History:

The City of Greenville is situated on land formerly belonging to the Cherokee Indians and briefly used by an Indian trader, Richard Pearis, as his camp site. On this site Pearis built a house, a trading post, a smoke house, stables, a dairy, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, a sawmill and slave quarters. Pearis also planted crops and an orchard. However, because he was not a Patriot, all of these possessions he lost during the Revolutionary War.

Following the defeat of the Cherokee Indians and the British during the Revolutionary War, South Carolina made available to Revolutionary soldiers for first occupancy all of the land which composes both the City of Greenville and the County of Greenville.

The village:

In 1797, having purchased the grant of land which included Pearis' camp site and which later had been purchased from the State by Revolutionary soldier, Thomas Brandon, and having obtained several other tracts of adjacent land, totaling 11,023 acres, Lemuel Alston drew a plan for a Village with lots laid off and containing a court house and a jail. This little village which he had named Pleasantburg soon became known as "Greeneville" and was soon thereafter was spelled " Greenville."

Lemuel Alston's dream of development only partly came true. A log jail was built, a log courthouse was built, lots were laid off but only a few lots sold.