Martin’s Tavern/The Cherokee Path

Near here stood Martin’s Tavern, also known as the Forty-Five Mile House for its distance from Charleston. On Sept. 11, 1781, Gen. Nathaniel Greene wrote Congress from the tavern to announce the Battle of Eutaw Springs. In 1833, it was the site of a muster ground used by the Eutaw State Volunteers, a militia company raised to defend the Ordinance of Nullification.

Near here passed the Cherokee Path, one of the most significant trade and transportation networks in early S.C. The path connected the Cherokee Overhill Towns of Tennessee to the Lower Towns of Upcountry S.C. before continuing on to Charleston. By the mid-1700s, this section of the path generally followed what was later known as the Congaree Road and Old S.C. Hwy. 6.