Important history here that provides some context to the Confederate Memorial and it is next to the…read morecounty jail. This is marker number 44-20 and it was erected in 2020 by the Union County Community Remembrance Project and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. It has text on both sides because there's a story to tell. On the front, "In 1871, one of the worst waves of white supremacist violence in S.C. history unfolded in Union County. During two raids in Jan. and Feb. of that year, twelve Black men were forcibly taken from this jail by the Ku Klux Klan while awaiting trial. Most were members of the S.C. militia accused of killing a white man. Eleven men are known to have been killed in the two attacks or soon after. The fate of the other one is unknown." And on the reverse, "National press described the lynchings as "outrages" and "inhumane barbarities." These murders and other acts of intimidation and violence aimed at disenfranchising Blacks led President Ulysses S. Grant to declare a state of rebellion in Union and eight other S.C. counties. Danger and inequities led some Black families to leave Union Co., while others remained and built community institutions." Street parking is free here and there is also a parking lot across the street. [Review 20336 overall - 1102 in South Carolina - 1314 of 2023.]

Completed in 1979, the Spartanburg Clock Tower stands in downtown opposite Morgan Park. When it was…read morefirst built, the clock tower was the centerpiece of the Main Street Mall, which occupied Main Street from Liberty Street to Church Street. The clock and bell were originally in a different building before they were moved to the courthouse on Magnolia Street in 1907 and then moved here in 1986. At the feet of the tower is a detailed plaque with history and background that I won't try to repeat here. The highlights are "Symbolic of the heartbeat of the city and its constant change, the "Old Town Clock" above was first installed near the center of Spartanburg in January, 1881. It continues to serve today as an important reminder of the historic significance of our community." The town council purchased this Seth Thomas clock to install in the new opera house at a cost of $8,900 during the administration of intendent (mayor) L.P. Walker. This is the same bell as was installed at that time. [Review 2243 of 2024 - 1206 in South Carolina - 23261 overall]

This marker is in front of the historic building in Sharon. The bank does not appear to be active…read more It is a brick building painted beige with white trim. The marker is to the right behind a tree that could use some pruning. It is printed on two sides. On the front, "This bank, built in 1909-10 by W.W. Blair, was the first bank in the town of Sharon, incorporated in 1889. Its first officers were J.H. Saye, president; J.L. Rainey, vice president; and A.M. Haddon, cashier. From 1910 to 1929 the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced national bank notes for this bank. It was the only bank in western York County to survive the Depression." And on the rear, "At the time of its merger with First Citizens Bank in 1986 the First National Bank of Sharon was the oldest continuously operating national bank in York County. The bank, with its distinctive arched corner entrance, is part of the Sharon Downtown Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001." [Review 13879 overall, 1201 of 2020, number 639 in South Carolina.]

Pretty awesome historic home In Spartanburg, SC. Unclear why someone would give it less than 5…read morestars. It's a private residence, no tours. The people who own it keep it up and pay taxes on it. It's beautiful and marvelous. Make sure to drive around its very expansive lot to soak it all up.

It was the historic marker that caught my eye and then I took a look at the beautiful house…read more Unfortunately, the house is closed to tours but it is still work checking out. The marker reads, "According to family tradition, this house was built in 1854 by the Bivings family, local textile pioneers. In 1869, the house was purchased by John H. Evins (1830-1884), Confederate Lieutenant-Colonel, state legislator, mayor of Spartanburg, and US Congressman (1877-1884). The house was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970." The house is a two-story white clapboard structure in the Greek Revival style. double piazzas with massive Doric order columns and notable balustrades. Also on the property are the original kitchen, slave quarters, smokehouse, and well. It is not far from downtown Spartanburg. [Review 13643 overall, 962 of 2020, number 601 in South Carolina.]

This marker is located along SC-49 just outside the core of downtown Union. It points the way to a…read moreColonial Era church that is no longer. It's the sort of marker that you only notice if you're paying attention to the roadside and not just the traffic. The front of the marker reads, "A "union" church, one founded as a Presbyterian congregation but also used by other denominations, stood here from ca. 1783 to ca. 1819. The church was founded ca. 1765 at Brown's Creek, 2 or 3 mi. NE. It met there in two successive log churches, but suspended services at times during the American Revolution. The congregation moved here and built a hewn-log church on this site not long after the war, probably ca. 1783." And the reverse, "The church, with entrances on the west and south, featured a high boxed pulpit and was used by Baptists, Quakers, and others. Both Union County, founded as a judicial district in 1785, and its county seat Unionville (now Union) were named for this "union" church. Several veterans of the American Revolution are buried here. The congregation moved to Unionville and built a church there ca. 1819." The graveyard nearby has the graves but they're scattered and not at all marked clearly today. When the congregation moved to Unionville, they left this original site to face back into the woods and fields. What remains now is the sense that this was once a focal point for early settlers, but they've clearly moved on. It is marker number 44-14 and it was erected in 2006 by the Union County Council. [Review 482 of 2026 - 1411 in South Carolina - 25665 overall]

