Wesley Burnett
History 500: Senior Seminar
October 24, 2013
The Dark Corner which located in the Glassy Mountain Township, in the Northeastern part of Greenville County South Carolina, in a region known as Appalachia. The area covers about one hundred and fifty square miles.1 In Appalachia and all across the south moonshine played a large role in the economic part of a community. Distilling moonshine was a religion of sorts and the citizens of the Dark Corner held it close to their hearts as they did with their religion, which was primarily Presbyterian. The people of the Dark Corner relied on the production of moonshine to bring an income to their households because the surrounding land was only suitable for growing corn (corn is the main ingredient in moonshine). The Dark Corner sounds like something out of a horror film or a place the average person would never want to visit. Especially during the Revenue Wars against moonshiners anyone who entered the Dark Corner was risking their lives, especially if one was suspected of being in an informant. Before anyone can understand the area one needs to know a little background information about the settlers of this area, their way of life, their lawlessness, and how they functioned in a society based on moonshine. The elusive place called the Dark Corner was always, as said by locals, was just a little further up the road, because of the lawless and violent acts that took place in the Dark Corner.2 The Dark Corner was always a lawless place, but upon the start of the Revenue Wars against moonshiners The Dark Corner became an even darker place.
The infamous Dark Corner was not always known by its famous nickname. There are many renditions of how the Northeast corner of Greenville County became known as the Dark Corner and here is the most popular one. Benjamin F. Perry a former Unionist
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