Clarendon County

… one of 3 counties (Albemarle and Craven being the other two) set up in 1664 by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. It embraced the territory around the mouth of Cape Fear River (then known as Charles River). Named for Edward Hyde (1609-74), Earl of Clarendon, one of the Lords Proprietors. See also Charles Town, a settlement that existed in the colony, 1662-65.