South Carolina from A to Z

“B” is for Blease, Coleman Livingston (1868-1942). Governor, U.S. senator. Born near Newberry, Blease obtained a law degree from Georgetown University and was admitted to the bar. In 1890 he was elected to represent Newberry County in the S.C. House of Representatives. In 1905 he was elected to the state senate. Blease ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1906 and 1908 but won the office in 1910 and...

“L” is for Longstreet, James Peter (1821-1904). Soldier. Born in Edgefield District, Longstreet was a graduate of West Point. His service record—especially during the Mexican American War—was highly commendable. In June 1861 he resigned his U.S. Army commission and entered the Confederate Army. In 1862 Robert E. Lee made Longstreet his second in command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Longstreet...

“H” is for Honea Path (Anderson County; 2020 population 3,690). A water stop on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad in the 1850s developed into a town whose name origin is uncertain. Honea Path may be misnamed for William Honey, an early landowner, or it may be double named by Cherokee Indians, with “Honea” being an Indian name for “path” according to folklore. In 1917, the town was incorporated...

“H” is for Holmes, Nickels John (1847-1919). Clergyman, educator. Born in Spartanburg, Holmes was licensed as a Presbyterian minister and served several churches in Spartanburg County. In 1893 he formed a school that in time became known as Holmes Bible College. In 1895 after experiencing entire sanctification or holiness, Homes became an itinerant evangelist--preaching sanctification and divine h...

“G” is for Greenville (Greenville County; 2020 population 70,899). The sixth largest city in South Carolina, Greenville traces its origins to 1797 when plans for the courthouse town for Greenville County were laid out. In 1831, the legislature granted the village a municipal charter. Growth was slow until after the Civil War when Greenville became a leading cotton market and a center for the growi...

“D” is for Drayton Hall (Charleston County). Established in 1738, Drayton Hall is a historic plantation located between the Ashley River and Ashley River Road, about nine miles from Charleston. At the time of its construction, its two-story, brick main house with raised basement was representative of current English Georgian architecture. Its recessed, two-story portico—the earliest of its kind in...

“D” is for Dock Street Theatre (Charleston). Incorporating the nineteenth-century façade of the Planters’ Hotel, the Dock Street Theatre is a fine example of New Deal Construction and illustrates a key tenet of historic preservation: retaining streetscapes. By 1736 Charleston boasted a theater—fronting on Queen Street (then called Dock Street) that had been lost by the nineteenth century. In 1809...

“C” is for Chamberlain, Daniel Henry (1835-1907). Governor. Born in Massachusetts, Chamberlain came to South Carolina in 1866 to attend the affairs of a deceased Yale classmate. He entered politics as a delegate from Berkeley County to the 1868 constitutional convention. From 1868 to 1872 he served as attorney general. In 1874 he became the Republican candidate for governor and won the general ele...

“B” is for the Best Friend of Charleston . Commissioned by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, the Best Friend of Charleston was the first locomotive built in the United States for public service. Constructed in New York City, the locomotive had its formal debut on Christmas Day 1830, pulling passenger cars from Charleston to Dorchester. Its performance exceeded expectations, with one...

“A” is for Ayers, Sara Lee Harris Sanders (1919-2002). Native American potter. Ayers was born on the Catawba Indian Reservation near Rock Hill. She probably learned to make pottery from her grandmother, a full-blooded Catawba. By 1939 her work was so popular that she spent half the year selling her pots in Pennsylvania and the other half working in a textile mill. In 1962 she and her family left t...

“W” is for Wilkes Fund Controversy. In December 1769 the Commons House of Assembly appropriated £1,500 for the defense fund of British radical John Wilkes. Through long practice the Assembly had gained financial control by issuing money from the public treasury without the consent of the governor or council—repaying it from the next year’s tax bill. London’s response was a “Special Instruction” th...

“D” is for Drayton, William Henry (1721-1779). Revolutionary leader, planter. Born in St. Andrew’s Parish, Drayton attended Balliol College, Oxford. Returning home he opposed the non-importation association in a series of essays that resulted in his being ostracized politically, socially, and economically. In 1770 he sailed for England where he was seen as a supporter of the crown. He was rewarded...

“C” is for Chicora, Francisco de. Indian captive. Born in the early sixteenth century, the man Spaniards baptized as “Francisco” was a native of the present-day South Carolina coast. In 1521, he was captured by Spanish slave traders and taken to Santo Domingo. There, he was purchased by Lucas Vàzuez de Ayllón and taken to Spain. In Spain, chroniclers (including Peter Martyr) heard Francisco’s tale...

