Abbeville County · Marker 01-18
Colonial Block House
Washington St., just S of Hemphill Rd.
Front inscription
A “block house,” a log building with a stone foundation, stood SE on Parker Creek from ca. 1767 to the 1850s. It was built by Andrew Pickens (1739-1817), later a militia general in the American Revolution, a state representative and senator, and a U.S. Congressman. Pickens married Rebecca Calhoun in 1765, moved to the Long Canes settlement, and built his home nearby.
Fort Pickens
The block house was an outpost near the boundary between Indian lands and white settlements and was later a refuge for area families during the American Revolution. Tradition holds that in 1785 Pickens held the first court in the new Abbeville District there. After his death the old block house was popularly called “Fort Pickens” and this part of Abbeville was long known by the same name.