly winds, it was an ideal summer refuge. The town, known first simply as May River and later as Kirk's Bluff, was officially named Bluf...

“B” is for Blues. A powerful form of secular African American musical and cultural expression, blues developed in the South around the turn of the twentieth century, a product of the large plantations and railroad, mining, and logging camps where Black workers congregated. With thickly idiomatic, metaphorically charged lyrics, early blues songs confronted everyday life with humor and resilience bu...

“W” is for Winnsboro (Fairfield County; 2020 population 3,130). Winnsboro, the seat of Fairfield County, lies in the Piedmont on a ridge between the Broad and Wateree Rivers. Incorporated in 1832 and named for the Revolutionary War hero Richard Winn, the town became a religious and educational center. The county courthouse was redesigned by Robert Mills. Another striking architectural feature of W...

“S” is for Simpsonville (Greenville County; 2020 population 25,272). Incorporated in 1901, Simpsonville began many decades earlier as a crossroads hamlet where the old Stage Road intersected a former Cherokee trail. In 1838 the farmer Peter Simpson arrived and established a blacksmithing operation. As his services grew in popularity, the crossroads became known as Simpsonville. For much of the twe...

“S” is for Simons and Lapham. The Charleston architectural firm of Simons and Lapham was formed in 1920 by Albert Simons (1890-1980) and Samuel Lapham (1892 to 1972). Simons studied at the College of Charleston, the University of Pennsylvania and in Paris. Lapham graduated from the College of Charleston and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the 1920s Simons and Lapham were busy with co...

“S” is for Simons, Katherine Drayton Mayrant (1890-1969). Poet, novelist, playwright, historian. Born in Charleston Simmons was interested in literary pursuits since her early childhood The first of her three books of poetry appeared in 1912 and she was a charter member of the poetry Society of South Carolina. Simons later created a national reputation for herself in the field of fiction. Her seri...

“S” is for Simms, William Gilmore (1806-1870). Poet, historian, novelist. Born in Charleston, Simms was a voracious reader and an acute observer. In 1832 he traveled to New York where he met a group of young writers and critics and their publishers. He returned to Charleston determined to make a living as a professional writer. During the next three years he wrote three novels, including The Yemas...