The southern Lexington County sandhills were once reviled by George Washington.

The sandhills lie south of the fall line which divides the coastal plain from the Piedmont. Millions of years ago the sandhills were beach front property.

Here grow long leaf pines, scrub oaks, sparkleberry and other plants.

Throughout history, many have found the sandhills to be troublesome and uninviting.

On Washington’s visit through the area in 1791, he reported the area around Lexington was “a pine barren of the worst sort, being hilly as well as poor.”

A student who attended the Lutheran Seminary in Lexington said that the sandhills were a “continued piney, monotonous, Saharan-like level.”

A soldier in the Union Army stated in a report that the sandhills area was “thinly settled, uncultivated and poor.”

Those of us who live there now would tell them how wrong they are. JR Fennell is Lexington County Museum director.