Amelia Township, settled by Reformed Swiss in 1732, once existed on the south side of the Congaree River, now part of Calhoun County, South Carolina. Despite promising beginnings, the township never thrived due to settlers’ preference for large land tracts and isolation. Amidst restructuring in the late 1700s, Amelia Township vanished. The town of St. Matthews, founded in the early 1800s and still active, marks the location of the former township.
The initial settlers in the Orangeburg District were sparse, consisting mainly of Indian traders and random grazers who pursued the untamed grasslands for their cattle herds. The first recorded instance of land ownership belonged to Henry Sterling, a trader who claimed a piece of Lyon’s Creek in 1704. Later, in 1732, John Hearn became the first to settle in what is now Orangeburg City, his property including the current Fairgrounds. The deed for Hearn’s lands was documented on May 28, 1735. The terrain between these pioneering settlers and the coast was almost impossible to navigate, consisting of dense undergrowth and … Read more