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The City of Pickens is situated at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is the county seat of Pickens County and is a small business center for a good agricultural and industrial area. The City is approximately 20 miles west of Greenville, South Carolina, 70 miles South of Asheville, North Carolina, and 143 miles Northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. The 2010 population of Pickens was 3,126 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Pickens is convenient to the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Highway (SC 11) where numerous waterfalls and state parks, including Table Rock and Keowee-Toxaway, attract visitors to the Upstate of South Carolina. Pickens is home to the Pickens County Museum which is located in the historic 1902 county jail. Nearby, just off Highway 178, is the 1826 Hagood Grist Mill. The Azalea Festival is celebrated each spring, featuring a classic car cruise and an arts/crafts show. There is also other annual festivals and events like the Blue-Ridge Fest and the annual downtown Halloween Trick or Treat.
A Brief History
In 1828, Pickens District was created from the old Pendleton District and named for Revolutionary War Brigadier General Andrew Pickens (1739–1817), who was also a US Congressman for South Carolina. The town of Pickens Court House soon developed on the west bank of the Keowee River and grew there until 1869 when Pickens District was divided into present-day Pickens and Oconee Counties. Land was selected for the Pickens County Seat. The town of Pickens was incorporated in 1868 and is located in the northwestern part of South Carolina. Pickens emerged from the former town of Pickens Courthouse. Some of the residents of old Pickens Court House dismantled their homes, the courthouse, jail, and Masonic hall and moved fourteen miles east to the present location. The Hagood-Mauldin House, now a museum, was one of those homes. The mercantile establishment of James McFall and John Lewis Thornley was one of the first stores built on Main Street. In 1998, the town of Pickens became the City of Pickens.
In July, 1871, the first issue of the “Pickens Sentinel” was published and the business is now the oldest in the county. In the same year, Dr. Francis A. Miles opened a practice as the first physician in Pickens and the first academy was built on S. Catherine Street. The Pickens Cotton Mill was started in 1906 and the town was on its way to becoming industrialized. After World War II, a thriving town developed around textiles and manufacturing.
