Cokesbury, South Carolina

Cokesbury Cokesbury is located in Greenwood County just a few miles northwest of the City of Greenwood at the junction of SC 246 and SC 254.

In the mid-1800s, Cokesbury was the home of The Masonic Female College of South Carolina, which was for its time a very progressive experiment in higher education for women.

In 1876, the school was taken over by the Methodist Conference and accepted only male students until 1882 when it became co-educational. The school transferred ownership again in 1918 and operated as part of the public school system until 1954 when the property reverted to the Methodist Conference.

In 1824, a village, first known as Mount Ariel, was laid out surrounding the school, making it one of South Carolina's earliest plannned communities. In 1834 strong alliances with the Methodist Church caused resident to change the name to Cokesbury in honor or Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishops in the United States.

Here is a map of the Greenwood area.