Darlington County Courthouse, photographed around 1890. Darlington was originally part of the Cheraw District, created as an independent county by the state legislature in 1785 when it redrew the judicial boundaries of the state. Unable to decide between two rival claimants as the site of the county seat, residents finally chose a spot at the geographic center of the new county, through which ran the old Native American trail to Camden. The first courthouse was built there in 1791, and burned in 1806. The town of Darlington was not chartered until 1831. A second courthouse, built on a handsome town square, burned in 1866, and was replaced by this third courthouse in 1870.
Courtesy of the Darlington County Historical Commission.
