Almost all of the images in this collection document a particular South Carolina place at a specific time in its history. This section, organized alphabetically is not intended, therefore, as a comprehensive list of every South Carolina community. It is actually a fairly impressionistic look at the county seats and rural villages, as well as the cities, in which South Carolinians live and work. For several towns and cities (Beaufort, Camden, Charleston, Columbia, Darlington, Georgetown, Greenville, Spartanburg, and Sumter), an effort has been made to select several images that show how that place has changed over time. Other places were chosen for special features that have made that town unique; still others have been chosen because they illustrate the features that many towns in the state have shared.
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Main Street, Winnsboro, around the turn of the century. Winnsboro, the county seat of Fairfield County, was settled in 1755, incorporated in 1785, and named to honor one of its founders, Revolutionary...
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Map of Taylor's Farm, or the original survey plat of Columbia. Before the Revolution, the newly established settlements in the Upcountry of South Carolina did not have much voice in the government of...
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Newberry County Courthouse, around 1900. The county was originally formed in 1785, and peopled (as was nearby Lexington County) by Swiss and German Lutherans who settled in the rich farmlands between...
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This aerial view of Georgetown was painted by Harper Bond as part of the display for the Georgetown booth at the Charleston Exposition of 1902 (see The Palace Of Commerce) Established in 1735 at the...
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Pelicans nest in the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge on Bulls Island in 1944. Photo by William Baldwin for the U.S. Biological Survey. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
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Plat of Orangeburg, around 1800. The table of reference on the back of the plat identifies the letters as follows: "a. Court House b. Goal c. Ephraim Mitchell's House d. D. Bruce's house e. Public...
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Ridgeland became the county seat of Jasper County when that county was created in 1912. Originally named Gopher Hill when settled in 1855, it was renamed based on its location on a sandy ridge. This...
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Rock Hill, like many Upcountry South Carolina towns, began as a railroad depot in 1852 on the Charlotte-Columbia Railroad. Incorporated in 1870, its real growth came from two influences: the influx of...
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Lewis Hine photographed this row of mill houses in Clinton in 1908, but the town is better known as the home of Presbyterian College, founded by the Reverend William Plumer Jacobs, a Presbyterian...
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Spartanburg County was created out of the old Ninety Six District in 1785, but there were settlements in the area as early as 1761, primarily of Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania and Virginia. Known only...
