In the colonial era, this high bluff was called Red Hill. It overlooks Turkey Creek, which flows into the Great Salkehatchie River, and the Charleston-to-Augusta road, following an old Indian trail, crossed the creek nearby. The waters of Turkey Creek and White Oak Springs just north of this site encouraged the early settlement and development of what later became Barnwell. McHeath's Tavern, the first business in what became Barnwell, was built nearby before the Revolution. The town became a county seat in 1785 when Winton District, later Barnwell District and then Barnwell County, was created, and it was long called Barnwell Court House. Two cemeteries a short distance east, both established about 1800, contain the graves of some of Barnwell's earliest families.