Clarendon County, South Carolina: History and Information

Clarendon County, South Carolina

Clarendon County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Manning
Year Organized: 1855
Square Miles: 607

Court House:

P.O. Box 486
County Courthouse
Manning, SC 29102-0486

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Claredon is named for Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, one of the Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina.

Demographics:

History

Clarendon County was named for Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1608/9-1674), one of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. The county was first established in 1785; in 1800 it became part of Sumter District but then was split from Sumter in 1857. Several Revolutionary War skirmishes took place in this area; at Fort Watson in 1781 British soldiers were driven from a large Indian mound that had been fortified. During the Civil War Union troops under General Edward Potter moved through the area, burning several plantations. In the 1950s Clarendon County schools were sued over the issue of racial segregation. The case, Briggs v. Elliott, was one of several cases that eventually led the U.S. Supreme Court to abolish segregation in 1954. Clarendon County can claim five South Carolina Governors, all related: James Burchell Richardson (1770-1836), Richard Irvine Manning (1789-1836), John Peter Richardson (1801-1864), John Laurence Manning (1816-1889), and John Peter Richardson (1831-1899). Children's author Peggy Parish (1927-1988) and tennis player Althea Gibson are also Clarendon natives.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 696 square miles (1,802 km²), of which, 607 square miles (1,573 km²) of it is land and 88 square miles (229 km²) of it (12.72%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Sumter County, South Carolina - north

Florence County, South Carolina - northeast

Williamsburg County, South Carolina - east

Berkeley County, South Carolina - southeast

Orangeburg County, South Carolina - southwest

Calhoun County, South Carolina - west

Cities and Towns:

- Manning (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Paxville

town

Incorporated Area

- Summerton

town

Incorporated Area

- Turbeville

town

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

South Carolina State...

South Carolina

South Carolina Counties

Clarendon County, South Carolina

Clarendon County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

Geography

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide

Penn Foster High School