Kershaw

Today, Kershaw County is known as an important equestrian area.

In 1732, the area now known as Kershaw County was settled by English farmers and traders from Charleston. The county emerged in 1791 out of lands from Richland, Claremont, Lancaster, and Fairfield counties. The county’s namesake, Joseph Kershaw, was an early settler in the area.

Kershaw County played a critical role in wars that shaped this nation. During the Revolutionary War, the British took over Camden, the county seat, for over a year beginning in 1780. A number of Revolutionary War battles also occurred in the county, most notably the battle of Camden and the Battle Hobkirk Hill. An event known as Revolutionary War Field Days takes place annually to honor the county’s role in the United States’ fight for independence.

General Sherman burned Camden during the Civil War. Many of the most notable Kershaw County locals lived during this period in history. Six Confederate generals called this county home. Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, whose diary-style account of the Civil War, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, “is generally acknowledged today as the finest literary work of the Confederacy,” was also a Kershaw County local.

Today, Kershaw County is known as an important equestrian area. The Carolina Cup International Steeplechase Races occur in Camden every year. The National Steeplechase Museum, the only museum of its kind in North America, also exists in Kershaw County. The area also offers recreational opportunities via Lake Wateree and a thriving Antique and Arts District in Camden.

SOURCES: History of Kershaw County. Accessed June 06, 2016. Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut. Accessed June 06, 2016.

Carolina Cup | From the Sky

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Experience the thrill of the Carolina Cup in Camden where history and tradition collide at the oldest inland city's annual steeplechase horse race. Held at the Springdale Racecourse, this event draws...

Battle of Camden | Carolina Snaps

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The Battle of Camden during the American Revolutionary War is one of the most notorious battles to ever take place on U.S. soil. The Battle of Camden occurred on August 16, 1780. The evening before...

A Polo Match In Aiken | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 12

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A polo match in Aiken. Both Aiken and Camden have been noted for polo matches, and for sportsmen who raise and train the polo ponies essential to this mounted team sport. 1930s, WPA. Courtesy of the...

Old Market And Court House, 1836 Engraving | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 4

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This small engraving showing a faded sketch of the "Old Market and Court House, 1836" was probably copied from an earlier sketch of Camden as it appeared around 1820. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana...

Plat Map Of Camden | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 3

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The town of Camden was one of the first official settlements to be laid out in the interior of South Carolina in the 1730s. Settlers flooded into the backcountry during the quarter century of peace...

Camden's Main Street, 1910 | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 2

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Camden's Main Street, around 1910. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.

The Kershaw County Courthouse | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 1

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The Kershaw County Courthouse was designed by famed South Carolina architect Robert Mills and built in 1826. The original courthouse had Ionic columns; local citizens, who wanted a more "modern"...

Dedication Of Woodward Airport | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 2

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Dedication of Woodward Airport, just outside of Camden, in Kershaw County, 1929. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.

Advertising Brochure For The Hobkirk Inn | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 4

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An 1891 advertising brochure for "The Hobkirk Inn, established 1882" in Camden, shows a small girl and a rustic arbor to attract visitors to Camden's old gardens and pleasant winter climate. Courtesy...

Front Hall Of Camden's Mulberry Plantation | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 3

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The front hall of Camden's Mulberry Plantation, with its beautiful interior curving stairway, did not escape the decorative impact of the Victorian era. (For examples of the external decoration of the...

Brochure by the Southern Railway | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 6

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A brochure put out by the Southern Railway describes "Camden, SC 1908, A Winter Tourist Resort on the Southern Railway." Photos inside the brochure lure tourists with a description of the beauties of...

The Gardens At Court Inn | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 5

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Camden was famous for its elaborate formal gardens. This photograph of the gardens at Court Inn, around the turn of the century, shows benches placed under an ivy-covered shelter. Courtesy of the...

Greek Revival Style House In Camden | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 4

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This house, originally built in the Greek Revival style in Camden, perhaps as early as 1850 judging from the cornices, was later heavily ornamented with Queen Anne cutwork and balustrades on the porch...

Cornwallis House | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 6

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The Cornwallis House in Camden was the headquarters of Cornwallis for the winter the British troops remained there during the Revolutionary War in an attempt to pacify the South Carolina backcountry....

The Reynolds House | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 1

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The Reynolds House, Camden, was built by Dr. George Reynolds in the early 1830s. A fine example of Greek Revival style, it serves here as a showcase for the family gathered on the porch and surrounded...

The Monument of DeKalb | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 18

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"The Monument of DeKalb who fell fighting bravely in defense of the rights of man on the plains of Camden, SC, August 16th, 1780. Erected in the town of Camden. Front of the Presbyterian Church: the...

The Camden Male Academy | History Of South Carolina Slide Collection

Episode 2

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The Camden Male Academy was conducted as a semi-military academy, training young men in martial skills by Charles H. Peek in Camden from 1859 until his death in 1863. Many of the cadets, shown here in...

Banastre Tarleton | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 134

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Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833), known to South Carolina revolutionary leaders as "Bloody Tarleton," first came to Charleston as an officer under General Clinton's command in the failed attack on Fort...

Carolina Style | Palmetto Special

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Grades: 3 4 5

This lesson is a brief survey of the art, architecture, literature and theatre of South Carolina. It opens with a series of skits where "comedic characters" "put down" South Carolina's interest in...

Colonel James Chesnut | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 40

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Born in Camden, Colonel James Chesnut (1815-1885) graduated from Princeton and began a law practice in Camden. He served several terms in the South Carolina state legislature from 1840 to 1858. In...

Mary Boykin Chesnut | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 39

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Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886) was the wife of James Chesnut Jr., and a famous Civil War diarist. Born near Camden, she attended private schools; at Madame Talvande's School in Charleston she first...

Bernard Mannes Baruch | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 14

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Bernard Mannes Baruch (1870-1965) served the United States as an economic planner during both World Wars, and was the author of the Baruch Plan, a post-World War II proposal for international control...

Third Liberty Loan Parade Float | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 7

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Grades: 8

The Kershaw Mills of Springs Manufacturing sponsored this float in the Third Liberty Loan Parade on April 27, 1918, urging mill workers to participate in the war effort by buying Victory Bonds...

Battle Of Camden Map | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 10

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A map of the Battle of Camden. After Charleston fell to the British in 1780, Lord Cornwallis established posts at a number of places in the interior of South Carolina to serve as a base for pacifying...

Kershaw

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