Oconee’s first business dates back to the English colonies

In the year of Oconee County’s Sesquicentennial, a retired history teacher keynoted the annual “State of Oconee” luncheon, sponsored by the county Chamber of Commerce. The speaker, Bill Whitmire, Walhalla state lawmaker, stood in front of a large luncheon crowd at Seneca’s Blue Ridge Elementary School. And he highlighted the county’s history starting during days when English colonists traded goods with Native Americans. Whitmire’s tutorial covered some of the more important events and influences that mark Oconee history, including the creation of the county in 1868, the rise and the fall of the textile industry through the announcement that, as he put it, changed Oconee forever. That was January 1, 1965 when the then Duke Power Company announced it was going to build a nuclear reactor in Oconee. What is today Duke Energy’s three-unit Oconee Nuclear Station, Whitmire told his audience, has meant jobs, taxes, recreation, and home construction. And that continues today, he said. In its early years, Oconeeans made a living by growing cotton and making textiles. But in the years that followed the power plant construction, the county has diversified its work base and the result, Whitmire enumerated, are several assets to offer. He gave the following list: a strong agricultural community, a wild and scenic river, the Blue Ridge Mountains, a national forest, the state fish hatchery, state and county parks, pristine lakes, tourism, recreational opportunities, museums, cultural events, festivals, and new and established industries.