Editing Greenville, South Carolina (section)

===From Cherokee land to Greenville County===
[[File:FallsPark1844.jpg|left|thumb|Falls Park and McBee's Mill in 1844]]
The land of present-day Greenville was once the hunting ground of the [[Cherokee]], which was forbidden to colonists. A wealthy settler from [[Virginia]] named [[Richard Pearis]] arrived in South Carolina around 1754 and established relations with the Cherokee. Pearis had a child with a Cherokee woman and received about {{Convert|100000|acre}} from the Cherokee around 1770. Pearis established a plantation on the [[Reedy River]] called the Great Plains in present-day [[Downtown Greenville, South Carolina|downtown Greenville]]. The [[American Revolution]] divided the South Carolina country between the [[Loyalist]]s and [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]]s. Pearis supported the Loyalists and together with their allies, the Cherokee, attacked the Patriots. The Patriots retaliated by burning down Pearis' plantation and jailing him in [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]]. Pearis never returned to his plantation but [[Paris Mountain State Park|Paris Mountain]] is named after him.<ref>Whitemire, 76; Archie Vernon Huff, Jr., ''Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont'' (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1995), 13.</ref> The [[Treaty of Dewitt's Corner]] in 1777 ceded almost all Cherokee land, including present-day Greenville, to [[South Carolina]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Treaty of Dewitt's Corner between the Cherokee Nation and South Carolina, 1777|url=http://www.teachingushistory.org/lessons/treatyofdewittscorner.htm|website=teachingushistory.org|publisher=Teaching American History in South Carolina Project|access-date=October 28, 2015|archive-date=October 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024034720/http://www.teachingushistory.org/lessons/treatyofdewittscorner.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Greenville County, South Carolina|Greenville County]] was created in 1786.  Some sources state it was named for its physical appearance, while others say the county is named after [[Nathanael Greene|General Nathanael Greene]] in honor of his service in the [[American Revolutionary War]], or after early settler Isaac Green.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huff|first1=Archie Jr.|title=Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont|date=March 6, 2017|publisher=University of South Carolina Press|page=48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last1=Gannett| first1=Henry| title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States| date=1905| publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]], [[United States Department of the Interior]]| location=[[Washington, D.C.]]| page=144| edition= Second| url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0258/report.pdf| access-date=March 29, 2016| ref=Bul258}}</ref><ref name="britannica" /> [[Lemuel J. Alston]] came to Greenville County in 1788 and bought {{Convert|400|acre}} and a portion of Pearis' former plantation. In 1797 Alston used his land holdings to establish a village called Pleasantburg where he also built a stately mansion. In 1816, Alston's land was purchased by [[Vardry McBee]], who then leased the Alston mansion for a summer resort, before making the mansion his home from 1835 until his death in 1864.<ref name="The History of Greenville" /> Pleasantburg was renamed as Greenville in 1821 and became a village in 1831.<ref name="britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Greenville-South-Carolina |title=Greenville, South Carolina |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=December 13, 2022 }}</ref> Considered to be the father of Greenville, McBee donated land for many structures such as churches, academies, and a cotton mill. [[Furman University]] was funded by McBee who helped bring the university to Greenville from [[Winnsboro, South Carolina]], in 1851. In 1853 McBee and other Greenville County leaders funded a new railroad called the [[Greenville and Columbia Railroad]]. Greenville boomed to around 1,000 in the 1850s due to the growth of McBee's donations and the attraction of the town as a summer resort for visitors.<ref name="The History of Greenville">{{cite web| title=The History of Greenville| url=http://greenvillesc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1317| website=greenvillesc.gov| access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=American History Greenville County, South Carolina| url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/counties/greenville.htm| website=electricscotland.com| publisher=Electric Scotland| access-date=October 28, 2015}}</ref>