The York County Genealogical &
Historical Society (YCGHS) strives to highlight the role of history as
a vital part of the cultural and social fabric of York County, South
Carolina. YCGHS is dedicated to preserving, celebrating and educating
the public about the county's richly diverse history.
Brief History Of York County
York County is located in the piedmont of South Carolina with an
estimated population of more than 210,000. The County includes the communities of Rock Hill, Fort Mill, York,
Clover, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie, Hickory Grove, McConnells and Sharon. York County honors its past with several
Cultural and Heritage Museums, including Historic Brattonsville, the McCelvey Center and the Museum of York County.
Human habitation of the area began with settlement by the Catawba
Indian Nation. They built their homes along the creek and river highlands and made their living by hunting, farming and
fishing. The Catawba reservation is located a few miles southeast of Rock Hill.
white settlers came up from Charleston, SC and down from
Pennsylvania through Virginia. The Germans, English, Welsh, Irish and
French came and moved on, but the Scots-Irish stayed. Early
settlement centered on Ebenezerville, currently the area of the Herlong
and Ebenezer intersection. Residents built cotton
plantations and bales of cotton were shipped downstream through Camden
and on to Charleston where they were then
shipped to the mills of New England and England for processing and
weaving. Originally most of York County was part of
North Carolina. A 1772, settlement set the boundary and called the area
the “New Acquisition” of South Carolina.
Several Revolutionary War battles were fought on York County soil. The
Battle of Huck’s Defeat (or Williamson’s Plantation) on July 12, 1780, was the first British defeat since the fall of
Charleston some months earlier. The Battle of King’s Mountain was was fought on October 7, 1780 on land that straddles the SC–NC border in northwest York County between patriot forces and loyalist forces. The patriot forces consisted of "Over the
Mountain Men" of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, local men from what is now Gaston County, NC, who were called the "South Fork Boys", and men from York and surrounding SC counties. This battle was a resounding patriot victory.