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"T" is for Tega Cay

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"T" is for Tega Cay, in York County; population 4044. Tega Cay is a recreational oriented community on Lake Wiley, with stronger ties to North Carolina than South Carolina. Tega Cay came into being in 1970 when Duke Power sold 1600 acres in northwestern Fort Mill township to a Charlotte developer. The name allegedly comes from an obscure Polynesian dialect and means "lovely peninsula." Historically, the site was identified as India Hook H ills which aptly described the red clay spur of land that jutted like a fish hook into the Catawba River. The unique landscape lends a mountain-like atmosphere, with a man-made lake created in 1904 when Duke Power dammed the Catawba River at India Hook Shoals. In 1982, the area’s residents opted to incorporate; and, on July 4th of that year, Tega Cay became a municipality.

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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.