The High Hills of Santee, sometimes known as the High Hills of the Santee, is a long, narrow hilly region in the western part of Sumter County, South Carolina. It has been called "one of the state's most famous areas".[1] The High Hills of Santee region lies north of the Santee River and east of the Wateree River, one of the two rivers that join to form the Santee. It extends north almost to the Kershaw county line and northeasterly to include the former summer resort town of Bradford Springs. Since 1902 the town has been included in Lee County.
The county was named after Thomas Sumter, who came from Virginia, married a local widow in 1767, and with her became a successful plantation owner. He later became noted as a general in the Revolution. After the war, Sumter represented South Carolina in the United States House of Representatives and the Senate.
The High Hills of Santee name has been in use since the 18th century,[2] when the area became a popular resort for wealthy planters. They built summer homes in the region to escape the oppressive "heat and malaria of the Lowcountry" during the summer sick season.[3] In the 18th and 19th centuries, the High Hills of Santee was the location of many cotton plantations, and had a large population of enslaved Africans as laborers. Among the planter families were The Broughtons, The Dinkins, Richardsons, and the Singletons, whose daughter Angelica married Abraham Van Buren eldest son of Martin Van Buren and served as First Lady of the United States after his election as a widower president following the second term of President Andrew Jackson.[4]
The South Carolina historian David Duncan Wallace placed the area in what he called the "red hill region" of the state. He wrote: "The High Hills of Santee paralleling the Wateree River on its east attain an almost mountainous appearance. The region contains much good land."[5]
The area includes three National Historic Landmarks, one National Historic District, and several structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has attractive outdoor recreational areas such as Poinsett State Park and Manchester State Forest.
Despite the short distances to Columbia and Sumter, the High Hills of Santee are relatively rural and isolated, as the area was in antebellum times.[6]
- ^ Mary Schuette, Nomination Form for Stateburg Historic District, South Carolina Department of Archives and History
- ^ USC Institute for Southern Studies XV 29[permanent dead link]
- ^ Richardson, Katherine H., nomination form for St. Philip's, South Carolina Department of Archives and History
- ^ "Singleton's Graveyard", South Carolina Department of Archives and History
- ^ Wallace, David Duncan, South Carolina: A Short History, 1520-1948, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, reprinted 1961, p.4
- ^ Account of a recent visit to the High Hills of Santee, Random Connections