Trip to Six Mile May 14 2015

We never did find the actual town of Six Mile which is about 25 miles northeast of us, but we finally found the marine canvas shop we were looking for  after two attempts.  The seats on our pontoon boat are in need of recovering.  Our park owner suggested Janice's in Six Mile.  We towed and left the boat there to have the work done, which will take about 3-4 weeks since there is a backlog of orders.
On the way, we passed the Oconee Nuclear Power Plant on the Keowee River, Lake Keowee, and the site of Pickens Court House.  After dropping off the boat, we decided to check out the historic site.

The town called Pickens Court House, named after a famed Revolutionary war hero, Andrew Pickens, was established in 1828 when settlers heading south decided they didn't want to go any further and stopped on a knoll on the banks of the Keowee River.  The town had a jail and the court house, and later it was decided by the clergy that it needed a Presbyterian church, so one was built around 1838, although the date is not certain since all church records have been destroyed.  In 1868, politicians decided the population growth warranted dividing the area into two counties, so Oconee County was formed, with Walhalla as the county seat, and a new town called Pickens was established as the county seat for Pickens County.  Little by little, folks moved from Pickens Court House to either Walhalla or Pickens, some literally taking their house with them. The old court house was moved to Pickens.  Except for the church which was spared, whatever buildings remained in Pickens Court House met the same fate as Portman Shoals.  Everything went under water when Lake Keowee was created in the 1960's.

 

 

 

 



The church is open for tours on Sundays from 2-5 pm.  We might go back another time to see the inside.