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the "pink palace"
orangeburg city hall
Edisto Memorial Gardensorangeburg south carolina
"orangeburg"
orangeburg is located on the edisto river just south of I-26 in central south carolina. orangeburg is the county seat of orangeburg county south carolina. the first european settler in the orangeburg area was george sterling in 1704. the town of orangeburg was established in 1735 and was named after william IV, prince of orange. during the revolutionary war orangeburg was a loyalist town. on may 10th 1781 colonel thomas sumter attacked the forces of loyalist john fisher and took the town. during the civil war union general william t. sherman occupied orangeburg and established a union hospital in the town. in modern times orangeburg is best known for the 1968 orangeburg massacre. of interest to the tourist is beautiful edisto gardens, the edisto river, and orangeburg's downtown historic district. for those interested in southern history and culture orangeburg is a interesting side trip off of I-26 in central south carolina.
in modern times the most significant historic event in orangeburg was the orangeburg massacre on february 8 th 1968. orangeburg is home to chafin college and south carolina state university which were established after the civil war for the higher education of african-americans. in the late 1960's orangeburg was still a segregated town. the leader of the orangeburg freedom movement, harlowe caldwell presented the orangebueg city council with 10 pro intergration demands. these demands were refused by the city and led to student protests. on the night of february 8 th chafin and s. c. state students built a bonfire on the s. c. state campus to protest a segregrated bowling alley. the police were ordered to put out the fire and disperse the crowd. the students hurled objects and insults at the police. the resulting events are still unclear but it is belived that one officer shot a warning shot into the air to try to disperse the protesters. other officers thought that the shot came from the direction of the protesters and fired into the crowd. as a result three students were killed and thirty one injured. after the incident south carolina governor robert mc nair stated that this was one of the saddest days in south carolina history.
