Horse Creek Valley Mills
Textile mill villages along Horse Creek create a second research stack beside winter-colony Aiken.
Aiken County research often splits into two worlds: the winter-colony / horse-country town of Aiken, and the industrial Horse Creek Valley mill communities (Langley, Bath, Clearwater, and related villages). Mill families leave dense trails in city directories, chapel rolls, company housing notes, and regional newspapers—even when rural deeds look sparse.
Separate the research question: planter/merchant generations vs. wage-worker generations. For pre-1871 events, still start with parent jurisdictions (Barnwell, Edgefield, Lexington, Orangeburg).