“C” is for Chicken bog. While anecdotal evidence exists that the name chicken bog was related to the “boggy” nature of is home, the Pee Dee, culinary historians agree on one thing: that a “bog (unlike a pilau) is any stew that includes wet, soggy rice.” Traditionally, the ingredients are chicken, rice, sausage, and onions, seasoned with salt and plenty of black pepper. The best chicken to use is a...

“C” is for Cheves, Langdon (1776-1857). Legislator, congressman, bank president. Born in Abbeville District, Cheves acquired much of his education through intensive personal study. Admitted to the bar in 1797, he soon had a statewide practice. In 1802 he was elected to the S.C. House of Representatives and held his seat until 1809. In 1810 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a “...

“C” is for Chesterfield County (799 square miles; 2020 population 45,606). Chesterfield County was established in 1785 when the legislature divided the Cheraws Judicial District into three counties. The origin of the name might have been Chesterfield County, Virginia, from which many early settlers came. The earliest settlement was at Cheraw Hill at the head of the navigation for the Great Pee Dee...

“B” is for Blanchard, Felix Anthony, Jr. (1924-2009). Football player, Heisman Trophy recipient. “Doc” Blanchard was in Bishopville. He started playing football as a junior high student in Bishopville. In 1942 he played freshman football at the University of North Carolina. In 1944 he received an appointment to West Point. Blanchard distinguished himself as a fullback on the West Point football te...

“B” is for Blake, Joseph (1663-1700). Governor. Blake was a leader of the Dissenter faction in South Carolina. A native of England, he immigrated to the colony sometime before 1689 when he was active in local politics. Shortly after his arrival he was named a proprietary deputy and member of the Grand Council. In 1694 he purchased the proprietary share of Sir John Berkeley and became one of the se...

“W” is for Wilson, Charles Coker (1864-1933). Architect. A native of Hartsville, Wilson graduated from the South Carolina College and later studied at the Ècole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He established a practice in Columbia and over the next quarter century   (with several partners), he was responsible for numerous buildings throughout the state. Among these buildings were Davis and LeConte Colleg...

“S” is for Sherman’s march. This campaign under General William Tecumseh Sherman is one of the more controversial of the Civil War because of the damage it wrought to civilian property. On February 1,1865 Sherman’s forces began their thirty-mile-wide march into South Carolina. Despite skirmishes, the Union army reached Columbia without much opposition. Along the way some fourteen small towns (incl...

“S” is for Sheriff, Hilla (1903-1988). Physician, public health official. A native of Pickens County, Sheriff attended the College of Charleston and the Medical College of the State of South Carolina. In 1929 she opened a pediatric practice in Spartanburg. From 1933 to 1940 she served as deputy and later chief health officer for Spartanburg County. In 1940 Sheriff became the assistant director of...

“S” is for Shepard, Charles Upham (1804-1886). Chemist, mineralogist, naturalist. Born in Rhode Island Shepard graduated from Amherst and worked at Yale with famed mineralogist Benjamin Silliman. In 1834 the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston appointed Shepard professor of chemistry. A highly respected and popular teacher he also arranged mineralogical collections and botanical facili...

“R” is for Rogers, George Washington, Jr. (b. 1958). Football player. Born in Atlanta, Rogers grew up in Duluth, Georgia where he was a star football player. At the University of South Carolina, he would finish his career with twenty-seven 100-yard plus games. In 1980 he ran for 1,894 yards on 324 carries for a 5.8 y Her efforts to train and license lay midwives in South Carolina Her efforts to tr...

“P” is for Pinkney, Bill (1925-2007). A native of Dalzell, Pinkney began singing gospel songs as a child working in Sumter County’s cotton fields. He would go on to a stellar career performing around the globe as an original member of the Drifters. The group became a rhythm and blues (R&B) pioneer, and in 1954 signed a contract with Atlantic Records. In 1988 members of the Drifters were induct...

“P” is for Pines. Nine native pine species are found within South Carolina. South Carolina pines can be divided into two general groups, white pines and yellow pines. The eastern white pine is the only white pine in the state. The rest of the pines are yellow: loblolly; longleaf; slash; Virginia; shortleaf; pitch pine; pond; table mountain; and spruce. Loblolly and slash are the preferred species...