Pickens, South Carolina
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Pickens census division. It lies in ZIP code area 29671. It lies near Cannon Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Pickens quadrangle. 3,388 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,093 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Pickens
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 10 records
Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry No. 2listed 1989
Griffin-Christopher Houselisted 2001
Hagood Milllisted 1972
Hagood-Mauldin Houselisted 1997
Old Pickens Jaillisted 1979
Oolenoy Baptist Church Cemeterylisted 2003
Roper House Complexlisted 1989
Table Rock Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Sitelisted 1989
Table Rock State Park Historic Districtlisted 1989- Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry No. 1 and Truck Traillisted 1989
Surveyed buildings and structures 2 records
- Rocky Bottom 4-H Camp, Dining Hall, Intersection of Routes 178 & 199, Pickensfederal building survey, 8 photographs
- Table Rock State Park, 158 East Ellison Lane, Pickensfederal building survey, 1 photograph
Population over time
3 figuresPickens grew from 3,012 to 3,388 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3,012 | |
| 2010 | 3,126 | +114 (+4%) |
| 2020 | 3,388 | +262 (+8%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1888 USGS Pickens quadrangle1:125000
- 1894 USGS Pickens quadrangle1:125000, 6 printings
- 1954 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Easley quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Pickens quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Greenville quadrangle1:100000
Photographs
8 of 9 photographs shown,Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Every photograph of Pickens County
Fires near this place
312 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 312 fires within 5 miles of Pickens between 1992 and 2020, burning about 628 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 14 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 126 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 21 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 18 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 14 |
| Smoking | 9 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 5 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | 3.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 7 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 4 September 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 30 September 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 3 September 1999 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
| 26 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Carolina Forestry Commission | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Pickens: 3 prospects. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Mica. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvey Harper Prospect | Mica | Prospect | ||
| Kirksey Prospect | Mica | Prospect | ||
| Mccomb Prospect | Mica | Prospect |
Storms near this place
60 of 73 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Pickens in 73 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 45 thunderstorm wind, 18 hail, 5 flash flood, 2 lightning. The reports record 1 death and 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1998 | Flash Flood | Pickens | 1 killed, 3 hurt, $50,000 | Excessive rain fell just north of Pickens causing raging water flowing into a lake to wash out a road. Two cars drove into this washout around 2300 EST and then were swept into the lake, killing one young man and injuring three other people. |
| July 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| March 1993 | Hail | Pickens | $500,000 | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Flash Flood | Pickens | $400,000 | Flooding began around Easley during the late morning, when several roads were underwater, including Stewart Dr, Campbell Ave, and Saluda Dam Rd, where a car was swept away by flood water. Flooding became quite serious around 10 AM, when water from Georges Creek entered 8 homes in the Quail Haven s/d, forcing evacuations. Some of the homes and their contents were damaged extensively and rendered uninhabitable. At least 1 bridge was washed out. A family required rescue when their van succombed to flood water in the Oak Creek subdivision. Near Pickens, a flea market was underwater when a feeder creek of Twelvemile Creek flooded. Several roads were closed in Pickens, including City Lake and Slickum Rds. A bridge on Odom Rd in Pickens received some minor damage and a portion of Ballard Hill Rd was washed out. |
| June 2006 | Flash Flood | Pickens | $50,000 | Severe urban and poor drainage flooding and some stream flooding developed in Pickens when 8 to 10 inches fell across the county in about an 8 hour period. Several roads were closed in an around the city, including highway 178 North. Water entered several businesses along this section of 178, apparently due to flooding along Towne Creek. Other closed roads included City Lake Rd, Hollingsworth Rd, and Runymeade Rd. The Pickens flea market flooded to depths of 5 feet as rapid runoff from heavy rain collected in this low lying area. Highway 183 was also flooded near the flea market. |
| August 1994 | Hail | Pickens | $50,000 | ,,,,,,,,Thunderstorm Winds |
