HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: Old Pickens Presbyterian Church Version 1.0, 5-Jan-2003, FCH-06.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html Contributor: Frederick C. Holder, Box 444, Pickens, SC 29671 **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Frederick C. Holder in 1989 OLD PICKENS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - Built 1849-1851 This single building is the only known surviving structure from the town of Pickens Court House, now commonly called Old Pickens, that remains on the same location where it was built. It is very difficult to imagine this church, now sitting isolated, being part of a town that was the courthouse seat of Pickens District. The congregation was probably organized during the 1840s, although it is impossible to fix an exact date because most of the church records were destroyed around 1901. The church was accepted under the care of the ruling body of the Presbyterian Church of South Carolina (the Presbytery) on October 11, 1847. Construction on the church building began in 1849 and was not completed until 1851. After the courthouse was moved away, the con- gregation apparently declined, and the church ceased to be used by the Presbyterians shortly after 1919. Some evidence indicates that a Baptist congregation also used the structure in the second half of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, the Whitmire family moved to a farm located on part of the site of Old Pickens. The Whit- mires and other Methodist families used the church for religious ser- vices until 1942. The Presbyterians then used the church occasionally after that time until the small congregation of two members was dissolved by the Presbytery on October 1, 1968. The church is now maintained by a preservation group and owned by the Presbyterian Church. Old Pickens was the courthouse town of Pickens District (present-day Oconee and Pickens counties) from 1828-1868. Starting at the Keowee River, where a bridge spanned the water, the small town extended less than three-quarters of a mile to the west. In order to raise money for the construction of the public buildings, the commis- sioners to establish the town began selling lots in the fall of 1827. These purchasers did not receive deeds for their property until 1829. Census records reveal that only a few families lived in the town from 1828-1840. By 1860, however, the town had six merchants, a newspaper, a doctor, and several law offices. Other business places included several blacksmith shops, a stable, a hotel, a boarding house, and a brickyard. Public and semi-public buildings were a church, courthouse, jail, Masonic lodge, and a school, called the academy. Ten to twelve private homes made up the rest of the town. By 1860, the en- tire population numbered a little over one hundred people. Around the edges of the town there were small plantations and farmsteads such as the Pleasant Alexander House, a place called "Gallow's Hill" used for hangings, and the militia ground. (The militia was similar to today's National Guard.) Very few people were ever happy about the location of the town; it was built on a series of small hills in one of the least inhabited areas of the district. The town was a "dust bowl" in the summer and "a mud hole" in the winter, and it was difficult to reach from distant parts of the district. The town was quickly abandoned after the Civil War when the Pickens District was divided in 1868 into Oconee and Pickens counties. Most of the buildings in Old Pickens were torn down and moved to either new Pickens or to Walhalla. Other than a portion of one building now in Pickens (the Hagood-Mauldin House), the relocated structures have seemingly been destroyed. Only the Old Pickens Presbyterian Church serves to remind visitors of the once ex- isting town. Locations: The turnoff onto a gravel road leading to Old Pickens Presbyterian Church is east of Duke Power's World of Energy along East Pickens Highway (Hwy. 183 east) and approximately 1/4 mile west of the Keowee River (the Oconee/Pickens county boundary line). A sign marks the entrance to the road leading to the church. A large building and parking lot approximately 1/2 mile west of the Keowee River along East Pickens Highway (Hwy. 183 east) com- pletely cover the area that was once the center of the town. READING LIST: There is only a small amount of material on Old Pickens Presbyterian Church. For a listing of tombstone inscriptions from the cemetery, see Oconee County, South Carolina Cemetery Survey (Greenville, S.C.: A. Press, 1984), ll:256a-260. A study of Old Pickens is in the research stage. The division of Pickens District is discussed in: George Benet Shealy, Walhalla: A German Settlement in Upstate South Carolina (Seneca, S.C.: Blue Ridge Art Association, 1990), 1:103-113. Jane Boroughs Morris, Pickens: The Town and The First Baptist Church (Pickens, S.C.: Pickens First Baptist Church, 1991), 1-8. 19