Bennettsville, South Carolina

Bennettsville is a city located in the U.S. state of South Carolina on the Great Pee Dee River. As the county seat of Marlboro County, Bennettsville is noted for its historic homes and buildings from the 19th and early 20th centuries — and the Bennettsville Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the 2000 census, Bennettsville has a population of 9,425.

Geography

Bennettsville is located at 34°37′17″N 79°41′5″W / 34.62139°N 79.68472°W / 34.62139; -79.68472 (34.621270, -79.684830).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.2 square miles (16 km²), of which, 5.6 square miles (15 km²) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²) of it (10.13%) is water.

History

The city of Bennettsville was founded in 1819 on the Great Pee Dee River and named after Thomas Bennett, Jr., then governor of South Carolina. The area was developed for short-staple cotton cultivation, dependent on the labor of enslaved African Americans. Many were brought to the upland area from the Lowcountry, carrying their Gullah culture with them. Others were transported from the Upper South by slave traders. This shift to cotton cultivation in the uplands was based on the development of the cotton gin, which made short-staple cotton, cotton with relatively short fibers, profitable. The advent of the gin in turn led to development of large cotton plantations throughout the Deep South.