Florence County
62 places on the trail: 62 highway markers.
Colonial (pre-contact to 1763)
Era of American Revolution (1764-1783)
- 21-09BrowntownThis area is part of several royal landgrants to Moses Brown in 1768-69 which developed into a family community known as...
- 21-07Dewitt BluffLocated about ½ mile east, this bluff, part of a Royal landgrant to Edward Crofts in 1740, was named for the DeWitt fami...
- 21-05Ebenezer ChurchIn January of 1778 Ebenezer Baptist Church was constituted by pioneer minister Evan Pugh and Richard Furman, for whom Fu...
- 21-54Graham Home PlaceThe Graham family was among the first European settlers in Lake City, formerly named Graham’s Crossroads. This site, own...
- 21-25Hopewell Presbyterian ChurchThis church, organized ca. 1770, is the first Presbyterian church in what is now Florence County. Many of its founding f...
- 21-35Joshua Braveboy PlantationThis site was part of the 150-acre plantation of Joshua Braveboy (1740-fl. 1820), a free black who served in the S.C. mi...
- 21-04Marion at Port's FerryPort's Ferry, 3 miles NE on the Pee Dee, was owned and operated by Frances Port (c. 1725-1812), widow of Thomas Port, wh...
- 21-34Mars BluffThis is the center of Mars Bluff, a rural community 8 mi. across in both directions, bounded by the Great Pee Dee River,...
- 21-02William GeeA veteran of the Revolution, William Gee served as a private with the Continental Line of N.C. and moved to this area be...
- 21-03Witherspoon's FerryIn use during the American Revolution, Witherspoon's Ferry was the site where Francis Marion accepted command of the Wil...
Antebellum (1816-1860)
- 21-37Church StreetBefore the 1820s this intersection of two major roads, one from Georgetown to Camden and the other from Charleston to Ch...
- 21-19Florence Depot (1852)The original depot named Florence was built here in 1852, where the Wilmington & Manchester RR crossed present-day Hoffm...
- 21-15Hewn-Timber CabinsThe African Americans who built the two hewn-timber cabins that stand 200 yds. S on Wallace Woods Road were brought to M...
- 21-55Mars Bluff Rice GrowersFrom the 18th century until c.1920, African American farmers grew rice in nearby fields. While not a major cash crop in ...
- 21-13Ney SchoolAbout 1843 Robert Rogers (1808-1882), a planter at "Blooming Grove" in the Back Swamp community of what was then Darling...
- 21-23Pisgah Methodist ChurchThis church, founded in 1806 in what was Darlington District until Florence County was founded in 1888, grew out of an e...
- 21-27Red DoeThis house was built in 1846 for Evander A. Gregg (1818-1874), a planter in what was Marion District. Its high masonry b...
- 21-11Roseville PlantationRoseville Plantation was established by a royal grant before the American Revolution and a house was built here ca. 1771...
- 21-18Roseville Plantation Slave and Freedman's CemeteryThis was originally the slave cemetery for Roseville Plantation. Roseville, established about 1771 by the Dewitt family,...
- 21-46TimmonsvilleTimmonsville was founded in 1852 and named for Rev. J. Morgan Timmons. Initial growth was spurred by the Wilmington and ...
- 21-12William R. Johnson HouseThis Greek Revival house was built ca. 1854 for William R. Johnson, (1813-1893), physician, planter, and legislator in w...
- 21-43Willow Creek Baptist ChurchThe congregation of Willow Creek Baptist Church can trace its origins to the early 19th century when it was first associ...
Civil War (1861-1865)
Reconstruction (1866-1876)
- 21-22JamestownThis African American community, which flourished here for 70 years, has its origins in a 105-acre tract bought in 1870 ...
- 21-17Mt. Zion Methodist ChurchThis church, founded in 1868 with Rev. James Wesley Johnson as its first minister, held its early services in a brush ar...
- 21-24The Assassination of Rep. Alfred RushAlfred Rush (d. 1876), a black state representative for two terms during Reconstruction, was assassinated near here, abo...
- 21-31Wilson SchoolWilson School, later Wilson High School, was the first public school in Florence, and stood here from 1866 to 1906. At f...
New South (1877-1913)
- 21-50Beth Israel CongregationJews have lived in Florence since the city’s founding in the 1850s and were among its early civic leaders. Local Jews fi...
- 21-48Frank Mandeville Rogers Jr.Frank Mandeville Rogers Jr. (1857-1945) of Florence Co. was influential in the development of Bright Leaf Tobacco in S.C...
- 21-16Greater St. James A.M.E. ChurchThis church was founded in 1883 by a Rev. Hill and twenty-five charter members. Early services were held in a member’s h...
