Greenville is now the county ‘seat’ of the county of Greenville in South Carolina. However, historically, most of the east coast can brag that it was colonized by the English or the Europeans and South Carolina is no exception. In fact, South Carolina was founded as a colony by King Charles II in 1663. Charles split the colony into eight sections and gave them to eight nobles. Trouble was that the nobles had no clue how to run the colonies as businesses and they failed miserably. As a result, the English Crown reclaimed the land. In 1763 a treaty was signed to make the area protected grounds under the Cherokee Nation and this finally ended the French Indian War.
Prior to 1831 Greenville was named Pleasantburg, but when Greenville County was established in 1786 they renamed it. It is unclear where the name came from but there are two potential candidates that could be possible sources for the name. One was Nathanael Greene—and American Revolutionary War General—and Isaac Green who was an early settler to the area.
Colorful Past and Modern Changes
Greenville’s colorful past also made it somewhat infamous during the civil rights movement. In 1960 a sit-in at the Woolworth’s Five and Dime Store in Greenville saw Jesse Jackson quickly emerge as one of the civil rights leaders of the time. A further sit-in S H Kress finally led to the Peterson v Greenville (1963) U. S. Supreme Court decision that all private citizens had to ignore segregation rules because it violate the Fourteenth Amendment on equal protection. Until the late 1960’s the segregationist restrictions meant that blacks were limited to where they could sit, where they could go—for instance they were banned from public libraries.
Despite its contentious past Greenville has some areas of outstanding beauty which can take the breath away from anyone seeing them for the first time. For example, if you ever pay a visit make sure you see the downtown waterfalls and Falls Park on the Reedy. Other things about the area is the Greenville SC real estate. The homes are stunning and at present it is a good time to buy in the South Carolina area. House prices are around $40,000 cheaper than two years ago and they are on the increase.
