Clio, SC

Clio is a town in Marlboro County's northeastern agricultural country, where the roads meet around a historic downtown. The 2020 census counted 608 residents. It began as Ivey's Cross Roads, named for settler Joe Ivey, and later took the name Clio after the Greek muse of history. Cotton fields and the Pee Dee region's farm economy shaped the town's growth, while the surrounding roads connect it to Bennettsville and the smaller communities of Marlboro County. The town grew around cotton farming and local trade, with churches and stores filling out the center.

The Clio Historic District preserves the town's strongest built record. It includes about 21 notable structures and over 100 supporting buildings, most dating from the town's boom between 1895 and 1920. The McLaurin House, built around 1880, and the McLaurin-Roper-McColl Farmstead add older agricultural layers outside the center. Clio's story is in the crossroads, the cotton country, and the houses and commercial buildings that remain from the period when the town expanded around its roads.