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"O" is for Oconee County

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"O" is for Oconee County (625 square miles; 2020 population 80,248). Oconee County is the only county in South Carolina that borders on two state—Georgia and North Carolina. Located in the northwest corner of the state at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the region was home to Cherokee Indians until the Revolutionary War. Oconee County was created in 1868 from the western half of Pickens County. The name Oconee derives from the Cherokees and has several interpretations, the most popular being “water eyes of the hills,” in reference to the area’s many waterfalls and streams. Two large man-made lakes—Keowee and Jocasee--provide water for the Oconee Nuclear Generating Station. Retirement and recreation communities developed soon after the creation of Oconee County’s lakes. Walhalla is the county seat of Oconee County.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.