This area has been the
center of the African-American business district
and a popular gathering
place since the late 19th
century. It has been called
“the Gulf” since about
1925. Its most prominent
early figure was E. J.
Sawyer, Jr. . . . — — Map (db m268731) HM
Marker Front: Colonel Abel Kolb was a prominent Revolutionary War Patriot of this area. A band of Tory raiders, on the night of April 27-28, 1781, surrounded the home of Colonel Kolb and his family. He was shot while surrendering himself as a . . . — — Map (db m31745) HM
(Front)
The family cemetery of Joshua Ammons (1756-1833), veteran of the American Revolution, is all that remains of his 500-acre plantation near the Three Creeks. Ammons, a native of Virginia, moved to S.C. by 1775, when he enlisted in the 3rd . . . — — Map (db m113798) HM
Marker Front: On July 25, 1780, a convoy of British boats en route from Cheraw to Georgetown was captured here by local Patriots. Wooden logs resembling cannon were mounted on this bluff. When boats appeared, Captain Tristram Thomas demanded . . . — — Map (db m31664) HM
In 1819 the court house of Marlborough District was transferred from Carlisle, a village on the Pee Dee River, to this more central location. Bennettsville developed around the new court house in the heart of a rich farm land area. On March 6, 1863, . . . — — Map (db m31718) HM
In 1819 the court house of Marlborough District was transferred from Carlisle, a village on the Pee Dee River, to this more central location. Bennettsville developed around the new court house in the heart of a rich farm land area. On March 6, 1865, . . . — — Map (db m47555) HM
The first Methodist house of worship in Marlboro County was at Beauty Spot, two miles north of here, where, in 1788, Bishop Asbury attended a meeting. By 1834, the first church in town had been built here on 1 ½ acres of land donated by W. J. . . . — — Map (db m38032) HM
Marker Front: This church was founded in 1855 by nine members of the Great Pee Dee Presbyterian Church, 5 mi. SE. Rev. Pierpont E. Bishop was its first permanent minister. The first church, a frame building, was dedicated in 1855. Elder J. . . . — — Map (db m31697) HM
[Inscriptions: South face]
1861
UDC
303
of Marlboro’s noble sons sacrificed
their lives on the battlefield, in
prison, and by disease.
“God’s peace is everlasting”
are the dream-words of their . . . — — Map (db m136196) HM
D. D. McColl House 1826 This house, built in 1826 on Darlington St. (now Main St.), was first owned by H.H. Covington. It was sold in 1871 to Duncan Donald McColl (1842 1911), prominent Marlboro County lawyer and businessman; the McColls lived . . . — — Map (db m38060) HM
This campus opened in 1954
as East Side School. It sat
on a 72-acre former dairy
farm, most of which was
later included in Lake Paul
Wallace. Initially an
elementary school, East Side
expanded to grades 1-12 in
1956 when it replaced . . . — — Map (db m268671) HM
This marks the oldest house in Bennettsville, built in 1800 by Edward Crosland, who was born in England and later married Ann Snead. He died in Bennettsville in 1821. He was a Patriot, American Revolutionary Soldier and Plantation Owner. His . . . — — Map (db m38028) HM
This U.S. congressman was born on February 9, 1804, at Queensdale, N.C. After being admitted to the bar in 1828, he established a law office on this corner in Bennettsville. McQueen served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1860, . . . — — Map (db m38033) HM
Grave of General Tristram Thomas In Saw Mill Church cemetery is the grave of Tristram Thomas, major of militia during the Revolution. At Hunt's Bluff, ten miles south, a band of Patriots under his command seized a British flotilla in 1780. He . . . — — Map (db m38035) HM
J.F. Kinney House This house was built as a one-story residence in 1902 for Dr. John Frank Kinney (1870-1928) and his wife Florence McLeod Kinney (1874-1936). They added a second story and wraparound porch in 1907 and raised their five . . . — — Map (db m38061) HM
In 1826 Dr. Edward W. Jones bought a lot at S. Marlboro and present E. Main and built this house thereon shortly after. Owned by Dr. J. Beatty Jennings when Union forces occupied Bennettsville 1865, the house is said to have served as their . . . — — Map (db m38041) HM
One mile west is the last home of John Lowndes McLaurin, Marlboro County native, U.S. Congressman and Senator. He served as S.C. Representative 1890-91, S.C. Attorney General 1891-92, U.S. Congressman 1892-97, U.S. Senator 1897-1903, and State . . . — — Map (db m18199) HM
Constructed in 1853, this house was the home of William D. Johnson, a Bennettsville attorney and one of three Marlboro County signers of South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession. He served in the state Senate 1862-1865 and was elected chancellor of . . . — — Map (db m38047) HM
The historic building now
known as the Marlboro
Civic Center was built in 1917
and originally called the
“Playhouse Theatre.” For
almost two decades it
served as an opera house
and community meeting
place.
