This valuable part of South Carolina history was entered into the National Historic Register on November 22, 1972.

Many thanks to frequent contributor Steven Faucette of Williamston, who took these pictures in 2012.

The Clerk of Court for McCormick County is an elected official and handles record keeping, scheduling, fee collection, and many other judicial responsibilities for the county. The courthouse building is listed in the National Historic Register.

According to the National Register, the McCormick County Courthouse is a Neo-Classical style brick building. There is a two-story portico with Doric columns on its east side. There is an “enriched lintel with console brackets, dentils, and decorative frieze” above the main entryway. Inside the courthouse you will find pressed metal ceilings, and the original doors and transoms.

Areas of land from surrounding Edgefield County, Abbeville County, and Greenwood County were joined to form McCormick County in 1916. The county was named after Cyrus Hall McCormick, who was an inventor during the late 1800s.

SCIWAY thanks Stephen Brenton of Ladson, who took this great shot in November 2011.

For more information about the McCormick County Courthouse, including office hours and contact information, please visit the main website.

Construction on Bordeaux Hall began in 1859 but was interrupted by the Civil War and not completed until 1867. The home was designed and constructed in the classic Greek Revival style by architect William Henry Jones of Atlanta, who also designed Ivy Gates Plantation, Lower Long Cane Presbyterian Church, and several other historic buildings located in McCormick County.

Many thanks to Mike Kitchens of Bishop, GA for sharing this photo.

The French Huguenots were the first to arrive in the area, having followed the Savannah River up from Charelston in the mid 1700s. It is believed they named the town in honor of the French village they left behind.

With the completion of the Savannah Valley Railroad in 1884, Mount Carmel quickly developed into a thriving railroad town and by 1890 had six stores, a school, and several shops in addition to the church.

Many thanks to Maxi Farnsworth of Taylors for sharing this photo.

The Huguenots, who fled France in search of religious freedom, settled the area in 1764 and quickly established a community around the church. By 1772 nearly 500 Huguenots had moved to New Bordeaux.

The Revolutionary War proved devastating to the town and its fledgling economy. The colonists dispersed in the years after the war and while the town did not survive, descendants of the original French settlers are still found throughout western South Carolina.

SCIWAY thanks Maxi Farnsworth of Taylors for sharing this photo.

Many thanks to Dick Hurlbut of McCormick who took this picture during the fall of 2010. He says that this picture “was taken from our back deck early in the morning during early fall when the trees were starting to turn. The air was beginning to be cool, but the water was still warm which created the misty conditions.”

When the group arrived in New York, some members split off and headed south, eventually arriving in what was known then as Abbeville County. The rest stayed and settled in upstate New York. Dr. Clark visited his Southern flock in 1779 and formally organized them as the congregation of Long Cane that same year.

Dr. Clark returned to his congregation in New York, but eventually came back to Lower Long Cane in 1786 and stayed until his death in 1791. He ministered to his followers both as pastor and physician, and he was remembered as a beloved and respected leader.

Services in the church’s early days were held under two large oak trees where a large wooden board served as a shelf for the Bible. This tradition came from the days of religious persecution in Scotland when a man could be arrested and his belongings seized if he was caught praying in his home.

Lower Long Cane Presbyterian was lucky to have two ministers who each served at least 40 years – Dr. H.T. Sloan, who served from 1850 to 1890, and Reverend R.F. Bradley, who took over for Sloan in 1891. Continued westward migration ultimately diminished the congregation’s size, but it has been said that the congregation’s descendants ended up in all of the Southern and Western states.

The Southern movement of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church began in this church and currently has over 40,000 members in over 250 churches!

For more information, please visit the church’s website.

After the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, “King Cotton” became increasingly important to the economy of the South. The spread of railroads enabled farmers to reach wider markets and the textile industry thrived. Cottonseed was a by-product of the ginning process and used primarily for animal feed.

When the boll weevil caused the rapid decline of cotton in the 1920s, Dorn Mill retooled with modern steam engines and boilers and converted to a mill that processed wheat and other grains. Primary products were ground corn meal for sale in local stores, chicken and animal feed, and flour for local farmers’ home use.

The remarkably intact mill on Main Street in McCormick, is significant because it contains the original steam engines, boilers, and much of equipment from the flour mill era of the 1920s.

The boilers were powered by sawdust and wood chips from a nearby lumber yard that was also owned by the Dorn family. Only two people were needed to run the mill. One person fired the boilers and operated the machinery and the second person waited on customers.

SCIWAY thanks photographer Larry Gleason of Aiken for sharing these photos.

It was discovered in 1852 that underneath the area of present day McCormick was the second-richest vein of gold ever found in South Carolina‘s history. Cyrus H. McCormick – often called the ‘father of farm mechanization’ – bought the land and gold mine for just $20,000. He owned stock in the Augusta and Knoxville Railroad and the Savannah Valley Railroad, and used his great influence to build train tracks that intersected in McCormick to encourage growth.

Cyrus McCormick then auctioned off some of his land for residential use and donated some for churches, schools, and cemeteries. Even though he never visited this area, his wife Nettie invested much of her time and resources into developing the community.

Many thanks to Larry Gleason of Aiken for submitting these pictures in November 2010.