Spartanburg is an increasingly industrialized city of 46,000 people in a major peach-growing area.

Established in 1785, it prospered before the Civil War on the back of slavery, cotton, and an ironworks.

After the war it became a railway hub. General William Westmoreland, who commanded US forces in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968, was born in Spartanburg County in 1914.

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art has changing exhibits and the Regional Museum of Spartanburg County has local history exhibits including one of the state’s oldest European artifacts: an etched-stone trail marker used by the Spanish in 1567. The beautiful Hatcher Gardens have more than 10,000 plants and plenty of birds and other wildlife, along with dams, ponds, and trails.

Twelve miles southwest of Spartanburg is the Walnut Grove Plantation, which is based around a two-story 1765 log house with plank floor. Powder horns and hunting rifles hang at the ready inside the front and back doors and there are bloodstains on the second floor, where it is alleged that loyalists stabbed a rebel soldier to death during the Revolutionary War. South of Spartanburg is Croft State Park, which is ideal for horseback riding. It offers equestrian facilities, a large swimming pool, a 160-acre fishing lake, rental boats, tennis courts, and nature trails.

Two rather crucial battles that turned the tide of the Revolutionary War also took place in the area around Spartanburg. The first was at Kings Mountain National Military Park, to the northeast of town, off I-85, not very far from Blacksburg. Here the left wing of the British Southern army (which was made up of American loyalists) was surrounded and captured by rough-shod mountain rebels, causing British leader General Cornwallis to withdraw his forces from North Carolina and refocus on South Carolina.

Today the battle is explored by means of dioramas, artifacts, and a video at the visitor center. A marked, self-guided trail traverses 11⁄2 miles through the dense woods and hilly terrain. Adjoining the military park is the Kings Mountain State Park.

To the north of town, near Chesnee, is Cowpens National Battlefield Site where a small rebel army under Daniel Morgan defeated a much larger, more experienced, and better-trained British force under Banastre Tarleton. Morgan, pursued by Tarleton, dug in and prepared for battle in this cattle-grazing area and, on January 17, 1781, his sharpshooters killed or captured most of the onrushing British troops. The site is explored by means of an auto tour, a walking trail, and a slide show at the visitor center.

Taken together, these two victories, after devastating losses at Charleston and Camden, proved pivotal to the course of the war.

They did much to restore battered morale and proved that Britain did not control the Carolinas.

More important, they limited Cornwallis’ capacity to move on from South Carolina to secure other states.

Access to the Cowpens site is via the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway (SC-11), which follows the course of an old Cherokee path. It leaves I-85 at Gaffney and traverses 130 miles of beautiful countryside, taking in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, villages, peach orchards, state and county parks, Lake Keowee, Salem, Walhalla and Westminster, rejoining I-85 at the Georgia border.

Spartanburg is in the northwest of the state at the intersection of US-176, US-221 and US-29.