By Russell Stall
Editor’s note: This is part of a continuing series of columns, stories and photos by Greenville County Historical Society examining the history of Greenville and the Upstate.
One of the most persistent myths about South Carolina history is that slavery belonged to the Lowcountry, while the Upcountry stood somehow apart from it. Charleston had the plantations, the rice fields and enormous enslaved populations. Greenville and the foothills, many people still assume, were different.
They were different. But they were not separate.
By 1860, nearly 35 percent of Greenville County’s population was enslaved. Thousands of African Americans lived and labored throughout the county, not only on larger farms but in homes, mills, hotels, workshops and construction projects. Enslaved people built roads, maintained property, prepared food, cared for children, and created much of the wealth that helped establish early Greenville.
Slavery was not peripheral to the local economy. It was woven into much of daily life.
Vardry McBee offers one of the clearest examples. After purchasing more than 11,000 acres around the village in 1815 – the original deed is on display at the Greenville County Historical Society – McBee helped develop mills, businesses, churches and commercial enterprises that accelerated Greenville’s growth. Those operations depended heavily on enslaved labor. Many of the men who shaped Greenville’s civic, religious and political leadership were enslavers themselves. Difference from the Lowcountry did not mean distance from slavery.
Outside influences strengthened these ties. Wealthy coastal families began traveling to Greenville during the summer months, seeking cooler weather and relief from disease outbreaks along the coast. They brought investment, social connections, and the assumptions of the plantation South with them. Greenville became increasingly tied, economically and culturally, to the broader slaveholding world around it.
For much of the 20th century, public memory in Greenville emphasized progress, industry and civic growth while saying relatively little about the enslaved people whose labor made much of that development possible. That silence helped shape what many residents still believe about the Upcountry’s origins.
The Upcountry did not stand outside the slave South. It occupied a different place within it. Understanding Greenville’s early history honestly means placing slavery near the center of the story – not as a footnote, but as part of the foundation on which the community was built.
Next: Lowcountry planter families retreat to Greenville for seasonal relief from heat, disease.
Russell Stall is a Greenville native, former at-large Greenville City Council member, and certified city planner. He serves as executive director of the Greenville County Historical Society. For more information, visit greenvillehistory.org.
