In October 1849, the Keowee Courier asked its readers: Why spend the summer traveling elsewhere when some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable was right here? In an article titled “Pickens District,” the newspaper praised mountain valleys and waterfalls, defended the condition of local roads, and challenged the idea that the district was too rugged to be useful farmland. It was an invitation to visit, but also an argument that outsiders had misunderstood the area.
Reading the article 177 years later, part of its message feels familiar. At PumpkintownSC, we often share places that deserve more attention and encourage people to look beyond the attraction they already know. The newspaper did something similar with a print column rather than photographs and online guides. However, its full argument also reveals how scenery, agriculture, regional pride, and the defense of slavery could appear together in the same promotion of a place.
This Week in Upstate History
October 6, 1849
The Keowee Courier’s case for Pickens District went beyond beautiful views. It answered practical questions about summer weather, roads, terrain, and the land’s ability to support a living.
The Problem Was That People Did Not Know
The article began with a complaint about recognition. Few people outside the district, the writer argued, understood how much there was to attract attention or stir curiosity in this mountain country. Nature could be seen here at its grandest, with mountains, plains, waterfalls, and valleys all contributing to the landscape. The writer believed these places needed publicity to bring crowds of admiring visitors.
That is more specific than simply saying the area was pretty. The newspaper was identifying a gap between what the district offered and what outsiders knew about it. It assumed people would want to come if someone made them aware of the scenery. In that sense, the article reads like an early argument for promoting the area.
We recognize this connection in our guide to 25 hikes beyond Table Rock. People may know one famous landmark without realizing how much surrounds it. Sharing a place does not create its beauty, but it can help someone notice what they have been overlooking.
A List of Places Worth Admiring
The writer made the case concrete by naming places. Jocassee Valley was offered as an example of loveliness, while Whitewater Falls represented grandeur. The article then pointed readers toward the valleys of Cheohee and Tamassee, waterfalls at Tamassee, and falls on Fall Creek. These were not background details. They were the evidence offered for the newspaper’s enthusiasm.
The list also shows that the writer saw the district’s appeal as a collection of landscapes. A valley could be worth admiring alongside a dramatic waterfall. That broader view of a destination still matters today, when the drive, surrounding scenery, and nearby places can be as memorable as the attraction that first brought someone into the mountains.
Some of the old references are easier to recognize than others. The newspaper’s brief descriptions do not establish the precise modern identity of every waterfall it mentioned. We should preserve those historical references without turning them into confident directions to a present-day trail or assuming that similarly named places are necessarily the same.
The places named in the newspaper
- Jocassee Valley
- Whitewater Falls
- Cheohee Valley
- Tamassee Valley
- Waterfalls at Tamassee
- Falls on Fall Creek
The article praised these places but did not provide a travel itinerary, distances, or access instructions.
Jocassee Was Already an Attraction Before the Lake
The reference to Jocassee Valley deserves particular attention. Modern visitors usually associate Jocassee with the lake, but that was not the landscape being promoted in 1849. The newspaper was admiring a valley, reminding us that the name and the area’s scenic appeal belong to a much longer story.
Our article on the wild rivers and landscape before Lake Jocassee provides a natural companion to this historical reference. Together, the stories encourage us to think beyond the present view. The landscape people admired in the nineteenth century and the destination visitors experience today are connected, but they are not interchangeable.
Today, our Lake Jocassee swimming guide helps readers experience the area as it is now. A visit to Wigington Overlook offers another perspective. Knowing that Jocassee was being praised in 1849 adds a historical layer to both experiences.
Competing With the Famous Scenery of the North
The newspaper did not stop at saying Pickens District was worth visiting. It claimed that people who had seen celebrated northern scenery found the district’s landscape grander and more picturesque. This was a bold comparison, intended to place local scenery alongside destinations that already enjoyed wider recognition.
We should read that as the writer’s promotional claim, rather than a measured ranking of landscapes. The point was to challenge the assumption that impressive scenery required a distant journey. The newspaper wanted readers to consider whether familiarity had made them undervalue their own region.
That question remains useful. It is easy to research a vacation hundreds of miles away while knowing little about a valley, overlook, or trail close to home. Many of our posts begin with the same practical invitation: give a nearby place the attention you would give somewhere on a trip.
Selling the Summer Climate
The article’s next argument was about comfort. It described the climate as healthy and reported that daytime temperatures generally ranged from 80 to 86 degrees, with nighttime temperatures from 50 to 60 degrees. For readers deciding where to spend their summers, those figures gave the promotion a practical detail beyond scenic praise.
These are the newspaper’s reported ranges, not a modern climate average or a guarantee of conditions across the district. Nevertheless, their role in the article is clear. The writer was presenting warm days and cooler nights as another reason to choose the area for a summer stay.
The sequence matters. First came the scenery, then the argument that visitors could enjoy a pleasant climate while experiencing it. The newspaper was answering both why someone should come and what might make the visit comfortable.
