Nick McKinney is the new Director of the Pickens County Museum of Art & History (located in the former jail, at the corner of Johnson Street and Highway 178 in downtown Pickens, across from the Pickens Police Department and Fire Department).

McKinney’s experience includes having served as the Director of Museums, Design, and Technology for the City of Seneca’s Department of Arts, History, and Culture. “I’m going to get more (experience) as I work here,” he told The Pickens County Chronicle. “This museum is really exciting, because, not only does it have this large history section, on this main floor, but it’s also an art museum, so we do a lot of art galleries, art shows, art exhibitions, and the upstairs was just fully renovated.”

In early 2025, the Pickens County Museum of Art & History, with a grant from the South Carolina 250 commission, will have an entire gallery dedicated to Revolutionary War General Andrew Pickens, for whom our county was named, he said. “It will become the Andrew Pickens Interpretive Center. This whole gallery will be dedicated to Andrew Pickens, his family, and his battle history, Revolutionary history, and also what he did after the Revolutionary War. This whole gallery will be renovated.”

Below, see photos of Pickens County Museum exhibits as of August, 2024