Peedee

During the era before home rule, when South Carolina remained primarily rural, managing county farms and chain gangs was an essential function of county government.

During the early 1960s Checker had thirty more chart hits. Eleven of these reached the top twenty, including a re-release of “The Twist” in 1962 that reached number one and made Checker the only artist to have had the same single song at number one on different releases.

Cheraw’s position on the Great Pee Dee made it an important point of trade and commerce from its inception.

On November 19, 1860, at Chesterfield Courthouse, one of the first secession meetings in the state was held. At the Secession Convention, John Inglis of Cheraw introduced the resolution calling for South Carolina to secede from the Union.

Traditionally, the only ingredients are chicken, rice, sausage, and onions, seasoned with salt and plenty of black pepper. The best chicken to use is an older hen, past good egg production, free-range and full of flavor; the second choice is a fat rooster.

Francisco was a youth or a young man in 1521, when Spanish slave raiders captured him with a group of sixty men and women from a land whose name the Spaniards understood to be “Chicora.”

As was the case with other coastal plain districts, the antebellum Clarendon economy revolved around slavery and cotton.

At the start of the twenty-first century, Coastal Carolina had an enrollment of more than 4,600 students and some 200 full-time faculty. While more than half of the students are South Carolina residents, the remainder come from all over the United States and more than forty countries.

Despite challenges, Coker College held on to its roots in the liberal arts.

It was Charles Coker who brought modern industrial and managerial practice to the family-controlled business. He established an industrial research and development program, developed a dedicated sales staff, and emphasized long-range planning.

From the World War I era until his death, Coker became an agricultural evangelist, promoting diversification, improved farming methods, and his seeds through numerous speeches, articles, and personal visits.

In addition to writing novels, Coker reviewed books and published satirical poems in various newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. For some four decades she was deeply engaged in other efforts that defined her era’s literary and cultural life in South Carolina and the region.

Coker's mill and process had a significant influence on the future development of the southern pulp mill industry. In the years following, Coker expanded the firm as it supplied pulp and paper products throughout the country.

Along with his varied business concerns, Coker took a strong interest in promoting education. Largely through his efforts and financing, Coker College, originally a liberal arts college for women (later coeducational), was established in Hartsville in 1908. Coker’s long and successful career provided a human face to the state’s successful transition from the Old South to the New South.

Over the years the company maintained a staff of talented plant breeders and became a major supplier of improved seeds for field crops.

By 1992 Columbia Farms had grown to become the largest poultry processor in the state and one of South Carolina’s ten largest privately held companies.

Conwegians have sought to preserve their past even as they enjoy the present. Many historically significant residences, churches, and commercial and public buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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.

Despite its notable industrial sector, agriculture dominated the way of life in Darlington. The long agricultural tradition in the county gave rise to the development of numerous heritage-wildlife preserves, parks, and gardens.

Darlington’s unique shape, coarse racing surface, and preferred racing line that runs dangerously close to the racetrack’s retaining wall make it one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit.