♪ Cowpens has a lot of history going back to the Revolutionary War.

There's a strong relationship between the town and the Battle of Cowpens.

When the railroad came through, the town had to have a name for the stop.

And since the Battle of Cowpens site was the closest thing nearby, they named the town for the battle, so the town was named Cowpens after the battle.

<Michael> The American general Nathaniel Morgan told his troops to meet him at the cow pens for them to gather in preparation for the battle of Cowpens.

<Virginia> This area was known as the cow pens because it literally was a pastoring area for cattle.

Daniel Morgan, who was the American commander knew that if he told people to meet him at the cow pens that they would know where to find him.

<Michael> So there's a strong tie in with the battle itself.

And as a result of that, the two Navy ships, the U.S.S.

Cowpens were named after the town of Cowpens and the battle.

During World War Two, Dean Martin, the druggist at the Cowpens drugstore, he sent a letter to the President saying that you should name a battleship or aircraft carrier after the Battle of Cowpens.

So there are two U.S.S.

Cowpens.

One was from World War Two.

It was an aircraft carrier, C.V.L.

25 and it was decommissioned and in the late 80s, early 90s, they commissioned the U.S.S.

Cowpens, the battleship C.G.

63, and is still in service.

<Michael> Our town is made up of approximately 2500 people.

It's primarily is a bedroom community and there are some industries that are still here and more coming.

But primarily our people live here and work in Spartanburg and in Charlotte and Greenville.

That's really our vision for the town is to make it the best bedroom community that we can.

We recently received a grant for 550,000.

It's a federal grant that's used for capital projects.

Our vision was always to make the business district more attractive to tourism and to businesses.

And so it involves burying the power lines, new light posts, new sidewalks.

We've already had two phases.

So this will be our third and final phase that will tie the entire central district together.

<Virginia> Cowpens National Battlefield was established in 1928, but it expanded in 1972.

The park was established to honor Daniel Morgan, the commander and his forces for their valor here at the Battle of Cowpens.

It was a short battle, but Cowpens was the first time that they had won against an actual British Army, so it was very important.

The Battle of Cowpens is known for the double envelopment that Daniel Morgan was able to pull off here.

It's a classic military maneuver that has only happened a handful of times in history, and we're lucky to have one right here in the American Revolution near the town of Cowpens.

Cowpens National Battlefield is here to protect and preserve the place where Daniel Morgan commanding won the battle of Cowpens.

And we are here to inform visitors about the American Revolution, the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution and the Battle of Cowpens.

We have a visitor center.

Inside the visitor center, we have a movie that we show on the hour.

We have a few artifacts from the battle mostly just from the American Revolution.

And we have a small bookstore as well.

We have almost a quarter of a million visitors come in every year from all over South Carolina, all over the United States and from countries all over the world.

Most of them are outside.

They're here for recreation not only just to learn about the history, but they're here to enjoy walking or running or being in nature.

And then we have about normally 50,000 A year come inside the visitor center to get more in depth information.

<Kris> After the Revolutionary War, this whole area was farmlands.

The railroad came through and a hotel sprang up and then other businesses sprang up.

The railroad was the heart of the town and the depot was, too.

All the freight, everything came through the depot.

So after the railroad closed, the railroads were going to tear down the depot and the citizens of the town decided that they wanted to take it over.

The depot was moved to his current location.

In 1985, the veterans from the U.S.S.

Cowpens and citizens of the town started fundraising and they restored the depot.

They turned it into the museum.

The mission of the museum is to keep the history of Cowpens itself alive and of the battleships.

Oh, we have visitors to the depot from all around.

I like to operate the museum.

The reward is just the joy of keeping the history of Cowpens alive and telling everyone about it.

History is just an awesome thing.

You need to know about your past because you can learn from your past.

<Lisa> I am the owner of Blue Bill Antiques, Interiors and Gifts.

I started the store in September of 2017.

It just started growing and in 2019 the store expanded.

It just has blossomed into unreal to me.

We carry all kinds of antique pieces, some vintage pieces.

We have primitive things from the farm era tools, baking utensils and things like that.

And then we have higher end pieces.

We carry soaps.

We carry chalk paint, Dixie Belle paint company line.

We just have a very collectible item.

We have glassware.

We have brass pieces.

We carry a lot of artwork.

We carry a lot of artwork from people that are local or have some local pieces.

We just have a different feel about the shop most of the time.

♪ patriotic music ♪ <Michael> The patriotism is something that we promote.

Our town is probably one of the more patriotic towns in America.

<Kris> We have the Mighty Moo Festival, and everyone comes in together to put that on.

<Michael> It is our attempt to honor the men and women who served on both the U.S.S.

Cowpens and the World War Two ship and also the current U.S.S.

Cowpens.

<Kris> We have music, we have our carnival rides, we have a parade, sailors get on a float and ride 'em through town.

Everybody's clapping and yelling and cheering for 'em.

<Michael> Those veterans and their spouses and their children and grandchildren come here every year and <Lisa> We are involved in helping that come off to greet the families from the U.S.S.

Cowpens.

<Michael> We do our best over a three or four day festival to honor them every way that we can and to preserve their contribution to our country.

<Lisa> The best quality of Cowpens is the people because they're always willing to help.

<Michael> It's probably one of the friendliest towns I've ever been in.

<Kris> I was attracted to move back to Cowpens because of the closeness of the citizens.

Everyone tries to help everyone.

It's just a great community <Lisa> Cowpens just has a lot of draw to it.

It's growing.

The growth is phenomenal.

<Michael> I think the future of Cowpens is very bright as development continues to grow from Charlotte to Atlanta.

We're in a very key place on I-85 and so I think that more and more families will stay here and I think more families will move here as these jobs come and as our economy and our tourism continues to improve.

<Kris> Cowpens is our town!

<Virginia> And this is our town!

<Michael> Cowpens is our town!

<Lisa> This is our town!

Come to Cowpens!

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