ACKNOWLEDGMENT: A debt of gratitude is owed to Deputy Banks of the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office for the valuable assistance provided to me in locating landmarks in Abbeville. Thank you, Deputy Banks.

The area around Abbeville was occupied by the Cherokee Nation prior to the arrival of European settlers. In the mid 1700s the area came under the control of the English due to a series of treaties. The city of Abbeville, South Carolina was established by French Huguenots in 1758. In 1785, the county of Abbeville was part of the Ninety-Six District. Later it became part of Branville County. The settlement was incorporated as a municipality in December, 1832.

The Abbeville District, as it was known, was a cultural center in the northern part of South Carolina.

The Trinity Episcopal Church began construction of a new church building in 1859; it was completed in 1860, just prior to the commencement of the U.S. Civil War. The design was by architect George E. Walker, who designed it in the Gothic style, so common in France at the time. The church building still retains many of its original components such as the organ, manufactured in 1860 by John Baker of Charleston and its original bell tower.

It was at Abbeville that some of the most important decisions of the Civil War were made. On a hill in Abbeville, on November 22, 1860, was the meeting in which delegates decided to secede from the Union. The hill today is known as Secession Hill. Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy frequently visited his friend, Armistead Burt and it was in Burt’s home that Davis held his last council of war, effectively ending the Confederate States of America on May 2, 1865. So, it could honestly be said that the Confederacy was born here and died here.

During General Sherman's sweep through the area during the Civil War, it was highly suspected that Abbeville would be burned as had so many other southern cities. It was almost a certainty, considering the part Abbeville had played in the establishment of the Confederacy, but at the last moment, Union troops formerly ordered to go south out of Anderson, South Carolina to Abbeville, were ordered westward into Georgia, sparing Abbeville.

With the fall of Richmond to Union forces in 1865, Confederate president, Jefferson Davis was forced to flee Richmond. He traveled south to Abbeville in the company of a Confederate military force estimated to have been between 1500 and 3000 men. Upon reaching Abbeville, he accepted an offer of lodging from his friend, Armistead Burt, who had only days earlier shown such kindness to his family when they fled to safety. This would have been to the detriment of Burt and his family if Union forces ever learned of his aiding and abetting Davis, who was a criminal in the eyes of the Union. Burt steadfastly refused to turn away his old friend.

Between the hours of 2pm and 4pm, on May 2, 1865, Davis held a council of war in the Burt mansion. His intention was to keep fighting the war, using troops that were plentiful in the west. However, his military advisors informed him of the gravity of the situation. After approximately two hours of discussion, Davis finally faced the group and said, “Gentlemen, all is lost!” This was Davis' last council of war. Effectively, the Confederate States of America no longer existed!

On nearby Seccession Hill, the Confederacy had started almost five years earlier with the succession of South Carolina from the Union. It ended in the southwest parlor of the Burt Mansion, today known as the Burt-Stark Mansion.

The Abbeville Opera House was designed with the intention of catching some of the performances provided by road companies passing through the area during the early twentieth century. The Opera House and its neighbor, the Abbeville County Courthouse were dedicated on October 1, 1908. Some of the greats of entertainment performed here, including most of the greats of vaudeville.