Editing Dark Corner Exhibit (section)

=== Where is the Dark Corner? ===
The term doesn’t refer to an actual legal jurisdiction, and is used in different ways by different people. This can make it confusing.

* Famously, Dark Corner residents told anyone who asked that it’s “just a bit farther up the road.” That answer reflects a time when Dark Corner inhabitants were viewed with suspicion; it was valuable to them to be vague.
* An important aspect of the location is that, while it does reference a general geographic area, it is better defined culturally than geographically.
* Our exhibit is focused on the rugged, mountainous part of north Greenville County, centered around Glassy and Hogback Mountains. The heart of it is the area bordered by Highway 25, Highway 11, Highway 176, and the state line. 
* Historically, the term refers to that area plus a corresponding area across the state line in North Carolina. Moonshiners used the state line as a way to jump jurisdictions when being pursued.
* This means that Dark Corner is not in Greer itself. They have always been closely linked, and Greer’s expanding border is now consuming the edges of Dark Corner, but they are not the same place.
* Keep in mind that South Carolina has had several different areas in the state that have been called “Dark Corner.” In particular, there was an area near Anderson that was commonly called this in the late 1800s and early 1900s. If you research “Dark Corner” in the Greenville News, you’ll find quite a few confusing stories in which it’s unclear which area they’re talking about.

The giant corner map is quite important. It shows the locations and names of every homestead in the Dark Corner area.