The French Huguenots left their Mother Country
to achieve religious freedom. The New Bordeaux settlement, led by the
Rev. Jean Louis Gibert, was founded on Little River in present-day
McCormick County in 1764.
South Carolina stands out as having received the largest number of Huguenot refugees in the American colonies.
Descendants of the French Huguenots hold a certain pride utterly
Calvinistic since in the eyes of Huguenot chroniclers, then and now,
the migration was a selective one.
Huguenots received strength from a moving faith in God, and, amid the
dark clouds of the turbulent era of the Reformation, they held tight to
certain principles or ideals of the religious spirit.
The history of the Huguenots remains a constant marvel, illustrating
the power of faith and conviction. No people through the ages have
endured greater persecution, and there has been none whose spirit has
been more radiant. The traditions of the Huguenots are realities
demonstrated by the persecutions, perils and sufferings which they
endured.
