Upstate South Carolina HistoryHernando DeSoto was the first European explorer to visit Upstate South Carolina in 1577. He found an extensive network of native Indian towns and villages. “ The people were dark, well set up and proportioned, and more civilized than any who had been seen in all the land of Florida (North America); and all were shod and clothed. ...on Monday, the seventeenth of that month, they (with DeSoto) departed from there (near Union) and spent the night in a forest; and on Tuesday they went to Guaquili (Spartanburg), and the Indians came forth in peace and gave them corn, although little, and many hens roasted on barbacao, and a few little dogs, which are good food. These are little dogs that do not bark (opossum perhaps), and they rear them in the houses in order to eat them. They also gave them tamemes, which are Indians who carry burdens. And on the following Wednesday they went to a canebrake (Inman), and on Thursday to a small savanna (Landrum) where a horse died” Not finding the gold and treasure he sought, Desoto continued on his journey through North Carolina on to the Mississippi River. What he did not know, and would not have cared if he did, is that in his wake he left a trail of plague and disease that decimated the native South Carolina Indian population. DeSoto actually paved the way for future European colonization of South Carolina. When later explorers and settlers arrived they found deserted towns and promptly built their own settlements on the ruins. This tactic was again utilized when the US Government furnished smallpox infected blankets to the Cherokees. This allowed the weakened remnants of this one proud and powerful nation to be forcefully relocated to Oklahoma via the infamous “Trail of Tears”.
The British built Fort Prince George in 1753 on the banks of the Keowee River in Pickens County. The fort was the site of several battles with the Indians. When the Cherokee sided with the British in the Revolutionary War a Colonial army destroyed many of the Cherokee towns including the main settlement of Old Seneca. A peace treaty was signed in 1777 and the Cherokee withdrew from all of South Carolina except for a part of what is now Oconee County. Upstate South Carolina is rich in Cherokee history and legends. Farmers still find Cherokee artifacts during spring plowing although spring plowing is also disappearing from the Upstate landscape. Numerous Cherokee place names like Seneca, Keowee, Isaqueena, and Oconee are still in use. The Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina, now the home of a Harrah’s casino, is only a short drive from the Upstate. In addition to the defeat of the Cherokee, the Upstate played a major role in the defeat of the British in the Revolutionary War. Numerous battlefields are located in or near the Upstate and many are National or State Parks. These include Cowpens, Kings Mountain, and Star fort at Ninety Six. Pickens County is named after the Revolutionary War hero Andrew Pickens and his sword is on display in the Pickens County Museum. With the end of the Revolutionary War and the retreat of the Cherokees, settlers from other parts of the state began flooding into the area. Greenville and Spartanburg became the major towns and centers of trade. Farming was the major occupation with cotton and corn being the principal crops. Like the rest of the south, Upstate South Carolina was devastated by the Civil War and ensuing Reconstruction period. However, recognizing the enormous potential of the Upstate rivers, dams and mills sprouted across the area. Each mill had its corresponding “mill village”. Each village was independent with a company store, company doctor, and company sports teams. The great baseball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, began his career as a Textile League player in Greenville. The textile mill became a way of life for most Upstate residents lasting into the 1980’s and 90’s. Growing foreign competition has proved to be the doom of the textile industry in South Carolina. Most of the textile mills are now just empty hulks dotting the landscape. Some are in the process of being town down with the fall of their giant smokestacks the last gasp of an entire way of life. A way of life immortalized by native Pickens County writer and correspondent Ben Robertson in “Red Hills and Cotton”. With this enormous loss of jobs, Upstate leaders realized that new industries were needed if the area was to prosper. Foreign industries were vigorously wooed with incentives. Technical schools were built to retrain workers for these new industries. As a result major corporations like Michelin, BMW, Hitachi and Bosch have built factories and headquarters in the Upstate. A stroll along the revitalized Main Street of Greenville is testimony to the forethought of these leaders. Now the Upstate of South Carolina has become a haven for those seeking opportunity, education, recreation, culture, and a sense of history. Join us and find your new home in Upstate South Carolina. DeSoto's Trail Through the Upstate Cowpens National Historic Site Reconstruction after the Civil War Upstate South Carolina Genealogy Page Lonefalcon's Personal Page A pictoral and historical tour of Pickens County.
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