Marlboro County

Established on December 14, 1819, when the General Assembly moved the Marlboro District courthouse to a more central location, by the 1970s the S.C. Highway 9 bypass served travelers passing through Bennettsville on their way to the Grand Strand. Noteworthy natives of Bennettsville include former Bank of America chairman Hugh L. McColl, Jr., Children’s Defense Fund chair Marian Wright Edelman, and former congressman John L. Napier.

Until 1993 Blenheim Bottling Company avoided any attempts at modernization. Each bottle was taken off the production line and hand-shaken to mix the granulated sugar into the ale. That laborious process ended when Alan Schafer, proprietor of the South of the Border entertainment complex located just south of the North Carolina state line, bought out the bottler and built a modern plant. The spicy ale has developed a cult following among food and wine aficionados.

Edelman became active in civil rights as a student at Spelman College. Following the historic sit-in of four black students at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, Edelman and seventy-seven other students were arrested on March 15, 1960, for conducting a sit-in at Atlanta restaurants that served only whites.

The South Carolina legislature elected Evans to the U.S. Senate in 1852 as a Democrat to succeed Senator William F. DeSaussure.

Between big bands, Gillespie led small ensembles or performed with all-star aggregations such as Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a bandleader, he was among the first to introduce Latin musical elements into modern jazz.

During the siege of Boston, Greene began working with General George Washington, an association that would continue throughout the war. Greene’s service with the main (“northern”) army included being the first general to command troops not from his own state. His most important contribution was as quartermaster general, successfully reorganizing the main army’s supply system.

The Quaker Oats Company hired Harrington to travel nationwide portraying “Aunt Jemima” and ultimately made her a national celebrity.

While governor, he urged the improvement of public education. His accusations that corrupt legislators sold “their votes for money and for whiskey” did not win him many friends in the General Assembly.

In 1864 Lynch journeyed to Rome as Confederate commissioner to the States of the Church (the Holy See), seeking papal recognition of the Confederacy and to turn European opinion in the South’s favor.

Marlboro County was formed on March 12, 1785, and named for John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough.

After Lee’s death an intense legal battle ensued among the elite of the South Carolina Bar to settle the estate. To contest the will, the heirs at law employed James R. Ervin, Abram Blanding, and William Harper, three of the state’s most prominent lawyers.

While McColl became a transportation, ginning, and marketing center for eastern Marlboro County farmers, the establishment of McColl Manufacturing Company in 1892 supplied additional growth. By 1896 this mill processed fifty bales of Marlboro County cotton daily and employed three hundred workers, who lived in cottages erected on mill land.

McColl, known for his tough management style and outspoken nature, was also an active supporter of Charlotte’s development. He was the first chairman of the Charlotte Uptown Development Corporation, which coordinated business interests to finance major redevelopment of the central city.

As a member of the House from 1892 to 1897, McLaurin increased his influence in state and national politics. On the national scene he was a strong advocate of free silver, frequently using his oratorical talents throughout the nation.

Built in the summer of 1941 on the site of several abandoned cotton fields, the airfield included barracks, a ground school, and administration buildings. The U.S. Army contracted with the Georgia Air Service to operate the flight school.

Restless by nature, Poellnitz in 1790 exchanged his Minto estate for a 2,991-acre plantation, Wraggtown (later Ragtown), on the Great Pee Dee River in Marlboro County, South Carolina.

The Sandhills are gently rolling hills that form the uppermost portion of the coastal plain in South Carolina. They continue beyond South Carolina westward into Georgia and northward into Virginia.

The backcountry parish of St. David’s was established on April 12, 1768, and included the area of modern Marlboro, Darlington,…

South Carolina’s first backcountry parish and by far its largest in land area, St. Mark’s was established on May 21,…

Educator, clubwoman. Stackhouse was born at Blenheim in Marlboro County on December 14, 1885, to the Baptist minister Rufus Ford…