Effective:
11/26/2008
Revised by: PMK
Old Anderson County Courthouse
Erected 1898 and Twice Renovated
Photo by: Philip Cheney
Anderson County
and its county seat,
Anderson,
were named for Revolutionary War general Robert Anderson (1741-1812). This
region was occupied by the
Cherokee Indians
until 1777, when it was ceded by treaty to the state. Part of the "Indian Land"
became Pendleton District (also called Washington District at one time.) The
area was given its present name in 1826, when Pendleton District was split into
Anderson and Pickens. Most of the early settlers of this area were Scotch-Irish
farmers who moved south from Pennsylvania and Virginia in the eighteenth
century. The oldest town in the county is
Pendleton,
which was founded around 1790; it became a popular summer resort for low country
planters in the nineteenth century. Some famous residents of Anderson County
were United States senator and governor
Olin
D. Johnston (1896-1965), business leader
Charles E. Daniel (1895-1964), and composer
Lily Strickland
(1884-1958).
(Submitted by:
SC State Library / Mary Morgan, 31-Mar-2008)
