McPhersonville, South Carolina

McPhersonville is an unincorporated community in eastern Hampton County, South Carolina, United States, near the county's borders with Beaufort and Jasper counties. Once an important center of affluence and culture in colonial Prince William Parish (roughly analogous to modern-day Hampton County), McPhersonville is now little more than a marked location on a secondary road between Yemassee and Early Branch.

McPhersonville is located at 32° 41' 31" North, 80° 55' 09" West (32.6918437, -80.9192743). It is approximately 85 feet above sea level. The McPhersonville area is largely shady pine forests in sandy soil, which made it an attractive summer retreat for colonial plantation owners from the lower areas closer to the Atlantic coast, along with their extended families.

By the time of European colonization, Yemassee and Creek Indians had established trading posts, trails, burial grounds and ceremonial grounds throughout the pine woods and swampland surrounding McPhersonville. The first lasting English settlements in the McPhersonville area date to the 1670s, before the Carolinas were divided in 1729. In 1682, the Proprietary County of Colleton was established, within which were later created Parishes of St. Bartholomew's (1706), Prince William (1745), St. Peter's (1747) and St. Luke's (1767). In 1769, Beaufort District was created from the merger of three earlier parishes: St. Peter's, St. Luke's, and Prince William, the latter roughly corresponding to modern-day Hampton County.

McPhersonville proper was established by rice planters from along the Combahee and nearby rivers, who valued the inland area's cool winds, relatively low humidity and dense pine shade canopy. General James McPherson and his family were among the earliest residents; they were followed by the Drayton, McLeod, Pope, Mackey, Verdier, Brailsford, Martin, Palmer, McDougal, DeSaussure, Screven, Colcock, Hutson and Gregorie families. The Yamasee War of 1715 was largely fought in the areas around McPhersonville. It involved the Yamasee, Creeks, and many other tribes who rebelled against the unfair business practices of the region's white traders. Hundreds of colonists were killed and the loss of property was dramatic.

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