George Watt Park began selling seeds in 1867 at age 15 after sharing seeds grown and collected in his mother’s Pennsylvania garden, and in 1868, after advertising in The Rural American and buying a hand press, he printed an 8-page catalog in his mother’s parlor and founded the George W. Park Seed Company. Though established in Libonia, Pennsylvania, the company later moved to Greenwood, South Carolina, after George W. Park met Mary Barratt of Greenwood, corresponded with her for two years about horticulture, married her in 1918, and then relocated the business to her hometown. In 1975, Park Seed purchased Wayside Gardens of Mentor, Ohio, moved its offices to the Park facility, and continued its mail-order nursery tradition. Park Seed also worked with NASA on the SEEDS program, sending 14.5 million seeds into space for almost six years; when they returned to earth in 1991, they were distributed to an estimated 4 million students and researchers in the United States and 30 foreign countries, and the resulting data showed very few significant effects from prolonged exposure to outer space. The company hosts an annual June open house known as Flower Day and has served for more than 50 years as an official All-American Selections trial site evaluating new flower and vegetable varieties. Greenwood County is presented as a historically rich and diverse place that includes the Ninety Six Historic Site, Park Seed Company, Pitts Park at Ware Shoals, Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area, Emerald Farms, Cokesbury College, The Museum, and the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce.