TO CELEBRATE THE ONE HUNDRED FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF PICKENS COUNTY AND TO HONOR ITS ILLUSTRIOUS HERITAGE IN THE PALMETTO STATE.

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is delighted to learn that Pickens County is celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2018; and

Whereas, Pickens County in the Upcountry of South Carolina, an ancient land of rare flora and fauna, has been populated by creative Native American peoples for thousands of years and by adventurous and industrious European settlers for more than two centuries. Further, archaeological documentation has determined that the Clovis people inhabited the Eastatoee Valley twelve to fourteen thousand years ago; and

Whereas, the waters have flowed north and west from Pickens County's Blue Wall for millennia, from the Eastern Continental Divide atop Sassafras Mountain, the State of South Carolina's highest elevation, to form the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean; and

Whereas, the many Cherokee villages of the Upcountry and the region's colonial-era Fort Prince George, the British Empire's most interior outpost in South Carolina, were the progenitors of an alliance that determined the history of the colony and, indeed, that of the fledging nation. Trade goods transported by way of the Cherokee Path to the port city of Charles Town created the wealth and prestige of this important colony; and

Whereas, throughout the years, the old and established families of Pickens County have survived wars, prospered in peace, nourished their kin, and buried their dead at historic churches and family graveyards. They also have produced many heroes, including four Medal of Honor recipients and such national leaders as John Caldwell Calhoun and the county's namesake, General Andrew Pickens, whose respective homes, Fort Hill and Hopewell plantations, still stand on ancestral ground; and

Whereas, Pickens County, the historic heart of the Upcountry, is the proud home of two great cultural and educational institutions, Southern Wesleyan University and Clemson University; and

Whereas, it was one hundred fifty years ago that the 1828 Pickens District of South Carolina was divided into halves at the Keowee River by the Constitution of 1868 to form Oconee and Pickens counties; and

Whereas, the members of the House of Representatives are pleased to join with Pickens County in honoring its past, celebrating its present, and looking with enthusiasm toward its future, and the members extend heartiest congratulations on the county's sesquicentennial commemoration. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, celebrate the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of Pickens County and honor its illustrious heritage in the Palmetto State.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Roy Costner, chairman of Pickens County Council, on behalf of the citizens of Pickens County.