In Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution

Bettis C. Rainsford, Sr. is a native of Edgefield, South Carolina, having been born there in 1951. His roots go deep into the soils of the surrounding countryside. At an early age he was imbued with a sense of the value of his Edgefield County heritage and has spent much of his life studying the history of this area.

He was educated in the public schools of Edgefield County, graduating from Strom Thurmond High School in 1969. He attended Harvard College where he studied history, focusing mainly on the history of the South. After graduating from Harvard in 1973, he attended the University of South Carolina School of Law from which he was graduated in 1976.

Returning to Edgefield in 1977, he made the decision to go into business rather than to practice law. Over the course of the past forty-five years, Rainsford has been involved in a number of different businesses. His most significant business successes were the founding of Delta Woodside Industries, Inc., a publicly held textile and apparel company which was once a member of the Fortune 500, and Mount Vintage Plantation, a 5,000 acre golf, equestrian and residential community in Edgefield County. He has also been active in the redevelopment and preservation of both Downtown Edgefield and Downtown Augusta, Georgia.

Through the years Rainsford has continued his interest in the history of this region, serving as Historian of the Edgefield County Historical Society since 1974, as President of the South Carolina Historical Society in 2005, as Chairman of the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor from its founding in 1997 until 2003, and as a member of the Advisory Board to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. In 1989 he endowed the June Rainsford Henderson Chair of Southern and Local History at the University of South Carolina Aiken. He is the author of numerous monographs and books related to the history of Edgefield County and South Carolina.