Page 90 - Florence County, SC Florence County 2032: Connecting Our Past, Defining Our Future

Existing County | Cultural Resources

This Folk Victorian house, with pierced
brackets and fretwork on its two-tiered
porch, was built ca. 1895 for William
Thomas Askins (1859-1932). Askins, a
merchant and farmer, built and operated
33° 52.213' N,
21-33 W.T. Askins House five stores here beginning in the 1890s,
79° 45.335' W
including the general store W.T. Askins and
Sons. He and three sons also owned several
tobacco and truck farms on the outskirts of
Lake City. This house was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
This is the center of Mars Bluff, a rural
community 8 mi. across in both directions,
bounded by the Great Pee Dee River, Black
Creek, & Jefferies Creek. A ferry across the
34° 12.270' N, Great Pee Dee began operation in 1767.
21-34 Mars Bluff
79° 39.348' W Patriot and Loyalist militia later clashed in
the area during the Revolution. Mars Bluff
grew in both size and significance after the
Wilmington & Manchester RR arrived in the
1850s.
This site was part of the 150-acre plantation
of Joshua Braveboy (1740-fl. 1820), a free
black who served in the S.C. militia during
the American Revolution. Braveboy, a native
Joshua Braveboy 33° 56.952' N, of N.C., came to S.C. in 1771 and received a
21-35
Plantation 79° 47.514' W grant on Two Mile Branch at Lynches Creek.
He served under Gen. Francis Marion in
1780-81, and in another militia unit in 1782.
He spent the rest of his life here, in what
was then Williamsburg Co.
In 1898 a building here was the scene of a
lynching that sparked outrage across the
nation. Frazier Baker, an African American
who had recently been appointed
postmaster of Effingham, was appointed
The Lynching of 33° 51.784' N,
21-36 postmaster of Lake City in 1897. Whites
Frazier Baker 79° 45.535' W
who resented Baker harassed him, even
burning the post office in an attempt to
make him resign and leave town. An old
school on this site became a temporary post
office and Baker’s home.

Florence County, SC | Comprehensive Plan pg. 89