Ebony Coleman

Brashier Middle College

The History of the Settlement of Greenville

Located on the Reedy River, in the Piedmont area near the Blue Ridge Mts.; laid out 1797, inc. as a city 1907. It is a trade and processing center for agriculture and livestock products. There are many textile mills, garment factories, and farm-produce-processing and -packing establishments. Plants there manufacture metals, paper, rubber products, motor vehicles, chemicals, and electronic equipment. Textile Hall is the scene of the biennial Southern Textile Exposition. Greenville is the seat of Furman Univ., Bob Jones Univ., Greenville Technical College, and a Shriners' hospital for children. It has an art museum, a symphony orchestra, a zoo, and the popular Little Theater. Tourists are attracted to a historic park in the city, as well as to the two state parks and Blue Ridge Mts. area nearby.

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The first white settler in present Greenville County

was Richard Pearis, an Irishman, who came from

Virginia about 1765 as a trader. He married a

Cherokee woman and became so highly thought of

by the Cherokee tribe that tradition records their

repeated gifts to him of land that finally covered a

tract 10 miles square. On part of this estate now

stands the city of Greenville and Paris Mountain.

(Name derived from Pearis).

Story Time

Paris Mountain

Important PeopleLemuel J. Alston• Brother of Governor Joseph Alston

• Came to the county in 1788 and he

bought 400 acres

• A portion of the former plantation of

Pearis

• In 1797 laid out a village called

Pleasantburg

• In 1816 Alston sold his holdings to Vardry

McBee

Vardry McBee• McBee was called 'The Father of Greenville

• He recognized the potential sources of wealth in the country's climate and water power, and erected on the Reedy River one of the earliest cotton mills

• He was instrumental in removing Furman University from Edgefield to Greenville in 1851

• The falls of the Reedy River were soon utilized to furnish power for iron works, corn, and cotton mills

More Important People

Story TimeThe Camperdown Mills were established in 1873. The mills propertyincluded what is known today as Falls Park adjacent to Main Streetin downtown Greenville South Carolina. The Camperdown Mills renovated and enlarged the old Vardry Mill,known as Camperdown #1, on the south side of the Reedy Riverand began producing cotton yarns there in June 1874. Camperdown#1 burned in November 1943. The foundation of this mill remains todayin the Mill Garden of Falls Park

Camperdown Mill On TheBanks of the Reedy River

McBee and Vardry

MillsRocks and river in foreground. Two-story brick building at left, two-story structure at right, waterfall between. Several people beside building on left. On verso: holograph note, ""Vardry Mill. McBee Mill in Background. ca.1880. Downstream from falls"". Building at left has been tentatively identified as Camperdown Mill building no. 1.

Works CitedInfoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary,

Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. Infoplease.com. Web. 23 Dec. 2009. <http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/us/A0821771.html>.

"Greenville, South Carolina SC - History." SCIWAY - South Carolina Information Highway - SC. Web. 24 Dec. 2009.

<http://www.sciway.net/city/history/greenville-sc-history.html>.

"History." Home. Web. 24 Dec. 2009. <http://camperdownmill.com/general.aspx>.

"CONTENTdm Collection : Item Viewer." Clemson University DLI. Web. 24 Dec. 2009. <http://digital.lib.clemson.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOR

OOT=/spg&CISOPTR=213&CISOBOX=1&REC=4>.