GENERAL ANDREW PICKENS FAMILY
GRAVESITE RESTORATION
Brigadier General Andrew Pickens
Andrew Pickens, Revolutionary War Patriot, Hero and Leader, a campaigner for law, order and justice, District Magistrate, Congressman, Church Elder, Advocate for the Rights of Native Americans and devoted family man
Andrew Pickens was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on September 13, 1739. Like many of the Scots-Irish, Andrew and his family moved south, traveling the Great Wagon Road in search of new land. Records show they lived first in Augusta County in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, later in the Waxhaw settlement along the North Carolina-South Carolina border, and, during the Revolutionary War, in the Long Canes settlement in Abbeville County, South Carolina, bordering Georgia.
He built a home called he called Hopewell on the Seneca River in the Pendleton District of South Carolina. Here, he helped found a Presbyterian Church on a site donated by John Miller where the Old Stone Church now resides.
General Andrew Pickens is buried in the Old Stone Church Cemetery in the Pickens Family gravesite. The Old Stone Church Cemetery is also the final resting place for 15 Revolutionary War Patriots.
The Pickens Family Grave Site had been damaged by years of exposure and water run-off. Mortar in the surrounding brick enclosure had deteriorated. The wall foundation was exposed and subject to collapse. Vegetation had grown into cracks and crevices causing further separation of materials. Gravestones, Crypts and Monuments have been tilted or knocked over.
The Gen. Andrew Pickens Chapter, South Carolina Society, Sons of the American Revolution engaged a restoration company specializing in period correct restoration to completely restore this site to its original appearance. They have repaired the water drainage to prevent or mitigate further damage to the site and restored the Pickens Family Grave Siter to its original honored presence. It is now time to rededicate the Pickens Family Grave Site.