| March 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $30,000 | Public, HAM Radio operator, and county comms reported wind damage from the city of Pickens east through the Dacusville area. Some exterior damage occurred to a building on W Main St in Pickens, including part of a tin roof that was peeled off. Part of the roof was also torn off a well-contructed barn near the intersection of Albatross Rd and Hitt Rd. Otherwise, numerous trees and tree limbs were blown down throughout the area, with one limb through the windshield of a vehicle in the Dacusville area. |
| January 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $30,000 | no account filed |
| May 2005 | Lightning | Pickens | $16,000 | Lightning killed 16 cows. |
| April 2005 | Tornado (F1) | Pickens | $15,000 | This tornado touched down just northwest of Pickens, where 3 barns were destroyed near the intersection of Gravley Rd and Artie Rd. Numerous trees were blown down from the intersection of Red Hill and Reece Mill Rds east to highway 178. The tornado continued an intermittent ENE track, snapping off and uprooting numerous trees along an 8 mile path before lifting west of Dacusville. At least one tree fell on a house, and at least one car was damaged. Newspaper reported thousands of power outages across the county. There was also a spotter report of mothball hail in Pickens at 2:30. |
| April 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $10,000 | Divergent damage path ran from the intersection of Shady Grove and Martin School Rds to highway 178 north of Pickens. Spotter estimated 65 mph winds in Pickens. Several trees and lines down from Pickens to Liberty. At least one tree fell on a house near Liberty High School. A car was blown into another car at the Nissan plant near Liberty. |
| July 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $5,000 | Trees were blown down and an outbuilding was destroyed. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $5,000 | no account filed |
| January 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $2,500 | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Tornado (EF0) | Pickens | $2,000 | NWS storm survey found the path of an EF0 tornado that touched down near the intersection of Shady Grove Rd and Morgan Jane Lane, moving just south of due east across Thomas Rd, Sidney Dr, Highway 183 (near the intersection of Singleton Rd before lifting in downtown Pickens. Damage was limited to multiple uprooted trees, snapped large limbs, and minor damage to outbuildings. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $1,000 | Some trees and power lines were blown down. |
| November 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $1,000 | A number of trees and power lines were blown down along Highway 11 in the Laurel Valley community. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | $1,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Hail | Pickens | - | Public reported (via Social Media) up to ping pong ball size hail with damage to a vehicle in the Pickens area. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Public reported (via Social Media) multiple trees blown down just northeast of Pickens. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms reported a few trees blown down near Pickens. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Pickens | - | Public reported 3/4 inch hail. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms reported multiple trees down east of Pickens through north of Easley. |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms reported widespread trees and power lines blown down across Pickens County, especially across the eastern half of the county. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Public reported multiple trees uprooted in the area surrounding Luna Ln in Central. Ham radio operator reported multiple trees blown down in the Pickens area. |
| September 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms and high patrol reported a couple of trees blown down east of Pickens including at Glassy Mountain Church Rd and Rhymes Rhymes Ln. |
| June 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms reported numerous trees and power lines blown down, mainly across the eastern half of Pickens County. |
| March 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Public reported multiple trees blown down in Pickens, especially off Glassy Mountain St. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Pickens | - | Public reported 3/4 inch hail in the Pickens area. |
| March 2017 | Hail | Pickens | - | Public reported (via Social Media) ping pong ball size hail in the Pickens area associated with a second storm. |
| April 2016 | Hail | Pickens | - | CoCoRahs observers, HAM Radio operators, the public, and spotters reported quarter size hail across much of central Pickens County. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Law enforcement reported a few trees blown down in the Pickens area. |
| May 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | County comms reported multiple trees blown down across the eastern half of Pickens County, including the Pickens, Easley, and Dacusville area. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Trees were blown down around Cove Creek Rd and Porter Rd. Additional trees were downed along highway 178 just north of town. Also, utility company reported multiple large oak trees down along highway 178 near Hagood Mill Rd. |
| April 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Trees and power lines were blown down near the intersection of highway 11 and 178. |
