Pee Dee River
Encyclopedia
The Pee Dee River, also known as the Great Pee Dee River, is a river
in North Carolina
and South Carolina
. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains
in North Carolina
, where its upper course above the mouth of the Uwharrie River
is known as the Yadkin River
. It is extensively dammed for flood control and hydroelectric power. The lower part of the river is named Pee Dee (in colonial times written Pedee) after the Native American Pee Dee
tribe. The Pee Dee
region of South Carolina, composed of the northeastern counties of the state, was named after the tribe and/or river.
Navigable up to the fall line
at Cheraw
, the river was an important trade route through the Low Country from colonial times. The largest lumber
company in the world existed at the turn of the 20th century near the river's mouth at Georgetown
. The virgin pine
forests of the Pee Dee region were cut over, and the logs floated in rafts downriver to be sawn into lumber and exported to the northern USA
and Europe
.
The lower part of the river flood plain was extensively developed for rice
culture in colonial time; rice was the major export of the area from the port at Georgetown. Rice culture declined with the loss of slave
labor after the Civil War
, and increased overseas competition. Two hurricanes at the beginning of the 20th century destroyed much of the rice canal infrastructure and effectively ended the remnants of rice culture.
Today the river is not extensively used for navigation. It is an important source of electric power
and public water supplies, as well as recreational use. While the Pee Dee is free-flowing in South Carolina, upstream in North Carolina, several dams have been constructed on it. The opening and closing of these dams causes dramatic swings in the depth of the river in South Carolina. The sharing of water between the two states has sometimes been a matter of controversy, particularly during period of drought. Some commercial fishing is done during the winter shad
run, and for shrimp
in the lower reaches. The river is excellent for recreational fishing and boating. There are numerous boat landings, yet most of the river is wild, with forests of tupelo
, oak
and gum
along its shores. Heron
s and alligator
s can be seen along the way, and a lucky sighting of a bald eagle
is possible.
The lower part of the river from Highway 378 to Winyah Bay
has been designated a Scenic River. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/water/envaff/river/desig_rivers.html
Some tributaries are the Lumber
, the Little Pee Dee
, Lynches
, Black
and Waccamaw
rivers. The river empties into Winyah Bay
, and then into the Atlantic Ocean
near Georgetown.
Snow's Island is a large island at the junction of the Pee Dee and Lynches rivers. This was headquarters for General Francis Marion
during the American Revolution
. It proved a safe haven for him and his ragtag militia
troops, as the British
were never able to find the camp. It has been identified as the center of an old meteor
crater
).
The Pee Dee River was the original river for Stephen Foster
's song "Old Folks at Home
" (commonly known by its first line, "Way down upon the Swanee River"). Why he changed the name of the river in his final version of the song is a subject of much speculation.
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. It originates in the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, where its upper course above the mouth of the Uwharrie River
Uwharrie River
The Uwharrie River is a river, about 60 mi long, in the Piedmont region of central North Carolina in the United States. It is a tributary of the Pee Dee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean.- Course :...
is known as the Yadkin River
Yadkin River
The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, power, and flood control. The river becomes the Pee Dee...
. It is extensively dammed for flood control and hydroelectric power. The lower part of the river is named Pee Dee (in colonial times written Pedee) after the Native American Pee Dee
Pee Dee (tribe)
The Pee Dee tribe are a nation of Native Americans of the southeast United States, especially the Low Country of present-day South Carolina. Several tribes are recognized by the state, although none has federal recognition. The Pee Dee River and the Pee Dee region of South Carolina were named for...
tribe. The Pee Dee
Pee Dee
The Pee Dee region of South Carolina is the northeastern corner of the state. It is the area of the lower watershed of the Pee Dee River, named after the Pee Dee Native American tribe. Its center is Florence...
region of South Carolina, composed of the northeastern counties of the state, was named after the tribe and/or river.
Navigable up to the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...
at Cheraw
Cheraw, South Carolina
Cheraw is a town on the Pee Dee River in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 5,524 at the 2000 census and center of an urban cluster with a total population of 9,069. It has been nicknamed "The Prettiest Town in Dixie." The harbor tub USS Cheraw was named in the...
, the river was an important trade route through the Low Country from colonial times. The largest lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
company in the world existed at the turn of the 20th century near the river's mouth at Georgetown
Georgetown, South Carolina
Georgetown is the third oldest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina and the county seat of Georgetown County, in the Low Country. Located on Winyah Bay at the confluence of the Great Pee Dee River, Waccamaw River, and Sampit River, Georgetown is the second largest seaport in South Carolina,...
