Pickens is, well, it's Pickens, a town located on small ridge in the middle of Pickens County. I suppose one could look at the streets and buildings and businesses and homes and they would see just that, a town. But towns are entities with a life and history of their own.
The name is from General Andrew Pickens, a colonial and Revolutionary War person. His name was first used as a place name in the 1790s some 8 miles south at the intersection of SC8 and SC135, just south of Easley, Pickensville, which use to be called Rockville. That was when the Washington District was formed and included present day Pickens, Oconee, Anderson, Greenville counties.
About 1800 the Washington DIstrict was divided into Pendleton District (Pickens, Oconee, Anderson) and Greenville County. The town of Pendleton, southeast of Clemson (John C Calhoun plantation), served as the district seat till 1828.
In 1828 Pendleton District was divided into Pickens Distict and Anderson County, with the Pickens District Court House located on the Keowee river where US183 crosses it. The District stretched from the Saluda in the East to the Chattago in the West.
Shortly after the War Between the States, in 1868, Pickens District was divided into present Pickens and Oconee counties. The people there moved brick and board from Old Pickens to either Wahalla or new Pickens. The Hagood-Mauldin homestead on N Lewis St was one and the Elisha Griffin house on Ann St were two that were moved from Old Pickens. The only structure left at Old Pickens is a church building. Those who stayed in the area moved down river about a mile where a Hughes Bend community existed till the later 1800s.
