Lexington County can trace its roots to Saxe Gotha Township. That township was 1 of 11 such townships established in the South Carolina back country.

The colonial government created these townships to provide a buffer between the Native Americans and Spaniards in the West and Charleston and the Lowcountry plantations. The colonial government wanted to protect its borders due in part to the memory of the Yamasee War. This war, which lasted from 1715 to 1718, involved many of the Native American tribes in SC and not just the Yamasee.

The war took place mainly in the Lowcountry but devastated the colony, causing the deaths of around 400 colonists..

JR Fennell is Lexington County Museum director.