Lexington yesterday

Posted 5/10/18

The known history of Lexington County goes back at least 12,000 years to a time when the ice began to recede at the end of the Ice Age.

At one time, the sea came to the fall line that separates …

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Lexington yesterday

Posted

The known history of Lexington County goes back at least 12,000 years to a time when the ice began to recede at the end of the Ice Age.

At one time, the sea came to the fall line that separates the sandy, once-underwater lands of lower Lexington County from the clay lands that were above the coastline.

The white crystal silica reveals the story of this ancient seacoast. Just north and west of the sands is the red clay which became known for brick making.

As the Ice Age ended, Paleo-Indians and animals travelled the southern forests as nomadic hunters in search of food.

Hunters used stone tipped spears. There was no agriculture or pottery. Following this period clay pottery was developed and wild plants were gathered for food.

During the Mississippian Period man developed the bow and arrow, cultivated plants such as corn and built permanent villages with fortifications.

The Historic Period followed the Mississippian Period. It is the era in which we now live. Europeans began to arrive. What they found was amazing and new.

When Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies in 1492, he knew nothing about Chicora which lay just beyond the horizon in what is now South Carolina.

The Chicora people were dark skinned and somewhat taller than the Europeans.

They were friendly and prosperous, wore elaborate garlands of brightly-colored bird feathers and tied their hair in a knot.

Their homes were made of a pole frame intertwined with branches, vines and twigs (wattle) and covered with mud (daub) and decorated with long stands of pearls.

They lived under a chief chosen for tribal lineage, clan, kinship and birth order.

A queen ruled Cofitachequi, a major inland city of Chicora. It was in our area surrounded by other towns where the Saluda, Broad, and Congaree Rivers meet.

The Chicora people grew corn, squash, pumpkins, onions, beans, and potatoes. They harvested wild herbs, fruits and nuts.

Honey, game and fish ere abundant. Our barbecued meat tradition came from them. Our mustard sauce, so unique to Lexington, came from French and German settlers.

Trading paths were once animal migration routes in the long needle pine ecosystem unique to the Southeast. These forests enticed settlers. With that the Spanish flag was planted in our land.

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