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After the
founding of Charles Towne (near the present city of Charleston, S.C.)
late in the 17th Century, trade and commerce increased between
coastal residents and Indians of the interior. The Cherokee Path was
a primary trade route between Charles Towne and the inland Indian
villages, but a number of the paths across South Carolina intersected
at Ninety Six. The name "Ninety Six" came from an estimate
that the site lay ninety six miles down the Cherokee Path from
Keowee, a major Indian town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. Because of the intersecting paths and its convenience as a
stop-over point, the area became a hub for trading many goods and
services. Leather and pelts were the principal interest of white
traders and were purchased from Indians and white hunters and
trappers in exchange for guns, powder, rum and other supplies.
One of the
most successful white traders was a businessman named Robert Gouedy
who established a trading post in the area about 1751. Gouedy
prospered here and expanded his commercial enterprises to include
money-lending and farming. By the time he died in 1775, Gouedy owned
over 1500 acres in the area, and almost 500 people owed him money.
The base of
support offered by Gouedy's enterprises and the stores of other
tradesmen in the area along with reliable water and fertile
bottomlands gave rise to increasing settlement here. At first the
Ninety Six community was a scattering of homes for several miles
around, but by the mid-1750's, blacksmith shops and flour mills had
complemented existing development. |
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