Agriculture

South Carolinians, like other rural Americans, ate corn in some form at virtually every meal. Corn was consumed fresh as a vegetable; it was also ground into meal and baked or fried into various breads. As flour, it was used to coat meats, vegetables, and fish for frying. Corn was rendered into syrup and distilled into whiskey. Hominy, a corn derivative, gave the South its most beloved signature dish: grits.

Cornbread—whether made with cooked grits, coarse meal, or fine corn flour—has maintained its popularity, from the Piedmont to the coast, throughout South Carolina’s history, whereas virtually all of the rice breads have disappeared from Carolina tables.

Cotton was the basis of the state’s agricultural economy at the end of the antebellum period, employing more than eighty percent of the slave labor force.

Dabbs was also one of the South’s principal twentieth-century Christian churchmen and theologians, although he never claimed this distinction for himself. He certainly was the chief lay theologian of his denomination, the Presbyterian Church of the United States.

To promote tobacco culture, Daniel enlisted experienced leaf growers from North Carolina as “instructors.”

Darlington gained notoriety in the 1890s as the site of the so-called “Dispensary War,” which reflected the unpopularity of the state dispensary system in the Pee Dee region.

Deveaux and his Loyalist partisans are believed to have been responsible for burning the Prince William Parish church at Sheldon in April 1779. Deveaux was commissioned as a major in the South Carolina Loyalist militia known as the “Royal Foresters” and served the British army occupying South Carolina for the next three years.

Finally, after five elections, three surveys, and fifteen years of political maneuvering, all of the requirements for the creation of the new county were met. In a referendum on December 14, 1909, voters supported a new county by an overwhelming margin, 1,615 to 272. Dillon was selected as the name based on the name of its largest town.

In 1757 colonial officials authorized construction of a tabby fort at the town of Dorchester, which subsequently made the region an active theater of combat during the Revolutionary War.

Drovers contributed to the prosperity of the districts through which they passed, as taverns, stations, and farms provided feed, pens, and accommodations.

The author or co-author of thirteen books, Nathalie Dupree initiated what has been called the “new Southern cooking movement” that swept across the United States.

The Edisto River flows through sparsely populated and generally undeveloped forest and cypress-tupelo swamps, and has been nationally recognized for its scenic beauty and ecological value.

Although a highly respected legislator and banker, Elliott is perhaps best remembered for his activities as a botanist.

In South Carolina, the Alliance movement “swept over our state like a wave” in the late 1880s, first appearing in the Pee Dee region.

Although the association’s early rhetoric claimed that it was separate from the Democratic Party, it quickly became a means for Tillman to preempt the party’s movements.

Although the county’s economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, Florence was home to several industries as early as the 1890s.

Other textile mills followed, but Fountain Inn remained primarily a commercial hub for nearby farmers. Twentieth-century transportation developments reinforced Fountain Inn’s prosperity, as the town straddled what emerged as a major north-south highway in the upstate.

Created by an act of Congress in March 1865, the bureau grew out of efforts by northern Republicans and reformers to bring the free labor society and culture of the antebellum North to the post-emancipation South.

Unlike many traders, Galphin maintained amicable trade relations with the Creek and Cherokee. He was respected by his Native American clients and traveled freely through their territories.

During Reconstruction, with its large black majority, Georgetown County became a Republican Party stronghold. Even after the return of Democratic rule to South Carolina after 1876, African Americans in Georgetown County still held significant political power. They shared control in uneasy cooperation with local whites in a process called “fusion” until 1900, when white control was reestablished.