Early Settlements in Cleveland County
The first area within Cleveland County to be recognized as a settlement was Mooresboro. The organization of the town dates to around 1780, although it was not incorporated until 1885. The founding of the Sandy Run Baptist Association, with Mooresboro's Sandy Run Baptist Church (CL 114) as its mother church, dates to 1771, suggesting that a considerable number of settlers had concentrated in the area before the 1780s.
Another pre-Revolutionary War settlement emerged in the southeastern corner of the county in an area later known as White Plains (present-day Kings Mountain). These settlers were primarily Scots-Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch, who brought their Associate Reformed Presbyterian and Lutheran faiths with them. Southwest of the White Plains settlement is present-day Grover, a late-nineteenth-century railroad town.
Late eighteenth-century German and Scots-Irish settlers came to the area and established farms along isolated pockets of Buffalo Creek, Beason Creek, and Kings Creek. They lived on large farms and gathered only for certain occasions, such as worship services. Most of these early farmers were likely members of the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, which was originally located near the Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
Nicholsonville
Although nothing remains of the former town of Nicholsonville except an old roadbed and a few piles of stone, this rural hamlet once had the potential to become a major town in the southwestern corner of Cleveland County. The establishment of Nicholsonville dates back to 1854, when John Nicholson and A.J. Settlemyre came up from South Carolina and settled at the confluence of the Broad River and Sandy Run Creek.
According to the 1860 Federal Census, Nicholson owned 1,800 acres in this area. To supplement his agricultural income, he operated a post office on the north side of the Broad River, while Settlemyre ran a general mercantile store on the south side. Settlemyre built his house across from the store and constructed a ferry to cross the river. The only other commercial enterprise in the community was a lone grist mill.
After returning from the Civil War, where he served as a captain in the Confederate Army, Nicholson continued to farm his acreage. Residents of the small community made a living through various occupations. Some distilled liquor and transported it to Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina. Others raised chickens, cows, hogs, and sheep. Hunting in the surrounding forests provided an abundance of wild game. As the community grew, local leaders recognized the importance of industry and began searching for suitable enterprises to support their village.
Rockdale
Although no longer in existence, Rockdale was once a flourishing community located along the county line just west of Belwood in upper Cleveland County. Noah Houle was the first settler in the Rockdale area, building a large house there around 1831-32. According to the Cleveland County Journal, he owned forty slaves, whom he later freed in 1855.
Noah's son, Billy, built the community’s first grist mill. In the early 1900s, Summie Gantt built the first store and later sold it to Hoover Pendleton. Lem Hoyle operated a harness, collar, and shoe shop, while the rock quarry, for which the community was known, was managed by Ron, Joe, and Bill Upton. Rockdale’s quarry supplied many homes in upper Cleveland and Lincoln Counties with quality building materials. John London and T.P. Jenks owned a water-powered corn mill, hammer mill, and flour mill, which served the surrounding communities.
