Long before Table Rock State Park welcomed thousands of visitors each year, before Highway 11 became the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, and before Pickens County was known as one of South Carolina’s premier outdoor destinations, local residents already believed they lived in one of the most beautiful places in America.
On July 28, 1849, the Keowee Courier, published in Pickens Court House (today’s Pickens), printed a remarkable article titled “Pickens District—Her Prospects.” Written by an anonymous contributor using the pen name “Pro Patria,” the article was part travel guide, part sales pitch, and part vision for the future. Nearly 180 years later, it offers an incredible glimpse into how early residents viewed the mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and opportunities that surrounded them.
Although the world around Pickens has changed dramatically since 1849, many of the landmarks praised in the article remain among the Upstate’s greatest treasures.
Selling the Mountain Life
During the mid-1800s, thousands of Americans were moving west in search of opportunity. Instead of encouraging readers to head toward Texas or the frontier, the author argued that everything people were looking for could already be found in Pickens District.
He described a region blessed with fertile farmland, abundant streams, healthy air, and unmatched scenery. His message was simple: why leave South Carolina when the foothills already offered everything needed to build a prosperous life?
Reading the article today feels surprisingly modern. It echoes many of the same reasons people continue relocating to the Upstate: natural beauty, outdoor recreation, a slower pace of life, and room to grow.
A Land of Plenty
The article proudly lists the crops that could be raised throughout Pickens District. Corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, potatoes, cotton, tobacco, rice, apples, peaches, pears, and numerous other fruits are all mentioned as evidence of the area’s productivity. Livestock and sheep farming were also highlighted thanks to the district’s abundant grazing land.
Unlike many parts of South Carolina, the foothills offered a combination of mountain streams, fertile valleys, and rolling pastureland. For settlers looking to establish farms, Pickens District promised both diversity and self-sufficiency.
The writer even recalled years when drought devastated portions of South Carolina, forcing residents from other regions to travel into Pickens District to purchase corn. It was presented as proof that the local land could reliably support its people.
“Health is the Poor Man’s Riches”
One of the strongest arguments for moving to Pickens wasn’t economic—it was medical.
Long before antibiotics and modern hospitals, climate played a major role in where people chose to live. Diseases such as malaria and yellow fever plagued many low-country and river communities throughout the South.
The Keowee Courier claimed Pickens District enjoyed cool summers, refreshing mountain breezes, and exceptionally healthy conditions. The writer contrasted the area with places suffering from fever and disease, suggesting families could enjoy longer, healthier lives in the foothills.
Toward the end of the article, he again urged families to leave unhealthy regions behind and settle where they could “rear up your families in safety” with clean air and pure water.
While modern medicine has changed how we think about disease, anyone who has experienced a cool summer evening in the mountains can understand why early visitors found the climate so refreshing.
The Industrial Future That Almost Was
One of the most fascinating sections of the article has little to do with scenery.
The author believed Pickens District was destined to become a major manufacturing center because of its tremendous water power.
He praised the falls on Little River near Pickens Court House, estimating a drop of roughly 70 to 80 feet over solid rock. After visiting the famous textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, he argued that just as much water flowed over Little River as powered many of New England’s factories.
He envisioned thousands of spinning machines producing cloth from locally grown cotton and wool while railroads carried finished products to markets across the country.
That prediction was only partly fulfilled.
While Pickens County never became another Lowell, textile manufacturing eventually played an important role throughout the Upstate. Mills in communities such as Easley, Liberty, Pickens, and nearby Greenville would help transform the regional economy during the decades that followed.
Crystal Clear Rivers
The writer’s admiration for the Keowee River is impossible to miss.
He described water so clear that pebbles could be seen ten feet below the surface. The river, he wrote, flowed through mountain scenery untouched by pollution before tumbling over countless cascades and waterfalls.
Today, portions of the original Keowee River lie beneath Lake Keowee, created by Duke Energy in the early 1970s. Yet many of the mountain streams feeding the lake remain remarkably clear, especially in the upper reaches near Jocassee Gorges.
His description reminds us that visitors have been captivated by these waters for generations.
Whitewater Falls: The “Niagara of the South”
Perhaps no passage in the article is more memorable than the description of Whitewater Falls.
The author called the waterfall one of the finest natural attractions in the Southern States and boldly claimed it surpassed Georgia’s famous Toccoa Falls. He confidently predicted that someday it would be considered poor taste not to have visited this “Niagara of the South.”
That prediction has proven remarkably accurate.
Today, Whitewater Falls remains one of the Southeast’s best-known waterfalls and is recognized as the tallest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains, drawing visitors from around the world each year.
Table Rock Leaves a Lasting Impression
If Whitewater Falls received glowing praise, Table Rock inspired something even greater.
The writer compared it to famous scenery along New York’s Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains before declaring that none of those celebrated landscapes matched the grandeur of Table Rock.
His description becomes almost poetic:
“A man placed upon the summit of this rock will feel himself a better man, for he stands, as it were, in the presence of Deity.”
Anyone who has watched the sunrise from Table Rock or stood on its summit after completing the challenging hike knows exactly what he meant.
Even today, it remains one of South Carolina’s most iconic mountain views.
Looking Toward the Railroad
The article also looked ahead to transportation.
The author believed a future railroad would cross Pickens District, pass through the Rabun Gap, and eventually connect South Carolina with the Tennessee River. Such a route, he argued, would allow local manufacturers and farmers to ship products efficiently to both the coast and the growing western frontier.
Although those exact plans never materialized, railroads did arrive in Pickens County and became an important part of the area’s economic development during the late nineteenth century.
A Snapshot of Pickens Before Tourism
Perhaps the greatest value of this newspaper article isn’t whether every prediction came true.
Instead, it preserves how local residents viewed their home before hotels, state parks, paved highways, or organized tourism existed.
They saw mountain streams clear enough to drink from, waterfalls worthy of national attention, fertile valleys capable of feeding families, and scenery that rivaled the most celebrated landscapes in America.
Nearly two centuries later, millions of visitors come to the Upstate for many of those very same reasons.
Table Rock still towers above the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Whitewater Falls continues to leave first-time visitors speechless. The mountain air remains cool, and countless hikers, campers, photographers, and travelers continue discovering exactly what one anonymous writer recognized back in 1849.
His closing invitation still feels appropriate today:
Come to Pickens.
Not because it’s the newest destination in South Carolina, but because generations before us already knew it was one of the state’s greatest treasures.