- 21-30Gregg-Wallace Farm Tenant HouseThis house, built as a one-room tenant house ca. 1890 and later enlarged several times, features a narrow front porch an...
- 21-40H.H. Singletary BuildingThis two-story commercial building was built in 1910 by Henry Horace Singletary (1848-1912) as the H.H. Singletary Compa...
- 21-20HannahHannah, named for the Hannah/Hanna family, was known as Cane Branch or Lynches River before a post office was opened her...
- 21-39Lake City Produce MarketsLake City was a significant produce market as early as 1894, shipping fruits and vegetables to Northern markets until Wo...
- 21-38Lake City Tobacco MarketsFarmers in this vicinity began growing tobacco in the early 1890s, and by 1895 Lake City opened its first tobacco market...
- 21-44McLeod Medical CenterThe McLeod Infirmary was located here in 1906, inspired by the need to provide access to local medical and surgical care...
- 21-52Salem United Methodist ChurchThis Methodist church organized in 1871, when trustees acquired ½ acre of land north of the Jeffries Creek Public Road f...
- 21-60Snow Hill Baptist ChurchSnow Hill Baptist Church organized in the 1880s. Tradition holds the church initially worshipped under a brush arbor on ...
- 21-36The Lynching of Frazier BakerIn 1898 a building here was the scene of a lynching that sparked outrage across the nation. Frazier Baker, an African Am...
- 21-49Trinity Baptist ChurchTrinity Baptist organized in 1868, with Rev. Wesley J. Parnell (d.1873) serving as its first pastor. The church initiall...
- 21-33W.T. Askins HouseThis Folk Victorian house, with pierced brackets and fretwork on its two-tiered porch, was built ca. 1895 for William Th...
- 21-06Young FarmIn 1925 U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, later U.S. president, inspected Fred Young's dairy farm following rec...
World War I and the Interwar Period (1913-1941)
- 21-29American Legion Post #1This post, organized in May 1919 and chartered by national headquarters in June 1919, was the first American Legion post...
- 21-51F.H. McLeod HouseThe brick house at the corner of Palmetto St. and Dargan St. was built c.1919 as the home of Dr. Frank Hilton McLeod (18...
- 21-53Florence High SchoolThis three-story building was constructed in 1921 to house Florence High School. A fireproof facility, it was designed b...
- 21-58Green's Funeral HomeThis is the original site of Green’s Funeral Home, a prominent African American-owned business in mid-20th century Lake ...
- 21-45Historic Downtown African American Business DistrictThe 200 and 300 blocks of N. Dargan St. were once the center of a thriving African American business district in Florenc...
- 21-61Masonic HallThis two-story wood frame building dates to c.1924 and was originally a meeting hall for several African American masoni...
- 21-14Mt. Zion Rosenwald SchoolThis school, built in 1925, was the first public school for African American students in the Mars Bluff community. One o...
- 21-63Palmetto SchoolBy the 1910s this was the site of Palmetto School, a public school for African Americans. It was housed in a wooden buil...
- 21-42Palmetto State Bank RobberyConstructed in 1907, this building originally housed Farmers and Merchants Bank. In 1934 the newly formed Palmetto State...
- 21-57St. Beulah Missionary Baptist ChurchSt. Beulah Missionary Baptist Church likely organized in the late 19th century. They acquired this site from the Jeffrie...
- 21-21William H. Johnson BirthplaceWilliam Henry Johnson (1901-1970), one of the most important African-American artists of the 20th century, was born near...
World War II and After (1941-present)
- 21-59American Legion StadiumAmerican Legion Stadium opened at this site in 1941. The 2,500-seat facility was built by the Works Progress Administrat...
- 21-26Atomic Bomb Accident at Mars Bluff, March 11, 1958In 1958, in the midst of the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped an atomic bomb near here. The unarmed 7,6...
- 21-47Civil Rights Sit-InsOn March 3-4, 1960, members of the Florence Youth branch of the NAACP staged protest demonstrations here at the former S...
- 21-56Ebony Guest HouseIn 1949, Ebony Guest House, a prominent local tourist home for African Americans, opened at this site. It was owned and ...
- 21-32Lawton-Chase HouseThis Art Moderne house, completed in 1939 for Joseph Maner Lawton, has housed the Florence Museum since 1953. It was des...
- 21-62Richmond RestRichmond Rest, a popular African American tourist home, opened north of here by 1948. It was owned by Lillie Richmond (d...
- 21-41Whitehead InfirmaryDr. James Whitehead (1906-2004) was a graduate of Lake City H.S. and the Medical University of S.C. After completing his...