Six Mile, SC

Six Mile is a Pickens County town whose name is an old mileage marker. The Cherokee Path passed through what is now Main Street, six miles east of the Cherokee town of Keowee and later Fort Prince George. Both places are now under Lake Keowee, which gives the name a submerged backstory: the town still carries a distance measured from landmarks that are no longer on the surface.

The town's own history begins before incorporation, with Cherokee trade routes, local legends, and a long period when Main Street followed an established path. Six Mile later grew into a rural center with schools, businesses, and a community calendar that includes the Issaqueena Festival. A veterans monument in front of Town Hall honors local Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. That old measure still has a pulse. There is a lot packed into that name - a road, a fort, a lake, and a reminder of how Upstate places keep old directions alive.