At the Greenville-Spartanburg County line, this place marked the eastern boundary between the Cherokee Nation and the Province of South Carolina from the end of the Cherokee War in 1761 until 1777. The local community of Gowensville was named for John "Buck" Gowen, a Revolutionary War soldier for whom nearby Gowen's Fort was also named. A skirmish at the fort on July 13, 1780, was the first of eight confrontations that led to the tide-turning Battle of Cowpens in January 1781. The foothills and mountains west of here were long known as the "Dark Corner." In the early 19th century, that name reflected the area's strong Unionist leanings during South Carolina's Nullification Crisis, and in the late 19th century its meaning shifted to the region's "white lightning" whiskey making and associated lawlessness. Nearby historic sites include First Baptist Church, dating to 1820; Earlesdale, dating to 1871; the sites of Gowensville Seminary, active from 1858 to 1890, and Gowensville School, established in 1922; and Campbell's Covered Bridge, built in 1909 and the only surviving original covered bridge in South Carolina.