Native nations
The Catawba, Cherokee, Yamasee and the other nations of South Carolina. 68 places on the trail.
Colonial (pre-contact to 1763)
- 02-58"The Middle Road"This road began as a Native American trading path that ran from the fall line of the Savannah River to Charleston. By th...
- 40-50Broad RiverEarly boundary between Cherokee and Catawba Indians. Name first applied about 1745. Faust's Ford, 2 mi. above, used in R...
- 37-27Cane Creek TownThis section of Oconee County was Cherokee land until 1777. Located north of here on the banks of Cane Creek was a small...
- 08-69Carnes CrossroadsCarnes Crossroads was part of a 3,000 acre royal grant to Joseph Thorowgood in 1682. Later, the Etiwan, Native Americans...
- 37-16Chattooga TownChattooga was one of the Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C. during the 17th and early 18th centuries and was a s...
- 37-22Chauga TownChauga, one of the Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C., was near the headwaters of the Chauga River. It, like man...
- 37-21Cheowee TownCheowee Town, sometimes spelled “Chehohee,” and meaning “otter place,” was one of several Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what...
- 08-24Cherokee PathThe main Cherokee Path, which extended from the overhill towns of the Cherokee Indians in present Tennessee to Charlesto...
- 39-23Cherokee PathThe Cherokee Path was once part of an important trade network that connected the Upper, Middle, and Lower Cherokee towns...
- 32-01Congaree FortIn 1718, at a site 2.7 miles east, near the place where the Cherokee Path crossed Congaree Creek, the first frontier out...
- 27-18CoosawatchieCoosawhatchie, dating to the 1740s, was named for the Coosaw tribe. At first it was little more than a store and inn bui...
- 43-05Early Charleston RoadThis road largely followed an old Indian path (1691). Widened by Public Act, 1753, and called "The Great Charleston Road...
- 08-57Early Indian Trading PathsOne of the earliest major trading paths in the Carolina colony, dating from the first decade of English settlement 1670-...
- 39-24Eastatoee ValleyHuman settlement in this valley dates to the Clovis people, present as early as 13,000 years ago. By the early 1700s, th...
- 15-28Edisto IslandThis roughly 68-sq.-mi. sea island has been known as Edisto since at least the 1600s when it was occupied by the Edisto ...
- 08-84Etiwan IslandPrior to European settlement this island was inhabited by the Etiwan Indians. Archaeological excavations in nearby area ...
- 08-86Etiwan VillageIn this area is the site of an Etiwan Indian village. The earliest record of the Etiwan tribe is a 1609 report from a Sp...
- 33-08Fort BooneDriven from the area at the start of the Cherokee War, settlers from Long Canes returned in the fall of 1760 and, under ...
- 39-17Fort Prince GeorgeFort Prince George, covered by Lake Keowee since 1968, was built nearby in 1753, near the unofficial boundary between Ch...
- 37-14Jocassee TownJocassee was one of several Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C. It was located about 2 mi. E on the Jocassee Rive...
- 37-11Keowee TownKeowee Town, which means “mulberry grove place,” was the largest and most important of the Cherokee “Lower Towns” in wha...
- 29-07King Hagler's MurderOn the Catawba Path near here/King Hagler,/Chief of the Catawba Nation/(1750-1763),/was slain on August 30, 1763, by a r...
- 24-01Long Canes MassacreThree miles west is site of an attack by Cherokee Indians upon settlers of Long Canes in the Cherokee War of 1759-1761. ...
- 08-80Martin's TavernNear here stood Martin’s Tavern, also known as the Forty-Five Mile House for its distance from Charleston. On Sept. 11, ...
- 46-06Nation FordTwo miles downstream, prehistoric crossing of Catawba Indians, site of legendary battle between Catawbas and Cherokees. ...
- 37-12Oconee TownOconee, also spelled “Aconnee,” was one of the Cherokee “Lower Towns” in what is now S.C. At the base of Oconee Mountain...
- 32-06Old State RoadThis route follows an old Indian trail, which became a trading path and later in 1747 a public road from Charleston to G...
- 44-01Otterson's FortOne mile east of this point, built by the pioneers of Union County, was one of several stockades used as refuges during ...
- 06-20Red Hill at Turkey CreekThis high bluff was called Red Hill in the colonial era. It overlooks Turkey Creek, which flows into the Great Salkehatc...
- 02-09Savannah TownForerunner of modern towns and highways and known to the English as early as 1685, this Indian town stood at a major nor...
- 26-13SocasteeSocastee is a Native American name referred to as “Sawkastee” in a 1711 land grant to Percival Pawley. A skirmish betwee...
