Marking America’s 250 years of independence was the theme for this year’s Independence Day celebration held in the county seat of Pickens on Friday, July 3, 2026. The day began at noon (with inflatables for the kids, live music by three bands, living history demonstrators, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution wearing period clothing) and concluded with fireworks at 9:30 p.m.

A patriotic presentation was held at the amphitheater entrance on Main Street at 1 p.m. Debbie Gravely, Events Manager for the City of Pickens, welcomed everyone to the special event. “We’re excited to celebrate South Carolina 250, Independence Day, here in Pickens,” she said.

She then introduced Carolyn Nations, Chair of the Pickens County America 250 Committee. “Thank you so much for allowing me to be with y’all,” Nations told the crowd. “I love being able to be here in Pickens. I love Pickens County and the city of Pickens. And, so, today as your Pickens County 250 Chair, I’d like to welcome you here. We’re so glad that you came out to share this celebration with us. On behalf of the Pickens County 250 Committee, I am deeply grateful that each of you has chosen to gather with us as we celebrate this historic occasion.

“Today, we are not simply observing another anniversary. We are marking 250 years since a courageous generation declared that liberty, equality, and self-governance were ideals worth risking to secure. This celebration matters, because the story of America is not only the story of great leaders, famous documents, and distant battlefields. It’s also our story. The struggle for American independence reached into the churches, homes, farms, forests, and communities of South Carolina. Here, in the backcountry, families endured danger, division, hunger, loss, and uncertainty. Men left their homes to serve. Women protected their families, carried messages, supplied soldiers, defended property, and held communities together. Many who contributed to the cause never had their names recorded in history, yet their courage helped build a nation whose freedom we enjoy today.

“Pickens County has a special connection to that story. Our county carries the name of General Andrew Pickens, a patriot leader, a man of faith, and a citizen who devoted much of his life to public service. The courage and perseverance represented by his life are part of the heritage entrusted to us.

“But America’s 250^th birthday is not only about looking backward. It’s about asking — what will we carry forward? Will we preserve the stories of those who sacrificed? Will we teach our children that freedom was never free and should never be taken for granted? Will we continue to be people who serve our neighbors, strengthen our communities, respect one another, and protect the principles that unite us? The generation of 1776 did not know what the future would hold. They could not know whether their struggle would succeed or whether the nation they imagined would endure for 250 years. They only knew that the moment required courage, and, when that moment came, they stood. Across the battlefields and backcountry of South Carolina, they stood. In homes, churches, fields, forests, and forts, they stood. Men stood in the ranks. Women stood in their homes and communities. Families stood through fear, hardship, and loss. They stood when surrender would have been easier. They stood because liberty was worth the sacrifice. Today, that responsibility belongs to us. We may not be called to stand as they did, but we are called to remember. We are called to preserve what they began, to strengthen the communities entrusted to us, and to pass the blessings of liberty onto generations yet to come. May this celebration renew our gratitude for the past, our commitment to one another, and our hope for America’s future. Thank you for being here, and welcome to the City of Pickens. May God continue to bless Pickens County, South Carolina, and the United States of America. Thank you.”

Pickens Mayor Rev. Isaiah Scipio then delivered the invocation. “Let us pray. Oh, God, our heavenly Father, we come here with bowed heads and humble hearts, thanking you for these 250 years. And we want to echo those words of Joshua when they went over into the land of Canaan. Let’s not forget it is the Lord our God who has brought us, and it’s the Lord our God who will carry us on. Father, I thank you for this nation, a place that could evolve and move to a place of total freedom, where we can be together and have total unity. Father, I thank you for that. It shows that you are in the midst of it, because there are hearts that are blending together that have never blended before. And, because of that, we know it is because of your power, your grace, and your mercy that you saw fit to lay a covering over this nation. Father, we celebrate 250 years, but you’ve been here long before that, and you will be here long after. So, Father, we trust in you. We believe in you, and we hold fast to your word, so that one day we can truly be part of a nation that cannot be ashamed. In Christ Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

Daniel Thompson, a leader of the Boy Scouts of Troop 51 in Pickens, asked everyone to stand and join in as the Boy Scouts led in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  

Kayla Culbertson sang the first stanza of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” our country’s national anthem (lyrics written by Francis Scott Key in his poem “Defense of Fort McHenry”): 

“O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Pickens Mayor Rev. Isaiah Scipio then read the Preamble to the Constitution: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Re-enactors portraying the Upper Long Cane Regiment of Militia then came forward, led by Stephen Huffman (a direct descendant of Andrew Pickens’ first cousin), portraying Andrew Pickens. Huffman, as Pickens, introduced a soldier from the Second South Carolina Regiment Continental Troops, portrayed by re-enactor David Gillespie, who brought word from Charles Town (Charleston).

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,” said Gillespie. “I’m just from the area of Charles Town. And, as a member of the Second South Carolina Regiment, I bring great news. We have effected a fantastic victory over the British Navy, the greatest Navy in the world. Our valiant leader, Colonel Moultrie, who was called by our own people ‘a half-baked country militiaman’, has now defeated nine war ships and several thousand troops. And, so, I’m just from the coast to say that South Carolina is now still under South Carolina control.”

Huffman then asked the crowd to give three cheers for Colonel William Moultrie and the men of the Second South Carolina Regiment.

Gillespie described different types of soldiers, including militia and the Continental Line, and the clothing that they wore, including the militia members’ caps with the crescent on top. (The crescent was placed in the upper left corner of the South Carolina flag, and a palmetto tree was later added to the state flag, in tribute to Moultrie and the Battle of Sullivan’s Island.)

“So, behind me, we have young men who represent our people,” said Gillespie. “A militia was a company of people that could be either veterans or new recruits. So, with the news from Charleston, we are trying to organize a larger militia for the defense of our state.”

Muskets and cannons were then fired, to conclude the special patriotic presentation.