McCormick County · Marker 33-14
New Bordeaux (1764)
Intersection of S.C. Sec. Rd. 33-7 and Huguenot Pkwy., Bordeaux
Front inscription
The town of New Bordeaux, the last of seven French Huguenot colonies founded in colonial S.C. and the only one in the upcountry, was established 1 mi. E in 1764. After Protestants fleeing religious persecution in France petitioned the British crown for land to create a permanent settlement in S.C., they received a 28,000-acre grant in the newly-formed Hillsborough Township.
Reverse inscription
Almost 200 French Huguenots led by Rev. Jean Louis Gibert (1721-1773) landed at Charleston in April 1764 and began settling here in August. Others followed, including a group led by Jean Louis Dumesnil De St. Pierre (d. 1776), which arrived in 1768. The colony, which produced silk and wine on a modest scale, later furnished a militia company during the American Revolution.