“C” is for Cheraw [Chesterfield County; population 5,524]. Cheraw is located at the head of navigation of the Great Pee Dee River. Before the arrival of European settlers the Cheraw Indians maintained a village near the site. Decimated by small pox in the 1730s, the Indians abandoned the area leaving only a small trading village. In the 1760s European settlers moved into the area and, in 1820, the settlement was incorporated as Cheraw. The town’s location on the Great Pee Dee River made it an important point of trade and commerce. Corn, tobacco, indigo and rice were grown in the fertile countryside. By 1825 the town had become one of South Carolina’s chief market towns. During the Civil War Cheraw was a haven for refugees from the lowcountry and a repository for military supplies.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.