Dark Corner chronology

1750 — Estimated first white, European settlers in the Glassy Mountain area.

1755 — Cherokee and Colony friendship. A major friendship between the South Carolina company and the lower Cherokee Nation created the old Indian boundary line. The boundary of this line began near present day Tyrone on the Carolina colonies border and this line followed due South to the Enoree river, below present-day Greer, then continue along the river for miles. The lands West of this boundary line were held by the lower Cherokee Nation until 1777.

1809, July — Gowensville Baptist church was founded. At the beginning the place of worship was at a place called Brown’s School House. It was then relocated to its present site at Cross Roads in 1849. In 1873 they renamed it Gowensville.

1820- Poinsett bridge is built. Named after Joel Poinsett, the bridge was built by local men of the area inclusing some Native Americans.

1823- Several post office buildings open.

1858 — Dr. Earle opened Earle Seminary. Earle seminary is also known as the Gowensville Seminary. Gowensville Seminary was well-known by the surrounding areas.

1868 — W. Dock Robertson became the first magistrate commissioned by the Governor of Glassy Mountain Township.

1876 — Old “Muster Ground” coined as the Dark Corner. These two terms for the Glassy Mountain Township area were interchangeable.

1882 — A map of Greenville was printed. This map gave the name and location of the families that lived in Glassy Mountain Township.

1888 — Benjamin A. Ross is killed. Ross was a government distiller (legally authorized); shortly after he testified concerning the wounding of Massena Howard someone shot up his house, killing him.

1890, October — “Little Bill” Howard escapes jail. William “Little Bill” Howard was convicted of murdering Benjamin Ross and condemned to hang. He escaped from the Greenville County jail by changing clothes with his wife, who had come for a visit.

1890, December — “Big Bill” Howard killed by George Center. Little Bill’s brother, Big Bill, had also been accused and tried for the murder of Ben Ross but was not convicted. He was shot and killed by George Center, the nephew of Ross’s wife.

1891 — John Ballenger lobbies the North Greenville Baptist Association to establish a high school.

1891, February — Little Bill recaptured by Sheriff P. D. Gilreath. He was put back in the Greenville County jail.

1891, August — gun battle at Mountain Hill Church. The Howard and Gosnell families were involved in a shootout at Mountain Hill Church on Glassy Mountain. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21737175/mountain-hill-baptist-church-shootout/ https://www.tryondailybulletin.com/2011/06/08/shootout-at-mountain-hill-church/

1893, January 16 — North Greenville High School opened, which became North Greenville Academy, North Greenville Junior College, and eventually North Greenville University.

1893, July — J. L. Hansens’s body was found near Joseph P. Dill’s cornfield. Suspected of the murder were George and Henry Sudduth. George and Henry were both arrested and tried in 1894. They were found not guilty.

1894 — Deputy Marshal Blalock ambushed. Blalock was hunting for a still and was reportedly ambushed by Bill Howard and Ben Center. The deputy came away unharmed.

1894, June — Mrs. Crecie Plumley shot and robbed. During daylight hours, she was home alone and saw someone enter her house. On investigation she was shot and wounded, and the perpetrator left with a chest containing $600. A posse chased the perpetrator around Hogback Mountain to the Van Burwell house. William Plumley, her husband, told reported that only the Burwell’s had known about the money. Officials arrested Ben Burwell and recovered the money.

1895, June 28 — Dispensary Constable Pettigrew murdered by moonshiners. Following a tip that a load of moonshine would be traveling to Spartanburg over a certain route at a certain time, Pettigrew and another officer caught the men; after feigning surrender, the men took fire, and Pettigrew was killed. Luther Durham was arrested and charged.

1896 — Luther Durham arrested for the murder of Pink Plumbley; J.R. Durham charged. Both men were moonshiners; at the time of Plumbley’s death Durham was out on bond for the murder of Constable Pettigrew. After investigation, J.R. Durham was actually charged while Luther, along with Henry Howard, Will Cade, and Vet Ross, were named as accessories.

1906 — Raid destroys 8 still in the Dark Corner. At that time, authorities alleged that some of the more dangerous moonshiners had terrorized the populace by firing into churches.

1907 — Suspects freed in a counterattack after moonshiners arrested.

1907 — Walter G. Allen and James Suddeth escape from the state penitentiary. Both were longtime residents that were convicted of murder; Allen was in line for a pardon. At least Allen was apprehended.

1910, October — almost 90% of cases tried during the October term of federal court were moonshine cases, most originating in the Dark Corner.

1913 — Forest fire rages for days, burning cornfields and barns.

1913, September — Federal agents brag about their success in several revenue raids. In two months Deputy Collector R. Q. Merrick and E. A. Allen had destroyed 50 illegal stills, arrested sixteen alleged distillers, and poured out thousands of gallons of alcohol.

1918 — The casualties of WW1 at the Dark Corner. One of the casualties was a baby, born March 17, who died of shell shock. The other casualty died from an incident that occurred during one of the battle exercises. A cartridge was overlooked, and the machine gun exploded; this caused the death of Corporal John Kowalski, Company A, 104th machine gun battalion.

1918, April — The Artillery Range closed at the end of April.

1919 — Unknown country school discovered. Supervisor of rural schools Elizabeth Perry, and attendance officer Carl Drake, founding an unknown school flourishing in the Dark Corner. It was called Mountain Hill School, was more than two miles from a public road, and had 24 students.

1976 — Interstate 26 was completed.