In 1934 the building . . . — — Map (db m268722) HM
This school, built in 1928
and founded by the Marlboro
Education Society, was the
first high school for black
students in the county. It
was accredited by the state
as a four-year high school
by 1939. An elementary and
high school 1928-1956, . . . — — Map (db m268886) HM
Four court houses for Marlborough District or County have stood on this square since Apr. 4, 1820, when it was deeded by John S. Thomas for that purpose. The first court house, completed before 1824, was replaced by a new building in 1852. It was . . . — — Map (db m31721) HM
Marker Front: Located about one mile N. of here was the original county seat of Marlborough County, established in 1785. Tristram Thomas conveyed two acres of land to the county for the erection of public buildings in 1787, and the court . . . — — Map (db m31742) HM
The Miller-Turner House is
situated on a 450-acre
land grant issued in 1772.
The oldest sections of
the house may date to
circa 1837, when the property
was owned by local
builder Alexander J. Miller
(born circa 1797). Originally
one-story, . . . — — Map (db m268885) HM
Side A The Murchison School, built in 1902, was named for John D. Murchison (1826-1892), a merchant and the first mayor of Bennettsville. It was given to the city in his memory by his widow, former teacher Harriet Murchison Beckwith . . . — — Map (db m38062) HM
New Hill Baptist Church. Organized by 1919, this Freewill
Baptist congregation first met at
a wooded 6.5-acre site approx. ½mi.
north where they built a wood frame
church and established a cemetery.
A storm destroyed the first church
in . . . — — Map (db m268625) HM
The oldest part of this building served as Bennettsville Female Academy 1833-1881. It originally stood opposite First Methodist Church on East Main Street, was purchased in 1967 by Marlborough Historical Society, moved to its present location, and . . . — — Map (db m38029) HM
Palmer Field, originally Marlboro
Aviation School, operated here from
Oct. 1941 to Nov. 1944 as a primary
training facility for the U.S. Army
Air Corps during World War II.
Civilian flight instructors led
cadets through a 9-week course . . . — — Map (db m268642) HM
Built in 1917 as an opera
house and theatre, “The
Playhouse” was considered
among the finest theatres
in the Pee Dee. It hosted
traveling Broadway
productions, musical
theatre, and vaudeville
shows on the New York to
Miami circuit. . . . — — Map (db m268673) HM
Side A According to a plaque placed on its western wall at time of construction, Shiness was built in 1903 by Alexander James Matheson and named for his paternal grandmother's home in Sutherlandshire, Scotland. Matheson was born in Marlboro . . . — — Map (db m38055) HM
Established in 1868,
St. Michael’s was the first
Methodist congregation in
Bennettsville organized by
African Americans. Early
members met south of here
at a community worship
building used by local
freedpeople after the Civil
War. They . . . — — Map (db m268737) HM
Welsh Baptists from Pennsylvania and Delaware settled on the east bank of the Pee Dee as early as 1737. Most of the lands in the Welsh Neck, from Crooked Creek to Hunt's Bluff, had been granted by 1746. A Baptist congregation was organized in 1738. . . . — — Map (db m31760) HM
Chartered in 1919,
the Workers Enterprise Bank
was the first Black-owned
bank in Bennettsville
and one of the only such
institutions then in S.C.
