Museum Musings
One of the first settlements within the boundary of present day Darlington County was that at Long Bluff in 1748. It also was the site of the historical Long Bluff Courthouse established by the Circuit Court Act of the Legislature of 1769, making it one of six operating Courthouses established at that time outside Charleston. […]
In 1845, a twenty-year-old John L. Hart bought from his brother-in-law Colonel T.c. Law some 491 acres of virgin pine forest. Here he established Hartsville Plantation and thus it was known as late as 1913. The Plantation ran along East Home Avenue to U.S. 15, now known as Fifth Street, which dead-ended on Home Avenue, […]
At the age of 21 or 22, Lawrence Reese came to Darlington, S.C., where he married Lula Aiken. According to an article in The Community Times dated May 3, 2001, Dr. McGirt, Lula's father, asked young Lawrence how he would support his new bride, and Lawrence replied that he was a carpenter. Dr. McGirt, needing proof, marked off some area on his land and instructed Lawrence to build a house. . .and, a day or two later, that's just what Lawrence did.
Today in Darlington County History, March 1-3, 1865, This house, the home of Jacob Kelley (1780-1874), was used as a Union headquarters on March 2-3, 1865 by Major-General John E. Smith, Commander of the Third Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. During the encampment by Federal forces, the mills near Kelley Town were run for the benefit of the Third Division and foraging parties roamed the area.
Timeline provided by the Darlington County Historical Commission and related article by Bill Segars, as printed in the Darlington News & Press.
Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have. -- Benjamin Franklin