Encyclopedia

Nearly a dozen rare, threatened, or endangered species are protected at Forty-Acre Rock, most notably the endangered pool sprite, which flourishes in vernal pools on the rock’s surface during early spring months.

The oldest fossils known from South Carolina are from the early Paleozoic era, from a time period termed the Cambrian period, and are about five hundred million years old. Some species called trilobites have been collected from several sites near Batesburg. Trilobites are the oldest extinct group of aquatic arthropods known and are most closely related to modern-day crustaceans and insects.

Other textile mills followed, but Fountain Inn remained primarily a commercial hub for nearby farmers. Twentieth-century transportation developments reinforced Fountain Inn’s prosperity, as the town straddled what emerged as a major north-south highway in the upstate.

Fox’s writing, both fiction and nonfiction, is characterized by his pervasive conviction that humor is a saving attitude and that traditional southern storytelling is a high art form.

Francis Lieber was a professor at South Carolina College. This is his carte de visite with his signature.

The forest contains an exceptional diversity of animal species as well. More than three hundred species of bird have been observed within the forest, including such rarities as swallow-tailed kites and wood storks.

Hurricane Hugo's 136 mile per hour winds snapped loblolly pine trees in the Francis Marion National Forest near the coast of South Carolina.

What was initially a three-building, two-year regional campus of the University of South Carolina became Francis Marion College, accompanied by plans to build the only comprehensive college campus in the Pee Dee. Since its founding, the campus has expanded to include eighteen buildings on three hundred acres east of Florence.