Good Roads, Even If They Were Hilly
The writer also addressed the journey itself. The writer described roads through the district as good, and although some were a little hilly, the newspaper said they were well worked. In the context of a travel invitation, that reassurance served an obvious purpose: beautiful scenery was more appealing if readers believed they could reach it.
This does not mean the roads resembled modern paved highways, nor does the article tell us how long a particular trip would have taken. It does show that the writer understood access as part of the district’s appeal. The hills were acknowledged, but presented as a manageable feature rather than a reason to stay away.
That is another connection with a useful local guide today. Readers need more than an attractive photograph. They want to understand the road, the approach, and what it takes to get there. The newspaper supplied only a broad reassurance, but it recognized the same practical concern.
A Map Could Give the Wrong Impression
One of the article’s most substantial sections challenged the idea that Pickens District was almost entirely rugged mountains. The writer specifically disputed the impression that arriving at Pickens Court House meant being directly in the mountains. To support the argument, the newspaper referred readers to page 130 of Mr. Tuomey’s geological survey of the state.
The passage reproduced from the survey explained that a glance at a map could lead someone to imagine nearly the whole district covered by rugged terrain. The actual surface was described as undulating, with relatively few slopes too steep for a plow. It distinguished mountain country as a broad regional description from land that was physically unsuitable for cultivation.
Tuomey’s account included a personal observation from reaching Pendleton and finding the mountains only barely visible above the distant horizon. His experience illustrated how a map could create an exaggerated expectation of rough ground. The newspaper used that observation to argue that the district’s scenery did not come at the expense of usable land.
The article was correcting a misconception
Its argument was that mountains, rolling country, and productive farmland could exist within the same district. Outsiders who imagined only steep, inaccessible terrain were missing much of the picture.
The Newspaper Put Numbers Behind Its Farming Claims
The article finished by making a case for agricultural productivity. According to information the writer attributed to the district’s former tax collector, Pickens stood about seventh among the state’s districts regarding land for cultivation. The newspaper did not explain the measure behind that ranking, so it should not be treated as a fully documented statewide comparison.
The corn figures were more specific. The writer claimed that the district’s best land produced 80 to 100 bushels per acre and that yields as high as 112 bushels per acre had been achieved without manure. These were claims about particularly productive land, not a statement that every farm or every acre produced those amounts.
Those details reveal the closing argument’s ambition. Pickens District was being presented as a place that could compete with other districts in practical productivity as well as scenic beauty. The writer wanted readers to see a region where the landscape could inspire admiration and support a livelihood.
The Political Argument Cannot Be Separated From the Promotion
The appeal to spend summers locally included a disturbing argument. The newspaper accused northern people of using money received from southern travelers to send abolitionist emissaries into the South and encourage an uprising among enslaved people. This explicit defense of slavery was embedded in the writer’s case against northern travel.
That passage changes how we understand the article. The invitation to appreciate local scenery was also tied to the writer’s hostility toward abolition and desire to keep southern spending away from the North. The regional pride expressed in the column included political commitments that should be acknowledged plainly.
Our connection to the site is its effort to help people discover local places. It does not extend to the newspaper’s defense of slavery. Reading the article honestly means examining its enthusiasm for the landscape alongside the beliefs that shaped its argument.
The Same Issue Offered a Check on the Sales Pitch
Elsewhere on the same page, two short local notices add useful context. A report titled “Rain” described relief after nearly six weeks of drought, with rain on Sunday, Monday, and Monday night. The newspaper welcomed the benefit to turnips and other winter crops and the opportunity to prepare for sowing wheat.
A separate notice, “The Crops,” reported that farmers had begun gathering corn. The general expectation was that the harvest would be much smaller than anticipated earlier in the summer, although still a fair crop for an average yield. That wording is important: the report described reduced expectations, not simply a failed harvest.
Read beside the promotional article, these notices give the landscape a fuller meaning. The district could have exceptionally productive land while its farmers still faced drought and disappointing results. The waterfalls and valleys being praised belonged to the same region where families watched the weather and depended on their crops.
Why This Story Still Feels Familiar
This October article also complements our post about the July 1849 newspaper promotion of Pickens District and its “Niagara of the South.” These were separate pieces, but both show the newspaper drawing attention to the region’s attractions. The October column is especially interesting because it addressed the objections and mistaken impressions that might keep people from appreciating the district.
Its structure resembles the questions a visitor might still ask. Is there enough to see? What is the weather like? Can I get there comfortably? Is the whole area as rugged as it looks on a map? The writer answered each in turn, then added a case for the land’s agricultural value.
At PumpkintownSC, we recognize the opening concern most of all: people cannot appreciate places they do not know about. Our guides, photographs, and history posts help readers look more closely at the area around them. The 1849 article shows that the desire to tell people about these valleys and waterfalls has its own long history.
Source: Keowee Courier, October 6, 1849, page 2, “Pickens District,” “Rain,” and “The Crops.” The newspaper attributes the temperature ranges, agricultural rankings, and corn yields above to itself, and they should be understood as historical claims.
