J. Strom Thurmond Dam and Lake provides boating, swimming, fishing, camping, picnicking, hiking, biking, and other outdoor recreation at the largest U.S. Army Corps of Engineers man-made lake east of the Mississippi River, while the dam has also prevented millions of dollars in flood damage, averted loss of life, and generated clean, renewable hydroelectric power. McCormick County, named for agricultural equipment inventor Cyrus McCormick, who purchased Dorn's Gold Mine after the Civil War, is one of South Carolina's last counties created in the 20th century, though its history reaches back to early European settlement in the backcountry. French Huguenots settled New Bordeaux, and the 18th century Guillebeau House at Hickory Knob State Resort Park survives from that period. The John de la Howe School, founded in 1797 through the will of Dr. John de la Howe, continues to serve children throughout the state, and its Barn, built in 1931, now serves as a country market. Other notable places include Hickory Knob State Park on the shore of the 70,000 acre lake; the Joseph Jennings Dorn Historic House, designed around 1917 by J.C. Hemphill for local businessman and state senator J.J. Dorn; Willington, a 19th century community tied to the railroad and now being restored as a Book Town; the McCormick Arts Council in the former Keturah hotel; Dorn Mill, the remnant of a larger industrial complex; and Mt. Carmel, once the business center of this rural agricultural community.