Most of modern day Greenville was hunting land used by the Cherokee Indians, whose
main villages were located in what is now Oconee County. A part of the Iroquoian
Nation, the Cherokees may have set up temporary summer camps along the banks of
the Reedy River. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Indian artifacts were found
along the north bank of the river.
European settlers were forbidden to live here until 1777, when the Cherokee were
forced to cede their land to the new state. Referred to as the "the cradle of Greenville,"
it was the magnificent, life-giving falls of the Reedy River that led the first
settlers to this region.
In 1768, Richard Pearis, who was married to a Cherokee Indian, established a trading
post and grist mill at the base of the falls. In 1774, Pearis bought 50,000 acres
– including the falls - from his son, who was considered a member of the Cherokee
Nation. At the time, it was unlawful for a white man to purchase land from the Indians,
so this allowed Pearis to get around the system. Pearis eventually sided with the
British during the American Revolution. When he returned to Greenville, his business
and family were gone.
Following Pearis, Lemuel Alston built a small tub mill on the site of Pearis’ mill.
In 1815, Vardry McBee bought more than 11,000 acres from Alston, including most
of present-day Greenville, and built two flour mills – one in 1817 and one in 1829.
McBee was a philanthropist and gave the land for the town’s first schools, colleges
and churches.
A variety of industries eventually clustered along the Reedy River. Those industries included an ironworks, the Gower, Cox, and Markley Coach Factory, a sawmill, a paper factory, an armory, as well as grist and corn mills.
In 1876, McBee’s heirs worked with three Massachusetts mill owners
to open the water-powered Camperdown Mill, which produced yarn and gingham until
1956. The falls provided a power source for industry in the early 19th century.
A variety of industries eventually clustered along the Reedy River, including an
ironworks; the Gower, Cox and Markley Coach Factory; a sawmill; a paper factory
and an armory, as well as grist and corn mills. A 27-acre mill village grew up on
the hills surrounding the falls, complete with churches, mill store and recreation
grounds. Whole families, often including children as young as 9 or 10, worked
at the mills. They rented the mill houses for 50 cents a week per room; water and
lights were supplied by the mill. The extension of Church Street in the late 1950s
destroyed much of the once-extensive mill village.