- 32-07The Cherokee PathBefore the Revolution, two major trading routes came together near here. Branching to the west was the road to New Winds...
- 37-03The Cherokee PathThe main trading path to the Cherokee Nation paralleled the route of Highway 11 for several miles at this point. This se...
- 32-11The Sycamore TreeThis tree was planted from a cutting of the old sycamore tree that stood several hundred feet west of here on the histor...
- 08-61The Yamasee War at Goose Creek, 1715In April 1715 Yamasee warriors killed government agents and traders who had come to meet with them at Pocotaligo, in pre...
- 26-34Waccamaw Tribal GroundsThis section of Horry County is part of the ancestral lands of the Waccamaw Indians. By the 1700s the tribe’s territory ...
- 08-62WassamassawWassamassaw, with several variant spellings during the colonial era, is a Native American word thought to mean “connecti...
- 32-16Zion Lutheran ChurchThis congregation, the oldest continuing church in Lexington County, originated with pioneers who settled in this area i...
Era of American Revolution (1764-1783)
- 01-27Bull Town FortEast of here is the site of the colonial-era Bull Town Fort. Likely built in the 1760s, the fort was one of many small B...
- 37-13Cherokee BoundaryThe Cherokees sided with the British during the American Revolution, and in 1776 Maj. Andrew Williamson’s S.C. militia d...
- 23-30Cherokee Boundary (1767)In 1766-67 S.C. & N.C. negotiated with the Cherokee to establish a boundary between Indian land to the west and new sett...
- 39-20Cherokee Village of EssenecaNative Americans inhabited this site prior to the American Revolution. In 1775 naturalist William Bartram described the ...
- 01-18Colonial Block HouseA “block house,” a log building with a stone foundation, stood SE on Parker Creek from ca. 1767 to the 1850s. It was bui...
- 01-06Due WestAs early as 1765, the site 6 miles NW-known to the Indians as Yellow Water and where the Keowee Path crossed the Cheroke...
- 23-33Early White SettlementBy 1768 Indian traders and land speculators Richard Pearis (d. 1794) and Jacob Hite of Virginia acquired large tracts fr...
- 42-08Fort PrinceLocated nearby, this fort protected early settlers from the Indians and served as camp for a detachment of militia en ro...
- 02-75Galphin's FortGalphin’s Fort was a stockaded colonial-era outpost at nearby Silver Bluff. The fort was built at the home and trading p...
- 23-04Indian Boundary LineThis marks the eastern boundary (present Greenville-Spartanburg county line) between the Cherokee Nation and the Provinc...
- 30-08Lindley's FortOn July 15, 1776, a number of Indians and Tories attacked this frontier fort where area settlers had gathered for protec...
- 02-11Samuel HammondBorn 1757 in Virginia, this Indian fighter, who later moved to Edgefield District, attained the rank of Lieutenant Colon...
- 39-13The Battle of Seneca TownSeneca Town, on the Seneca River E of present-day Seneca, was one of several Cherokee “Lower Towns.” On August 1, 1776, ...
- 01-20Treaty of DeWitt's CornerIn May 1777 a delegation of roughly 600 Cherokees and representatives from South Carolina and Georgia met near this spot...
- 01-19Treaty of LochaberIn October 1770, the Congress of Lochaber assembled near here at the plantation of Alexander Cameron, who was deputy sup...
South Carolina in the Early Republic (1784-1815)
- 39-04HopewellHopewell was the family home of General Andrew Pickens, Revolutionary War hero and Indian Commissioner, and his wife, Re...
- 29-12Major Crawford's HomeNear this site was the home of Major Robert Crawford, where President George Washington spent his last night in South Ca...
- 39-07Oolenoy Baptist ChurchThis church, named for the Cherokee chief, Woolenoy—the spelling was changed to Oolenoy in 1827—was organized in 1795 by...
Antebellum (1816-1860)
- 42-11Calvary ChurchThe Reverend John D. McCullough was the first rector of this Episcopal Church, which was established in 1848. The origin...
- 02-46Coker SpringThe freshwater spring less than 1/4 mi. SW was used by prehistoric Indians. It was deeded to the town of Aiken in 1844 b...
- 40-38Congaree River BridgesThis river took its name from the Congaree Indians, a Siouan tribe which occupied the valley until the Yemassee War in 1...
- 15-27Creeltown Indian CommunityCreeltown is a community of Native American families that dates to c.1850. It was named for the family of William “Bart”...
- 46-76Crossroads at Nation FordNation Ford was a pre-contact river crossing used by the Catawba Nation and other groups to traverse the Catawba River. ...