If there was ever anyone deserving of a historical road marker in South Carolina, it would have to be John Lawson, the intrepid English explorer, surveyor, and author. Although Lawson's brief journey through the backcountry of North and South Carolina from December 1700 to February 1701 lasted only two months, his detailed notes remain some of the best accounts ever written of early Carolina.

At that time the backcountry was still Indian Territory and top- level predators like wolves, panthers, and bears roamed the countryside. Lawson later published

his account, A New

Voyage to Carolina, which has since become a classic.

Lawson and his small exploring party departed by boat on December 28, 1700, from Charleston at the behest of the Lord Proprietors. They made their way up the Santee River, which was at flood stage. Somewhere around the present- day Jamestown he encountered the recently arrived French Huguenots who were busily carving prosperous farms and plantations from the wilderness of the lower Santee River region.

The English explorer John Lawson provided one of the first written descriptions of Cooks Mountain in eastern Richland County when he passed through the High Hills of the Santee in 1701. Lawson sent his Indian guides back to Charleston with the boat and continued the rest of his travels on foot, picking up native guides along the way. He spent some time with the Santee Indians in what is now Williamsburg County. Lawson was a careful observer with an educated scientific mind, and he recorded in detail the customs and manners of Indian life. His writings on Indian culture are remarkably non- judgmental and free of most of the biases of his fellow whites.

Lawson also wrote at length on the natural history of the Carolinas and described in some detail the flora and fauna including buffalo, panthers, passenger pigeons, and Carolina parakeets.

Lawson entered the High Hills of the Santee and today's COWASEE Basin on January 12, 1701. After detouring around, and swimming across flooded creeks and swamps of the coastal flatlands, Lawson was astonished and delighted to encounter mountains and "alps" as he called the ridges and bluffs that lined the Wateree Valley. Somewhere in the vicinity of what is now Stateburg, Lawson provided one of the first written descriptions of Cooks Mountain, at 374 feet the highest point in eastern Richland County :

"...there appearing great Ridges of Mountains, bearing from us W.N.W. One Alp with a top like a Sugar- loaf, advanced its Head above all the rest very considerably…"

It is remarkable that the view Lawson marveled at more than 300 years ago is still evident today.

Lawson also encountered in the Stateburg area, the Congaree Indians who were at that time residing on the east bank of the Wateree River. He remarked on their customs, including the fact they were late risers and never stirred until the "Sun is an Hour or two high."

He said the Indians were fond of tobacco, and the women played games of chance keeping score with Indian grain. The Congarees were considerate hosts and Lawson and his small party spent the night in their houses. They were offered a meal of "loblolly," (an old English term for thick gruel), which consisted of "Indian corn and dry'd peaches."

After his journey John Lawson settled in eastern North Carolina (where he helped found Bath and New Bern) and became the Surveyor General of North Carolina. Unfortunately, the Tuscarora Indians felt he was responsible for stealing their land, and they kidnapped and killed him in 1711. Accounts differ on whether his throat was cut from "ear to ear," or if he was burned to death with hundreds of fat- lighter splints stuck under his skin, but it was a sad and ironic end for a man who so carefully documented and appreciated Native American culture.

John Lawson had all the characteristics of a great explorer - courage, curiosity, stamina, intelligence, a scientific mind, and perseverance. His remains were never recovered, and there is no grave site to honor his memory. He deserves a historical marker in South Carolina, and it seems fitting that the location be at Stateburg in the heart of the COWASEE Basin, with a prominent view of Cooks Mountain in the background.

Next week: Revolution comes

to the COWASEE Basin