Page "Florence, South Carolina" Paragraph 2

Though Florence was part of one of the original townships laid out by the Lords Proprieters in 1719, it was slowly and thinly settled until the coming of the railroads.

Prior to then, the Pee Dee River was the route of most commerce.

Early settlers practiced subsistence farming and produced indigo, cotton, naval stores and timber, which were shipped downriver to the port at Georgetown and exported.