Named in honor of then Gov. Thomas Bennett, the town of
Bennettsville was established in 1819 and quickly became the
central hub and seat for Marlborough, later changed to Marlboro
County. In that year, the S.C. General Assembly, upon requests
of Scots and English, who had settled in the county, and felt
the courthouse would better serve them if located in
Bennettsville, authorized the relocation of the courthouse from
the eastern bank of the Great Pee Dee River to a more central
location. A three-acre apple orchard located on a bluff above
Crooked Creek was the selected site for the new courthouse. The
building was designed by South Carolina architect Robert Mills.
Streets were then developed around the square, one of the
state’s largest. In 1852, the Mills building was replaced. The
new building escaped burning when Sherman’s troops captured
Bennettsville during the Civil War. In 1884, another Second
Empire style courthouse was erected on the site and is the
central portion of the present building. Two stor