Settled in the 1840s on higher ground in the healthy pines of upper St. John's Parish, Eutawville was founded by Santee River plantation owners as a summer refuge for their families. The railroad was established in 1886. The town was chartered on December 24, 1888, in Berkeley County and was annexed to Orangeburg County in 1910. Long before the village was founded, the area immediately to the north and east was an important avenue of trade by way of Nelson's Ferry Road, the Cherokee Path, and the Santee River. At Eutaw Springs, a strategic point guarding the British supply line from Charleston, a major battle of the American Revolution took place.