Ninety Six, South Carolina

Ninety Six is located in eastern Greenwood County at 34°10′24″N 82°1′18″W (34.173211, -82.021710).[6] South Carolina Highway 34 passes through the town as its Main Street; it leads west 9 miles (14 km) to Greenwood, the county seat, and east 27 miles (43 km) to Newberry.

Lake Greenwood State Park is 5 miles (8 km) northeast of town, and Ninety Six National Historic Site is 2 miles (3 km) south of the center of town.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Ninety Six has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all land.[5]

There is much confusion about the name, "Ninety Six", and the true origin may never be known. Speculation has led to the mistaken belief that traders estimated it was 96 miles (154 km) from here to the nearest Cherokee settlement of Keowee (it was about 78 miles (126 km)); to a counting of creeks crossing the main road leading from Lexington, South Carolina, to Ninety-Six (a legend proved false); to an interpretation of a Welsh expression, nant-sych, meaning "dry gulch". No one is able to confirm that European founder Robert Goudey (sic) was Welsh, English, Scottish, or German.

Traders passed on information to each other about landmarks and distances along the Cherokee Path, and sometimes created maps. They estimated mileage between streams based on their day's travel. They noted unusual aspects, such as the six creeks that ran unexpectedly south away from the Saluda River and, further west, nine creeks that ran south away from the Savannah River, noting them on maps as "6" and "9". A town in this area and a district both became known as "Ninety-Six", likely related to the evolution of traders' references to 9 and 6, the landmark groups of streams. Using historical accounts and USGS maps, historians have traced the Cherokee Path across present-day Greenwood County, territory that at the time was part of other districts.[7]

Another source suggests the numerical reference was to measuring by "chains", traditional in English parishes. Even so, the origin of the name "Ninety-Six" remains a mystery.[8] Ninety Six has been noted for its unusual place name.[9]

Ninety Six was established on the frontier of the early 18th century, roughly around 1730. For a time it was known as "Jews Land" because some prominent Sephardic Jewish families of London bought extensive property there. The Salvador and DaCosta families bought 200,000 acres (810 km²), intending to help poor Sephardic families relocate from London to the New World.[10] They began to settle it.[11]

The settlement became the capital city of the Ninety-Six District when the latter was established in July 1769. Since the late 20th century, the National Park Service has operated the Ninety Six National Historic Site at the site of the original settlement and British fort.

Ninety Six figured prominently in the Anglo-Cherokee War (1758–1761). During the American Revolutionary War, it was a site for southern campaigns. The first land battle of the revolution south of New England was fought here 19–21 November 1775.

On August 1, 1776, American militia forces led by Major Andrew Williamson were ambushed by Cherokee and Loyalists near here in the Battle of Twelve Mile Creek. More than 4,000 Cherokee warriors had waged war on a long front beginning in June, from modern Tennessee to central South Carolina.[12] Francis Salvador, a Sephardic Jewish immigrant from London and a planter, was one of the casualties. He was the first Jew to be killed fighting with the Patriots in the Revolutionary War.[13]

The Cherokee were allied with the British in an effort to expel European-American settlers from their territory. In fall 1776, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia raised rebel militias to retaliate. Rutherford's Light Horse expedition had several units that attacked the Cherokee Lower Towns; the Middle, Valley, and Out Towns; and the Overhill Towns, dealing widespread destruction of Cherokee towns and their stores of food.

In 1780 the British fortified the strategically important frontier town with a star fort. From May 22 to June 18, 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene, with 1,000 Continental Army troops, besieged 550 American Loyalists who were defending Ninety Six. General Greene's chief engineer at the siege was Colonel Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish officer who became world-renowned for his role in the Revolution; he was wounded at the siege. The Loyalists survived the siege and relocated after the war to Rawdon, Nova Scotia, Canada, with support from the Crown for resettlement.

In the nineteenth century, the Southern Railway was constructed through here and had a stop at Ninety Six. The Kinard House, Moore-Kinard House, Ninety Six National Historic Site, and Southern Railway Depot (Ninety Six, South Carolina) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[14][15]

In 2008, Ninety Six started hosting an annual 4 July celebration in the park. It is called the festival of stars and as of 2023 is still running in its 15th consecutive year. It has had many famous headliners at the festival including Tracy Lawrence and Aaron Tippin. The festival hosts a petting zoo, various food vendors, a multitude of booths selling items, rides, and even a helicopter ride. People in the town look forward to this annual celebration.

Ninety Six has a public library, a branch of the Greenwood County Library System.[18]

• Orville Vernon Burton, professor of history at Clemson University, was raised in Ninety Six. His book, In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina traces the social history of that region.
• Cal Drummond, Major League Baseball umpire born in Ninety Six
• John W. Drummond, South Carolina businessman and legislator
• Benjamin Mays, sixth president of Morehouse College and mentor to Morehouse student Martin Luther King Jr.; born in the vicinity of Ninety Six
• Elliott Crayton McCants (1865–1953), author and educator[19]
• Odean Pope (1938–present), jazz tenor saxophonist, born in Ninety Six but grew up in Philadelphia[20]
• Francis Salvador (1747–1776), bought land in Ninety-Six District, and was the first Jew to be elected to public office in the colonies (1774, to SC's Provincial Congress); after joining the militia, in 1776 he was the first Jew killed in the American Revolution in a battle with Loyalists and Cherokee
• Joseph W. Tolbert (1865–1946), South Carolina Republican Party leader and committeeman
• Bill Voiselle, pitcher for the New York Giants, Boston Braves, and Chicago Cubs, wore his hometown as uniform number "96" when playing with Boston and Chicago.

The 1781 siege was described in William Gilmore Simms' novel, The Forayers (1855). It is also featured in Kenneth Roberts' novel, Oliver Wiswell (1940), which includes a chapter entitled "Ninety-Six".

The town is mentioned in the song "This Old Skin" by The Beautiful South.

• List of places with numeric names

• Carol W. Troxler, "Scotch-Irish among Southern Backcountry Loyalists", Journal of Scotch-Irish Studies, I no. 3 (October 2002).

• Town of Ninety Six official website
• The Facebook page for Ninety Six
• National Park Service historical narrative