. The virgin pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
forests of the Pee Dee region were cut over, and the logs floated in rafts downriver to be sawn into lumber and exported to the northern USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The lower part of the river flood plain was extensively developed for rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
culture in colonial time; rice was the major export of the area from the port at Georgetown. Rice culture declined with the loss of slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
labor after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, and increased overseas competition. Two hurricanes at the beginning of the 20th century destroyed much of the rice canal infrastructure and effectively ended the remnants of rice culture.
Today the river is not extensively used for navigation. It is an important source of electric power
Electric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
and public water supplies, as well as recreational use. While the Pee Dee is free-flowing in South Carolina, upstream in North Carolina, several dams have been constructed on it. The opening and closing of these dams causes dramatic swings in the depth of the river in South Carolina. The sharing of water between the two states has sometimes been a matter of controversy, particularly during period of drought. Some commercial fishing is done during the winter shad
Shad
The shads or river herrings comprise the genus Alosa, fish related to herring in the family Clupeidae. They are distinct from others in that family by having a deeper body and spawning in rivers. The several species frequent different areas on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea....
run, and for shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
in the lower reaches. The river is excellent for recreational fishing and boating. There are numerous boat landings, yet most of the river is wild, with forests of tupelo
Tupelo
The tupelo , black gum, or pepperidge tree, genus Nyssa , is a small genus of about 9 to 11 species of trees with alternate, simple leaves...
, oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and gum
Black Tupelo
Nyssa sylvatica, commonly known as black tupelo, tupelo, or black gum, is a medium-sized deciduous tree native to eastern North America from New England and southern Ontario south to central Florida and eastern Texas, as well as Mexico.-Names:Nyssa sylvaticas genus name refers to a Greek water...
along its shores. Heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
s and alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
s can be seen along the way, and a lucky sighting of a bald eagle
Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...
is possible.
The lower part of the river from Highway 378 to Winyah Bay
Winyah Bay
Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that is the confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River and the Sampit River in Georgetown County in eastern South Carolina...
has been designated a Scenic River. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/water/envaff/river/desig_rivers.html
Some tributaries are the Lumber
Lumber River
The Lumber River is a river in south-central North Carolina in the flat Coastal Plain. European settlers first called the river Drowning Creek, which still is the name of its headwater. The waterway known as the Lumber River extends downstream from the Scotland County-Hoke County border to the...
, the Little Pee Dee
Little Pee Dee River
The Little Pee Dee River is a tributary of the Pee Dee River . The Little Pee Dee technically arises near Laurinburg, North Carolina as Gum Swamp, which flows southward, receiving several small tributaries, across the South Carolina border into Red Bluff Lake, near McColl, South Carolina...
, Lynches
Lynches River
Lynches River, named for Thomas Lynch, Jr., signer of the Declaration of Independence, rises in North Carolina near Waxhaw, North Carolina, at about 700 feet elevation, flowing only a short distance to the South Carolina border, and thence to join the Pee Dee River nearJohnsonville...
, Black
Black River (South Carolina)
The Black River is a blackwater river in South Carolina in the United States....
and Waccamaw
Waccamaw River
The Waccamaw River is a river, approximately 140 miles long, in southeastern North Carolina and eastern South Carolina in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 1110 square miles in the coastal plain along the eastern border between the two states into the Atlantic Ocean...
rivers. The river empties into Winyah Bay
Winyah Bay
Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that is the confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River and the Sampit River in Georgetown County in eastern South Carolina...
, and then into the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
near Georgetown.
Snow's Island is a large island at the junction of the Pee Dee and Lynches rivers. This was headquarters for General Francis Marion
Francis Marion
Francis Marion was a military officer who served in the American Revolutionary War. Acting with Continental Army and South Carolina militia commissions, he was a persistent adversary of the British in their occupation of South Carolina in 1780 and 1781, even after the Continental Army was driven...
during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. It proved a safe haven for him and his ragtag militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
troops, as the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
were never able to find the camp. It has been identified as the center of an old meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
crater
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
).
The Pee Dee River was the original river for Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
's song "Old Folks at Home
Old Folks at Home
"Old Folks at Home" is a minstrel song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. It was intended to be performed by the New York blackface troupe Christy's Minstrels. E. P. Christy, the troupe's leader, appears on early printings of the sheet music as the song's creator...
" (commonly known by its first line, "Way down upon the Swanee River"). Why he changed the name of the river in his final version of the song is a subject of much speculation.