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Who was forever banished from Greenville County, barely escaping with his life, yet still has a prominent local landmark named in his honor? If you guessed Richard Pearis, you would be correct.

Born in Ireland in 1725, Pearis came to America with his parents and settled in Virginia in 1735. Early on, Richard Pearis developed friendly relations with the Cherokee Indians close by, and this cordial connection he had managed to develop with the tribe prompted the Governor of Virginia to appoint Pearis to be the colony’s primary Indian agent. From Virginia, he moved to east Tennessee, where he remained briefly. In 1769, Richard Pearis was deeded twelve square miles of land in the lower territories of the Cherokee near the Reedy River at the site of modern-day Greenville, SC. 

He was happy with this beautiful and strategic location, so he put down roots, establishing a trading post and constructing a gristmill alongside the swift waters at the falls of the Reedy. Richard Pearis prospered at his new home beside the river. But his fortunes would soon change.

A massive conflict was on the horizon. The colonies of America were talking about rebellion and separation from Great Britain. People were soon forced to choose sides. Would they be loyal to King George, or would they fight for independence? Richard Pearis, at first, cast his lot with the Patriot cause, but soon, for whatever reason, his loyalties shifted to the Crown. In fact, Pearis was among those who fought with the Loyalists in the Siege of Ninety-Six in 1775. Richard Pearis was counting on a strong comeback by the British in the upcountry, but that never materialized. 

After the Ninety-Six incident in 1775, Pearis and other Loyalists were arrested by decree of Colonel Richard Richardson and taken to Charleston where they were jailed for nine months. In the meantime, Pearis’ prosperous Reedy River plantation was looted and burned by Patriot forces. After being released from prison, Pearis wisely decided to leave South Carolina and go to Florida, where he soon joined a Loyalist militia, fighting in several key battles in Georgia and Florida. 

After the fall of Augusta, Georgia, in 1781, Pearis was nearly captured and again barely escaped with his life. This time, the one-time merchant and Indian trader moved with his family to the Bahamas. He died in 1794, but his legacy remains in the foothills of Greenville County because just at the edge of town stands a lone peak called Paris Mountain. Despite the variation in spelling, it is, in fact, named for Richard Pearis, the intrepid and enterprising frontiersman who came to these parts when few, if any, white men had ever cast their shadow here, and left just in time, barely escaping the hangman’s noose.