A new SC Historical Marker commemorating historic Fort Prince George was dedicated on October 18, 2014, in a ceremony led by officials of the Piedmont Chapter – National Society Daughters of the American Colonists. This Piedmont Chapter raised the funds and worked with the SC Dept. of Archives and History to get the marker approved, fabricated, and placed by Pickens County work crews at the entrance of Mile Creek Park near Six Mile, SC. Piedmont Chapter Regent Beth Sutton, Chapter Chaplain Nell Kivett, and State Regent and Chapter Historic Landmarks Chair Dianne Culbertson led the ceremony, which included an official unveiling of SC Historical Marker 39-17. Thirty-one people were in attendance on this bright fall afternoon, including Piedmont Chapter members, SCSDAR State Regent Dot Lind and members of the Fort Prince George DAR Chapter, as well as Pickens County Historical Society representatives.
Fort Prince George was completed in 1753 near the unofficial boundary between Cherokee lands and white settlements. It had been built at the direction of SC Gov. James Glen just across the free flowing Keowee River from the Cherokee Lower Town of Keowee to protect both whites and Cherokees from warring Creeks or other enemies. Since it’s conception around 1748, this fort had been promised to the Cherokee “headmen.” But Fort Prince George was abandoned in 1768 as relations between Great Britain and the colonies worsened. Left unattended for two centuries, archaeologists partially excavated the fort site in 1966-68 before what little remained was immersed under the surface of Duke Power Co.’s Lake Keowee with the flooding of the entire valley in 1968.
Thanks to the combined efforts of these historic preservationists, this SC State Historic Marker now stands near the submerged site to forever tell the Fort Prince George story.
