THE GREAT PEE DEE RIVER HISTORY FACTS!!

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#historicalplaces
#thegreatpeedeeriver
#daysgoneby

Experiencing some history and enjoying the sites & sounds at the Riverside Park/Laney Landing in Cheraw SC

NAVIGATION ON THE PEE DEE
The Great Pee Dee River, named for an area Indian tribe, begins in Blowing Rock,
N.C. where it is known as the Yadkin. One of the longest rivers to flow into the North
Atlantic, it was a natural thoroughfare for Indians that inhabitated this area. Ihe
most powerful of these Indians were the Cheraws. Of Siouan descent, they maintained
a well fortified village near this site on the river hill. The Cheraws reached the height
of their power around 1650. By the time of the Revolution they had been so
decimated by wars and disease that they left here and joined the Catawbas in North
Carolina.
The Indian trails were natural beginnings for trading centers. Taking advantage of
this, James Gillespie, in association with Christopher Gadsden of Charleston, began a
trade and navigation business around 1740. By the 1750's Cheraw was an esta-
blished village, and the Kershaw brothers, among others, had stores at the top of this
hill, which was known as "Yankee Hill" for the numerous New England merchants
located here.
The town grew slowly until around 1820 when steamboats began coming up river.
Among the first of these was the "Great Pee Dee" whose builder and cantain was
Moses Rogers, commander of the famous "Savannah", first steamship to cross the
Atlantic. Capt. Rogers died enroute to Georgetown, and is buried at Old St. David's
Church, as is his friend and fellow steamship captain, Daniel Ellkins.
In 1822 the "Pee Dee" took four days and six hours to make the round trip to
Georgetown. Because Cheraw was at the head of navigable waters, the advent of fast
round-trip river traffic greatly increased Cheraw's already important position as a
regional trade center, a state which continued until just before the Confederate War
and the arrival of the railroad. Some of the steamships were the "Robert Martin"
and "Maid of Orleans", "Osceola", "Swan",
'Anson", "Marion",
"Charleston",
"Col-
umbia", and the "Chesterfield". These were usually shallowdraft side wheelers, and
they could only run in the fall, winter and spring when the water was highest.
The importance of river trade began to wane with the coming of the railroads, but
in 1907, the Cheraw and Georgetown Steamboat Co. was organized to revive river
trade. The channel was cleared, and the company purchased the "Ghio" and the
"Merchant". A trolley track, beginning close to where the boat ramp is now, went up
the hill to warehouses at the top, one of which is still located across from Pee Dee
Baptist Church. This company continued to operate until 1914 with a boat service
every other day. The last attempt to revive river traffic was in 1939 when the
tugboat "Helen"
Came up river.

CROSSING THE GREAT PEE DEE
Cheraw's earliest bridges and ferries were located just below this sign. Kershaw's
Ferry was in operation for about fifty years, although not continuously. In 1796, the
legislature specified that the ferry charge was foot passengers 4°, man and horse 7°,
wagon and team 75°, and every head of cattle 49
By 1821, traffic was enough to warrant the formation of the "Cheraw Bridge Com-
pany" for the purpose of constructing a toll bridge at Cheraw. George Hearsey was
responsible for the first bridge, constructed in 1824. The building of this lattice mode
bridge is believed to have been supervised by Ithiel Town, inventor of the bridge
truss. This bridge was carried away by flood in 1826. When rebuilt in 1828, the
bridge's rules stated that slaves must have a pass to cross, users must keep to the
right of center, and no one could stop in mid-stream. Bridge tolls were $1.00 for a
private four-wheel carriage drawn by four mules, six cents for those on foot, and two
cents for each hog, sheep or goat. This bridge burned in 1836.
The next bridge lasted until it was burned by the Confederate Army as they
retreated toward Fayetteville on March 3, 1865. A skirmish between Sherman's Ad-
vance and Hardee's Rear Guard was fought on this site, complete with the only
engagement of the Confederate gun boat "Pee Dee". The "Pee Dee" was settled less
than two weeks later to keep it from being captured, never having been anywhere ex-
cept Cheraw. The successful burning of the bridge meant that Sherman's forces had
to remain in Cheraw until pontoon bridges arrived, and the river receded from "Sher-
man's Freshet."
In 1866 the covered bridge was again rebuilt, continuing as a toll bridge until 1899
when the town bought the old bridge. On Aug. 26, 1908 at 12:20 in the afternoon,
the bridge went down in the midst of a raging flood. One section of the old covered
bridge remained on the Cheraw side. The rest of the bridge was replaced with a steel
bridge, and remained in use until a new bridge was built upriver in 1939. The last
section of the old covered bridge burned in the 1940's.