Aiken County

...the first state commissioner of mental health in South Carolina, and from 1964 to 1985, Hall's agency made significant advances in community care. He oversaw the creation of a comprehensive, statewide mental health-care delivery system that grew to encompass ten major inpatient facilities and seventeen community mental health centers.

The town of Hamburg was one of South Carolina’s primary interior markets during much of the antebellum era.

The massacre put into perspective numerous features of post–Civil War South Carolina, including the tensions between—and the growing militancy of— local whites and African Americans.

Jewish emigrants from Russia founded this short-lived agricultural colony in 1905 near Montmorenci in Aiken County.

The news of the Lowmans’ deaths stirred a firestorm of state and national outrage.

During this period when they were turning out largely commercial titles—including some true crime sagas—in order to pay the rent, Naifeh and Smith were devoting most of their free time to research on the life and career of iconic American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

First enumerated in 1880 with a population of just 94, Ellenton enjoyed steady growth through 1950, when the population stood at 746. Ellenton’s quiet existence came to an abrupt end, however, following the announcement by the Atomic Energy Commission in November 1950 of plans for the massive Savannah River Site nuclear weapons facility in Barnwell and Aiken counties.

New Windsor was among the least populous of the 1730s townships and by 1756 had an estimated population of only three hundred. Its reputation for an unhealthy climate and poor land further slowed its development.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, North Augusta was a popular winter retreat for well-to-do northerners. Excellent rail connections, a mild climate, and its proximity to the large winter colony at Aiken combined to make the town a well-patronized winter destination for tourists from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Although a professional-bowl-caliber defensive lineman, Perry became a national media sensation when head coach Mike Ditka began using the massive rookie as a running back.

The first polo game in South Carolina was played on March 27, 1882, in Aiken, which has remained a major center for the sport.

At Northampton, Ravenel developed his interest in collecting, identifying, and pressing/preserving plants, which included all levels of plants from fungi to flowering plants.

Located in western Aiken County near Beech Island, Redcliffe served as an architectural and horticultural showplace, as well as the center of domestic life for the Hammond family.

He was a representative at the 1868 constitutional convention and then represented Edgefield County in the state House of Representatives from 1868 to 1872. After Aiken County had been created in 1871, Rivers served as its representative in the House until 1874.

Salley soon immersed herself in the woman suffrage movement. Claiming that it was “the best dollar I ever spent,” she responded to a newspaper advertisement to join the South Carolina Equal Suffrage League (SCESL).

The Sandhills are gently rolling hills that form the uppermost portion of the coastal plain in South Carolina. They continue beyond South Carolina westward into Georgia and northward into Virginia.

The Savannah River Site (SRS) processes and stores nuclear materials in support of national defense efforts.

During his remarkable tenure in office, Sawyer survived many political controversies while superintending the steady growth of the Highway Department.

Schofield was also the site for a summer Colored Teachers’ Institute where teaching methods, teacher qualifications, and community-school relations were discussed.

When the Freedmen’s Bureau School was closed in 1871, a small inheritance enabled Schofield to purchase land and construct a larger private residential school, which was later known as the Schofield Normal and Industrial School.