| April 2012 | Hail | Pickens | - | Penny size hail fell along Meece Mill Rd. |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | A tree was blown down on Welborn Rd and another nearby on Ireland Rd. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Pickens | - | Quarter to golf ball size size hail fell on Fox Squirrel Rd. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Part of the metal roof was blown off of a car dealership and numerous trees were blown down around Pickens. Three trees were also blown down onto highway 183 3.5 miles east of Pickens. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Trees and power lines were blown down on the west and north side of the city of Pickens. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Numerous trees were blown down across the northern part of the county. |
| February 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Two trees were blown down and blocked roads in the Sunset community. |
| March 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Quite a few trees blown down from Lake Keowee to Easley. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Numerous trees were blown down in and around Pickens. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Two trees blown down near the intersection of Cleo-Chapman Highway and Mill Creek Rd. |
| July 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Two trees blown down at the highway 178, highway 8 intersection. |
| March 2007 | Flood | Pickens | - | Flooding in Pickens County included portions of the Saluda River and Gregory Creek, which flooded the bridge over Concord Church Rd near its intersection with Massingill Memorial. Mauldin Lake Rd was also under water, apparently due to flooding along Wolf Creek. Water was also over highway 183 in several places, mainly due to poor drainage. |
| June 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Trees were blown down off of highway 178. |
| June 2007 | Hail | Pickens | - | Reported on Midway Rd. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Several trees blown down across Table Rock State Park. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | The top of a small oak tree was snapped off and several large limbs were downed. |
| April 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Spotter estimated winds of 75 to 100 mph. He counted over 100 large trees uprooted in a divergent pattern in a 25 acre area near the Keowee Mountain Estates off of highway 133 near Nine Times. |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | A few trees down west of Liberty. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Pickens | - | Hail fell on highway 8 between Pickens and Table Rock. |
| July 2003 | Flash Flood | Pickens | - | A portion of Tiger Lane was washed out by heavy rain. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Several trees were blown down along highways 8 and 178 between Pickens and Easley. |
| September 2003 | Flash Flood | Pickens | - | A strong storm system produced very heavy rainfall across portions of the Upstate, which resulted in some flooding across Pickens County. A creek flooded part of City Lake Road. Flooding of urban and poor drainage areas was fairly widespread across the county. |
| October 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pickens | - | Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in extreme northern Pickens County as a squall line moved in from the west. Some trees fell onto roads. The first area affected was north of Highway 11, west of Table Rock. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Pickens | - | no account filed |
| May 2006 | Hail | Pickens | - | no account filed |
Newspapers printed here
26,894 digitised pages6 papers published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 4,711 issues, 26,894 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
| Newspaper | Published |
|---|---|
| The Pickens Sentinel | 1871 to 1903 |
| The People's Journal | 1891 to 1903 |
| The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 1903 to 1906 |
| The Pickens Sentinel | 1911 to 2016 |
| The Sentinel-Journal | 1906 to 1909 |
| The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 1909 to 1911 |
What the paper printed
56,724 wordsFront pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 13 issues spread across its run from 1891 to 1911, 56,724 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.
These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.
| Issue | Paper | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1906-11-10 | The Sentinel-Journal | 627 words |
| 1909-03-18 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 5,573 words |
| 1909-05-27 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 4,631 words |
| 1909-08-12 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 5,164 words |
| 1909-10-21 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 3,059 words |
| 1894-09-13 | The Pickens Sentinel | 7,622 words |
| 1891-03-12 | The People's Journal | 827 words |
| 1903-06-04 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 6,614 words |
| 1903-08-06 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 6,015 words |
| 1903-10-14 | The Pickens Sentinel-Journal | 4,958 words |
| 1911-10-05 | The Pickens Sentinel | 3,326 words |
| 1911-11-02 | The Pickens Sentinel | 4,813 words |
| 1911-12-07 | The Pickens Sentinel | 3,495 words |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant View | 3.6 miles | 17 | |
| Cedar Rock | 3.6 miles | 17 | |
| Hillwood | 4.0 miles | 17 | |
| Crow Creek | 4.3 miles | 16 | |
| Arial | 4.3 miles | 17 | |
| Midway | 4.5 miles | 17 | |
| Monte Vista | 5.1 miles | 16 | |
| Terrapin Crossroads | 5.2 miles | 16 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Pickens | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1864258 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1250078. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







