Abbeville County has a rich and colorful history that traces back to the 1700s. The county was formed in 1758 and stretches from the Savannah River to the Saluda River across the upstate and encompasses the towns of Abbeville, Calhoun Falls, Donalds, Due West, and Lowndesville. Abbeville is named after a town in France located in northern France only 20 miles from the Atlantic coastline. Abbeville County South Carolina sits along the Savannah River separating South Carolina and Georgia.

Abbeville County is rich in historical landmarks and famous native sons and daughters who made significant contributions to our local community, state government, and national government

Abbeville was founded in 1785 in an area settled some thirty years earlier by French Huguenots, one of whom named the place after a town with the same name in France. The European heritage manifests itself most in Trinity Episcopal Church, which underwent construction in 1859. The pink stone Gothic revival structure is a block from the town square and is one of twenty churches in the 6,000-population community.

Among the region's first settlers was Patrick Calhoun, father of John C. Calhoun, one of South Carolina's favorite sons and a U.S. Vice-President. From 1807 to 1817, the younger Calhoun had his law office on Abbeville's town square, near where the county courthouse stands today.