In the mid-1700s, when everything west of Columbia was frontier, a group of German settlers, many of them armed with land grants from the English crown, laid claim to the land between the forks of the Saluda and Broad Rivers. It came to be known as the Dutch Fork, the "Dutch" being an anglicized form of Deutsch (referring to the German language and people.)

Few of the Fork's German settlers ever left its boundaries, and even fewer outsiders ever came to stay. In the 1800's, Dutch Forkers had developed their own subculture, their own particular--some would say peculiar--ways. Some still spoke German well into the 19th century, and those who didn't, had a dialect all their own. They measured success not in money or fame, but in family and community ties. They were poor, but proud. They made the most of the little they had. They believed in hard work, in saving up for even harder times, and in a benevolent God.