Florence

Florence, county, east-central South Carolina, U.S. The Great Pee Dee River constitutes its eastern boundary, and the Lynches River part of its western. The county is situated in a low-lying, generally flat area of the Coastal Plain.

Lynches River State Park is located in the county, as is the Florence National Cemetery, which contains the graves of Union soldiers and a small group of Confederates. During the American Civil War, Florence, the county seat, became a centre for the transport of supplies and troops. Hundreds of Union soldiers died of typhoid in an unsanitary makeshift prison compound in Florence while a stockade was being built a few miles away. The county, named for its county seat, was organized in 1888.

Tobacco is the principal crop of this fertile agricultural area; the production of soybeans, wheat, hogs, and chickens help make it one of the state’s most productive counties. Industry, including the manufacture of food, clothing and other textile products, industrial equipment, furniture, plastic products, and paperboard, is also important to the economy. Area 799 square miles (2,070 square km). Pop. (2000) 125,709; (2010) 136,885.