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"P" is for Pageland

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"P" is for Pageland in Chesterfield County (populations 2,521). Pageland is situated on a sand ridge immediately adjacent to the clay hills of the Piedmont—both soil types make farming difficult. Settlement began in the area after the American Revolution. For much of the nineteenth century the little community was known as Blakeney's Crossroads at the Old Store Township. In 1904 the Chesterfield and Lancaster Railroad reached the crossroads and it was renamed Pageland in honor of  "Captain Dolly" Page, the president of the railroad. The town was chartered in 1908 and two years later had a population of 800.  By the 1980s, out migration led to economic stagnation and the downtown appeared to be dying. However, between the state's Small Towns Program and the explosive growth of Charlotte, Pageland is once again prospering.

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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.