About a mile from the Abbeville square, there's a marker that’s easy to zip right past. It’s worth slowing down for.Around 1767, a young Andrew Pickens built a block house here on Parker
Fort Pickens: Abbeville's Frontier Block House.
Dated: September 21 2026
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About a mile from the Abbeville square, there's a marker that’s easy to zip right past. It’s worth slowing down for.
Around 1767, a young Andrew Pickens built a block house here on Parker Creek. It was a log building on a stone foundation, and it stood into the 1850s. Pickens had married Rebecca Calhoun in 1765 and settled in the Long Canes community, and this outpost sat near the boundary between Indian lands and white settlements. Families in the area could fall back on it if trouble came.
Earlier, on February 1, 1760, about 150 settlers were fleeing the Cherokee War toward Augusta when they were overtaken by Cherokee warriors near Long Cane Creek. Their wagons bogged down in the mud. At least 23 were killed and buried in one grave, including Catherine Calhoun, the family matriarch. She was Rebecca's grandmother and John C. Calhoun’s grandmother. Rebecca was about 15 at the time, and family tradition says she hid in the canes for days before she was found. Nine kids were scalped, and somehow survived.
Five years later she married Andrew Pickens. When the Revolution reached the backcountry, that same block house was a refuge for local families. Pickens went on to become a militia general, a war hero, a state representative, a senator, and a U.S. Congressman. Tradition states that he held the first court of the new Abbeville District there in 1785. After his death, folks started calling the old block house "Fort Pickens," and this part of Abbeville carried the name for a long time.
The Long Cane Massacre site itself is a short drive away, near Troy.
I’m David Cole, the Realtorian- Your Tour Guide in Real Estate
David Cole
Originally from Asheville, NC, I earned my History degree from UNC-Charlotte before starting my career as a legal assistant at a real estate law firm. That experience led me to marketing for real esta....
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Data is updated as of September 22, 2026 6:16 AM UTC
