“C” is for Cherokee County (393 square miles; 2020 population 56,216).

“S” is for Sayers, Valerie (b. 1952). Author. In 1992, Valerie Sayers was the National Endowment for the Arts literature fellow.

"R” is for Rivers, Lucius Mendel (1905-1970). Congressman. In 1940, Rivers defeated the “Charleston Ring,” was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the First District, and was re-elected fifteen times with only minor opposition.

“P” is for Pickens, Andrew (1739-1817). Soldier, legislator, congressman. During the Revolutionary War Pickens became one of the most significant leaders of patriot forces in the backcountry.

“M” is for McDuffie, George (1790-1851). Congressman, governor, U.S. senator.

“L” is for Lintheads. Cotton mill workers who played a critical role in the modernization of the South Carolina economy made the “linthead” epithet a badge of honor.

“S” is for Seneca (Oconee County; 2020 population 8,850). Founded in 1873, as Seneca City, the town’s name was taken from an earlier Indian village and the nearby Seneca River.

“R” is for Rock Hill Movement. Following the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery and the 1960 lunch-counter sit-ins in Greensboro, African Americans in Rock Hill took the lead in energizing the civil rights movement in South Carolina.

“P” is for Pinckney, Eliza Lucas (ca. 1722-1793). Planter, matriarch.

“P” is for Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (1746-1825). Soldier, statesman, diplomat.