South of Union, this marker points out the property of a former British loyalist and the lesson…read morehere is that you don't want your loyalties to be on the losing side of a war. The front of the marker reads, "Fair Forest, named for nearby Fair Forest Creek, was the plantation of Col. Thomas Fletchall (d.1789), prominent militia officer before the Revolution and Loyalist during it. Captured in 1775 and briefly jailed, Fletchall moved to Charleston in 1780, then to Jamaica when the war ended; he died there in 1789. After the Revolution his plantation was confiscated and sold at auction." And on the reverse, "Emslie Nicholson House. Col. Thomas Brandon (1741-1802), who bought Fair Forest about 1785, had been a Patriot militia officer and was a longtime state representative and state senator. The Tudor Revival house built in 1923 near the site of the plantation house was designed by Robert & Co. of Atlanta. It was built for Emslie Nicholson (1863-1939), president of textile mills in Union, Lockhart, and Monarch." The marker was erected in 2008 by the Union County Historical Society and is state marker number 44-15. There is room on the side of the road to pull over and if you have the time, consider checking out the plantation. [Review 20341 overall - 1104 in South Carolina - 1319 of 2023.]

We were driving in from the east side of Union and about a half mile out this tall brick tower was…read morevisible in front of us like it belonged to some giant university campus and for a second, we wondered if we had stumbled into a set of carillons or some kind of bell tower quad situation because they look way too formal and intentional to just be leftovers from an old mill. But that's exactly what they are. Before all of this emptiness, there was Monarch Mill, a full textile operation that opened in the early 1900s and ran for decades. One of those places where half the town either worked or had a relative who did, and the whole complex stretched across this site with long production floors, warehouses and a powerhouse humming away. Most of it came down in the mid 2000s when the buildings were too far gone to save and the cost to stabilize them was more than anyone wanted to take on. The main mill was demolished around 2006 or 2007 and what you see now are the two stair and elevator towers that were built so solid that they outlived everything attached to them. They stayed up partly because they were structurally sound and partly because removing them would have meant dealing with utilities and foundations that were more trouble than they were worth, and partly because once the rest of the mill was gone, these towers had already become landmarks in their own weird way. Up close, you can still see the ghost lines where the factory walls once connected. The brick has that worn industrial texture that tells you thousands of people passed through here over the decades. From the road, they look like something grand and academic. But standing underneath them, you realize that they are just the last two sentinels of a place that shaped Union for almost a century. Now they just sit here holding the memory of everything that used to surround them. The towers do look like something you could maybe walk into, like there might be a staircase spiraling up to a bell chamber or an observation deck. Once you get close, you see that every opening is bricked in or plated over and the doors are welded shut. There is no public access, no occasional open house and no historical society tours. Nothing like that. What you see from the road is what you get - visual landmarks only like two giant bookends with the books missing. There is no dedicated website, no interpretive sign, no QR code. There's nothing to tell you what you're looking at. [Review 483 of 2026 - 1412 in South Carolina - 25666 overall]

Part of the South's dark history, this marker stands across the street from the Union County…read moreCourthouse which does still have a Confederate obelisk memorial on the grounds. The front of the marker reads, "During the Reconstruction period that followed emancipation in 1865, thousands of Black people were lynched by white people intent on maintaining racial hierarchy. Federal officials ended Reconstruction in 1877 when they ceded political control of the South back to Confederate veterans and largely abandoned efforts to protect Black people in the region. In the era of racial terror that followed, emboldened white leaders opposed to racial equality continued to re-establish white supremacy through intimidation and violence. Between 1877 and 1950, white mobs lynched at least 4,400 Black people. Lynchings included the hanging, shooting, burning, torture and mutilation of Black people, sometimes in front of crowds numbering in the thousands. Although armed and responsible for protecting those in their custody, law enforcement frequently failed to protect Black individuals and communities from lynch mobs, and white people regularly kidnapped Black victims from jails, prisons, and courtrooms. The impact of lynchings resulted in injustice that continues today. Although the names of many victims may never be known at least 189 racial terror lynchings have been documented in South Carolina, with at least 19 known to have taken place in Union County between 1865 and 1950. The names included here represent the lives stolen and promise lost." And the reverse, "Lynchings by white mobs continued for decades as a tool of racial terrorism to maintain white supremacy. On June 26, 1889, a white mob lynched Andrew McKnight in a Black church cemetery near Kelton, after he was accused of making inappropriate comments towards white women. In January of 1900, Rufus Salter, a young prosperous Black farmer accused of arson, was lynched at his home near West Springs. Weeks later, a Governor's proclamation implied he was innocent. In June 1906, Mose Hughes was lynched and his bound body was thrown into the Tyger River near Delta. One of the lynchers later declared, "This looks like a white man's country now." In 1930, law enforcement failed to prevent the lynching of Dan Jenkins, a 23-year-old Black man. Mr. Jenkin's body was riddled with 500 bullets on Santuc Road, after a white woman accused him of assault, despite no investigation or fair trial. Black people faced a presumption of guilt after any allegation of wrongdoing and were frequently deprived of equal protection under the law. Public officials, media, and the legal system allowed white people to kill with impunity, intending to create an atmosphere of terror. Black leaders like Rev. A.A. Sims and Dr. L.W. Long organized resistance including establishing a Black high school, a Black community hospital, and Black businesses in response to racial inequities. Churches became the cornerstone for Black resilience and still are to this day." The marker was erected in 2021 by the Union County Community Remembrance Project. There is a parking lot available. [Review 21129 overall - 1118 in South Carolina - 92 of 2024.]