Newberry County, South Carolina: History and Information

Newberry County, South Carolina

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

County Seat: Newberry
Year Organized: 1785
Square Miles: 631

Court House:

P.O. Box 156
County Courthouse
Newberry, SC 29108-0156

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

The origin of the county’s name is still unknown. It is likely an alternate spelling for the English town "Newbury," but the popular notion has always been that the surrounding fields and forests were as pretty as a “new berry.” Newberry is a community filled to its borders with history: ancient Indian sites, battlefields of the American Revolution, historic plantations, and beautiful homes. European settlers (primarily German, Scotch-Irish, and English) began appearing in great numbers in the 1750’s. The county was formed in 1785 as a part of Ninety Six District. This part of the upcountry was settled largely by Scotch-Irish, English, and German immigrants in the mid-eighteenth century. Germans were so prevalent in part of Newberry County that it become known as Dutch Fork, with Dutch meaning Deutsch (German). Large scale cotton farming replaced small farms in the nineteenth century, and the coming of the railroad made Newberry a leading cotton market. Historians John Belton O'Neall (1795-1863) and David Duncan Wallace (1874-1951) were Newberry County natives, as was South Carolina Governor and U.S. Senator Coleman L. Blease (1868-1942).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 647 square miles (1,676 km²), of which, 631 square miles (1,634 km²) of it is land and 17 square miles (43 km²) of it (2.55%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Union County, South Carolina - north

Fairfield County, South Carolina - east

Lexington County, South Carolina - southeast

Richland County, South Carolina - southeast

Saluda County, South Carolina - south

Greenwood County, South Carolina - southwest

Laurens County, South Carolina - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Little Mountain

town

Incorporated Area

- Newberry (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Peak

town

Incorporated Area

- Pomaria

town

Incorporated Area

- Prosperity

town

Incorporated Area

- Silverstreet

town

Incorporated Area

- Whitmire

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

Newberry County, South Carolina

Newberry 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