Oconee

January 1, 1868 (31^st county)

Oconee County (78,604), Walhalla (4,077), Seneca (8,844)

The Modern red and tan brick building was erected in 2001.  There were two earlier courthouses the last was built in 1955.  F. J. Clarke provided the courthouse designs.  The county was established on January 1, 1868 from Pickens County as the 31^st county with Walhalla as the only county seat.  The courthouse is on Main Street at Tugahoo Street.  South Carolina State Highway 28 is Main Street.  Veteran memorials and a eagle statue are on the grounds.  Oconee County gets its name from the Native American word meaning “land of springs.”  The county seat name is a mythical paradise. 

Oconee County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Council Members.  Four Circuit Court Judges and Three Family Court Judges serve Oconee and Anderson counties.  The county is in the northwest corner of South Carolina.  Georgia is on its western border and North Carolina is on its northern border.  Greenville, South Carolina is east and Columbia, South Carolina is southeast of the county.  The county center is 6.1 miles East of Walhalla nearer West Union.  The county is surrounded clockwise by North Carolina and Pickens and Anderson counties and Georgia. 

The area of the county is 674 square miles.  It is 24 out of 46 in the state.  It ranks 18 out of 46 in population in the state.  It has a density of 116.6 persons per square mile making it 19 out of 46 in the state.  Oconee County has 20.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 85 clips the southern tip of the county from Anderson County, southeast, to Georgia.  United States Highway 76 enters from the northwest, Georgia, and exits to the east, Pickens County.  United States Highway 123 comes in joined with United States Highway 76 from Pickens County, east, splits and continues west into Georgia.  Oconee County resembles a diamond with the eastern part cut away.  Walhalla is located in the western third of the county.  Seneca is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Walhalla is the county seat and Seneca is the largest city.  Walhalla is 5.2% of the county population while Seneca is 11.3% of the county population.  The county is pronounced OE-KOE-NEE.  The county seat is pronounced WAL-HAL-LA.  This county is in the Seneca Micropolitan Statistical Area.