Peedee

Although the county’s economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, Florence was home to several industries as early as the 1890s.

Florence was chosen because of its proximity to three converging railroad lines. Neither the town nor the camp was ready for the sudden rush of Union prisoners.

In addition to being his own librettist, Floyd has composed more than ten stage works, song cycles, music for orchestra and chorus, and music for piano.

The fort’s garrison included seventy-eight regular British soldiers and thirty-six Loyalists under the command of Lieutenant James McKay. With the strong garrison, the abatis, and the cleared land around the fort, Marion and Lee realized that a frontal assault to take the fort would be too costly.

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.

The “stump,” which referred to a time when politicians promoted their candidacy by allegedly giving speeches while standing on tree stumps, was moved to a site beside the Holliday family store and continued by four generations of Hollidays.

Georgetown’s designation as a port of entry by royal authorities in 1732 greatly improved its prospects. Port activity in Georgetown thrived and the town briefly supported its own shipbuilding industry to meet demands of area planters.

During Reconstruction, with its large black majority, Georgetown County became a Republican Party stronghold. Even after the return of Democratic rule to South Carolina after 1876, African Americans in Georgetown County still held significant political power. They shared control in uneasy cooperation with local whites in a process called “fusion” until 1900, when white control was reestablished.

Georgetown Steel Company was among the earliest foreign-owned companies wooed to South Carolina as part of a campaign to attract foreign investment. A subsidiary of Korf Industries of West Germany, Georgetown Steel provided hundreds of well-paying jobs to the economically depressed city, although pollution from the plant would be a recurring concern throughout its existence.

Gibson played nationally and internationally. In 1956 she won sixteen of the eighteen tournaments she entered. That same year she became the first African American to capture a Grand Slam event when she won the French Championship. She went on to win Wimbledon in 1957 and was welcomed home with a ticker tape parade. Ranked as the number one tennis player in 1957, Gibson won her first U.S. championship and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.

Between big bands, Gillespie led small ensembles or performed with all-star aggregations such as Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a bandleader, he was among the first to introduce Latin musical elements into modern jazz.

Lucile Godbold achieved prominence as one of America’s first female Olympic champions and as a pioneer in American women’s competitive athletics.

Special outreach activities at the governor’s schools include a distance learning program, summer programs, teaching workshops, honors programs, Team Gear Up, and Residential Arts Academies. These programs are available to high school and some middle school students.

Gragg has earned praise from historians and critics for his books that are rich with history and powerful in their message.

From its earliest days, the coast was promoted as a family resort. The first visitors were middle-class and blue-collar families from the Carolinas seeking a summer getaway in their own “backyard.”

During the siege of Boston, Greene began working with General George Washington, an association that would continue throughout the war. Greene’s service with the main (“northern”) army included being the first general to command troops not from his own state. His most important contribution was as quartermaster general, successfully reorganizing the main army’s supply system.

The Quaker Oats Company hired Harrington to travel nationwide portraying “Aunt Jemima” and ultimately made her a national celebrity.

Hartsville blossomed between 1880 and 1920, primarily due to the efforts of James Lide Coker.

He represented Marion County in the state Senate from 1868 to 1872, and as South Carolina’s secretary of state from 1872 to 1877. He was also the first black student in the history of the University of South Carolina and inaugurated the institution’s first attempt at integration.

While governor, he urged the improvement of public education. His accusations that corrupt legislators sold “their votes for money and for whiskey” did not win him many friends in the General Assembly.