History of Polk County
Polk was formed in 1855 from Rutherford and Henderson counties. It was named in honor of Colonel William Polk "who rendered distinguished service in the Battles of Germantown, Brandywine and Eutaw, in all of which he was wounded." It is in the southwestern section of the state and is bounded by the state of South Carolina and Henderson and Rutherford counties. The present land area is 237.85 square miles and the 2000 population was 18,324.
The act directed that the court and records should be kept at the home of J. Mills until a courthouse could be erected. It also named commissioners to obtain a site for public buildings, lay out a town by the name of Columbus, and erect a courthouse. Columbus is the county seat.
By 1540, some 47 years after Columbus discovered the New World, Hernando de Soto had arrived in the mountain country, probably here in Polk County, where he found the Cherokee Tribe already in an advanced state of civilization. The Indians lived in substantially-built log houses. Though accomplished hunters, they subsisted chiefly by their knowledge of agriculture. They raised corn, pumpkins, and beans.
The area was a fine place in which to live, as the first white settlers quickly learned. Several decades before the Revolution a sprinkling of families had set down their roots in the mountain coves in the midst of the Cherokee hunting lands. By 1768 traders were already traveling up the old Blackstock Road from Charleston to bargain for furs and hides. The proximity of the two civilizations resulted in many clashes and much bloodshed. The conflicts became so numerous that the Royal Governor, William Tryon, himself journeyed west from the colonial capital to parley with the Cherokees and negotiate a boundary line.
Article by: J.D. Lewis - PO Box 1188 - Little River, SC 29566
newspost568-history-of-polk-county.aspxPosted on 2/16/2010 1:10:48 PM
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