It opened in 1920 in this
purpose-built, one-story
brick building. The bank’s
founders . . . — — Map (db m268727) HM
This community was named for Blenheim Palace in England, home of the Duke of Marlborough, for whom Marlboro County is said to have been named. Formerly called Mineral Spring or Spring Hill for the mineral springs ½ mile east, Blenheim traces . . . — — Map (db m31643) HM
The Mineral Springs were discovered in 1781 by James Spears, a Whig, who was trying to escape TORY troops, according to Legend. Mr. Spears Lost a shoe in a water hole. When he returned to retrieve his shoe, he tasted the water and noticed its strong . . . — — Map (db m50341) HM
Marker Front: In 1788, this Baptist congregation, a branch of Cashaway Church (1756) founded by Welsh Neck Church (1738), purchased land 2 miles SW of here from the Rev. John Brown. The congregation was independently constituted in 1789 and . . . — — Map (db m31669) HM
In 1788, this Baptist congregation, while still a branch of Cashaway Church (1756), purchased this land from the Rev. John Brown. The branch became an independently constituted church in 1789 named Muddy Creek and by 1829 was known as Brownsville. . . . — — Map (db m31691) HM
Marker Front: Born 1754 in Gotha, Germany, this former chamberlain to King Frederick the Great of Prussia came to America in 1782. Known as Baron Poellnitz, he lived in New York City nearly 8 years before moving 4 mi. W of here on the Pee Dee . . . — — Map (db m31682) HM
Marker Front: Mason Lee (1770-1821), a wealthy Pee Dee planter known for his eccentricities, is buried in old Brownsville graveyard two miles south of here. He believed all women were witches and that his kinsmen wished him dead to inherit . . . — — Map (db m31681) HM
Great Pee Dee Presbyterian Church. This church, built in 1834, was
organized by Rev. Archibald McQueen
and is the oldest church building in
Marlboro County. Notable features
include its cupola and the fanlights
over the entrance. It was . . . — — Map (db m268915) HM
Marker Front: This U.S. Congressman and diplomat was born at Woodstock (Argyle) Plantation, 3 ½ miles southwest. He was a Brigadier General in the State Militia and served in the S.C. Senate 1822-23, 1830-34. He represented this district . . . — — Map (db m31649) HM
About 1836 William T. Ellerbe, John McQueen, and John N. Williams built a cotton mill approximately one mile northwest. Power for operation of the mill came from the waters of nearby Crooked Creek. Ellerbe and Williams sold their stock in the mill . . . — — Map (db m38054) HM
Here stood the first Methodist church of Marlboro County, a single log cabin built in 1783. Here Bishop Francis Asbury presided over and preached at an early Quarterly Conference, held on February 23, 1788. Camp meetings were held here 1810-1842. In . . . — — Map (db m38039) HM
Governor Henagan (1798-1855), son of Drusilla and Darby Henagan, planter and physician, lived about one mile northwest of this site. Senator, Marlboro District 1834-38; Lieut. Governor of S.C. 1838-40; Governor of South Carolina 1840; moved to . . . — — Map (db m38037) HM
McLaurin's Muster Ground, located at this crossroads, became a polling place in 1825. According to local tradition, the community was later called Ivy's Crossroads. A post office named Clio was established here in 1836 and the town incorporated in . . . — — Map (db m18201) HM
Marker Front: This depot was built in 1915 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railway. The first railroad line in Clio was a branch of the Florence Railroad, extended here from Latta in 1895, with a freight depot on S. Main St. After the Atlantic . . . — — Map (db m31620) HM
Adamsville School opened in 1954 as
part of S.C.’s equalization program,
an attempt to forestall racial
integration by improving facilities
for African American students. The
Black elementary school in the McColl
area, it consolidated students . . . — — Map (db m268506) HM
This cabinet member and diplomat was born two miles south of here. He graduated from Trinity College in 1888 and later became head of Marlboro High School, near here. He was Franklin D. Roosevelt's first secretary of commerce from 1933 to 1938 and . . . — — Map (db m31693) HM
In Gillespie Cemetery, west of here, is buried Albert M. Shipp, Methodist minister, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina 1849-59, second President of Wofford College 1859-75, Vanderbilt University Professor and Dean 1875-85, and . . . — — Map (db m38030) HM
By the 1890s, residents of this
section of Marlboro County organized
Beaver Dam Baptist Church. Also known
as Cross Roads Church, they first met
west of here at a place off Old River
Road, near the Pee Dee River. Members
held burials at a . . . — — Map (db m268638) HM
[Front] Greene's Encampment During December 1780, Major General Nathanael Greene, commander of the Southern Army, brought a number of troops to a "camp of repose" near this spot. Here he hoped for abundant food and improvement of . . . — — Map (db m38044) HM
Near this site stood Stony Hill, boyhood home of John Lyde Wilson, State Senator and Representative, Governor of South Carolina from 1822 to 1824, and author of The Code of Honor (1838), widely used by ante-bellum duellists. His parents, John Wilson . . . — — Map (db m18198) HM
Pegues Place About 1760, French Huguenot immigrant Claudius Pegues settled in this area. His home, Pegues Place, is located one mile west of here. A founder and early officer of St. David's Episcopal Church in Cheraw, he was elected in 1768 as . . . — — Map (db m38034) HM
