Cherokee County, South Carolina
| Cherokee County, South Carolina | |
|---|---|
 Location in the U.S. state of South Carolina |
|
 South Carolina's location in the U.S. |
|
| Founded | 1897 |
| Seat | Gaffney |
| Largest city | Gaffney |
| Area | |
| • Total | 397 sq mi (1,028 km2) |
| • Land | 393 sq mi (1,018 km2) |
| • Water | 4.5 sq mi (12 km2), 1.1% |
| Population (est.) | |
| • (2015) | 56,194 |
| • Density | 141/sq mi (54/km²) |
| Congressional district | 5th |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 |
| Website | www |
Cherokee County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,342. The county seat is Gaffney. The county was formed in 1897 from parts of York, Union, and Spartanburg Counties. It was named for the Cherokee people who historically occupied this area prior to European encounter.
Cherokee County comprises the Gaffney, SC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area.
This area was occupied for thousands of years by indigenous peoples and by the historic Cherokee people before European encounter.
When European traders and settlers entered the area, they used the existing Native American paths: called collectively the Trading Path. The Upper Road and Lower Cherokee Traders Path were paths that passed through the piedmont. The former connected to Fredericksburg, Virginia, leading from the Virginia Tidewater into the Piedmont and to the South. The Lower Cherokee Traders Path especially connected areas in present-day western North Carolina, northern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia. In the mid-18th century, waves of British migrants and immigrants, an estimated 250,000 people, traveled by these paths into Cherokee and neighboring counties in the piedmont. This backcountry area was initially settled especially by immigrant Ulster Scots people, Germans and Anglo-Americans migrating into the area.
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