Kershaw, SC

Kershaw is a Lancaster County town that began as Welsh's Station beside the Charleston, Cincinnati, and Chicago Railroad. The 2020 census counted 1,693 residents. The town incorporated in 1888 and took the Kershaw name for Confederate general and South Carolina senator Joseph B. Kershaw. A 1897 fire cleared much of the early center, but the town rebuilt around the railroad, cotton and oil mills, and the roads between Camden, Lancaster, and Pageland. The Haile Gold Mine, where gold was found in 1825, sits about three miles from town and once drew visitors to the Benton Hotel.

Kershaw Depot, Clinton AME Zion Church, Unity Baptist Church, and the East Richland-East Church and Matson Street historic districts keep several different local threads visible. U.S. 521 and U.S. 601 still carry the through traffic, while Andrew Jackson High School and the Lancaster County Library branch add everyday landmarks. Kershaw's local scoop is a railroad town with a gold mine nearby, two preserved street districts, and a name tied to the Civil War era.