Keowee River

The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocassee Dam.

The Keowee River flows out of Lake Jocassee Dam and into Lake Keowee, a reservoir created by Keowee Dam and Little River Dam. The Keowee River flows out of Keowee Dam to join Twelvemile Creek near Clemson, South Carolina, forming the beginning of the Seneca River, a tributary of the Savannah River. The Keowee River is 25.7 miles (41.4 km) long.

The boundary between the Seneca River and the Keowee River has changed over time. In Revolutionary War period, the upper part of the Seneca River was often called the Keowee River.

In current times, the section of the Keowee River between the Keowee Dam and its confluence with Twelvemile Creek is called the Seneca River on many maps, including the official county highway map. Since this area is flooded by Lake Hartwell formed by damming the Seneca and Tugaloo rivers, it is natural to refer this section as the Seneca instead of its proper name.

Keowee

Keowee was a Cherokee town in the north of present-day South Carolina. Located along the Lower Cherokee Traders Path, part of the Upper Road through the Piedmont, it was settled in what is present-day Oconee County, the westernmost county of South Carolina, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just north of Clemson. Located on the banks of the Keowee River, Keowee was submerged beneath the waters of Lake Keowee when the river was dammed in a mid-20th century power project.

In the early half of the 18th century, approximately 2100 Cherokee inhabited sixteen towns east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Cherokee people were geographically divided into three regions: the Overhill Towns, the Middle Towns, and the Lower Towns. For the Cherokee, towns were the most important units of government. There were seven Cherokee villages, of which Keowee was one, and the rulers or chiefs of each had a substantial amount of authority. Keowee was principal among the Cherokee "Lower Towns". Keowee Town is translated into "place of mulberries." It was also known as "Old Keowee" to distinguish it from other towns of the same name.