Fountain Inn (Images of America)

Before there was an inn and a fountain, the present town of Fountain Inn was half Indian Territory bisected by the "Old Indian Boundary Line." It was established in 1766 by a treaty made between Old Hop, the head of the Cherokees, and Gov. James Glen of the province of South Carolina. The Cherokees used this area--a region of dense forests, canebrakes, and springs of water--for hunting deer, turkeys, panthers, bears, wolves, wildcats, and even buffalo. Only a few settlers had moved to the territory prior to the Revolutionary War. The Fairview Presbyterian Church community was not settled until 1786. Around 1830, a stagecoach stop was established where there was not only an inn but also a spring of water that gushed two feet in the air like a fountain. In time, the stop became known as Fountain Inn. After the War Between the States, Noah Cannon, a resident of the Greer area, bought up huge tracts of land, and so began the village that was chartered in 1886.

Caroline Smith Sherman, a native of Fountain Inn and coauthor of Scotch-Irish Life in the South Carolina Piedmont, and Dianne Gault Bailey, a resident and owner of BookQuest Used & Rare Books in Fountain Inn, in collaboration with the Fountain Inn History Museum and many generous residents, have compiled memories of old Fountain Inn and surrounding areas for the enjoyment of natives and newcomers.