We are “making history” over here at 117 Courthouse Square: we write the happenings that make history and publish them for our readers.  Are you one of our subscribers, or readers? We need you to be, if not.  We need not just readers but advertisers as well.

This community newspaper which covers the footprint of Old Edgefield District (I know because I drive it each week to distribute those newspapers to the area post offices), part of the Old District being from Saluda (north) to North Augusta (south), from Clarks Hill and Modoc and McCormick (west) to Ward and Ridge Spring (east). From these Post Offices the papers are distributed to the footprint of the Edgefield District, which some of our Ten Governors called home. The footprint actually goes further into Aiken County and Greenwood County, and the Advertiser is read by subscribers in those counties through many post offices.

All of this is to prepare you for the grand news that The Edgefield Advertiser is celebrating 190 years of serving the people of our historic area, “making history” as we publish.  Why are we the oldest newspaper in South Carolina? Because we have continuously published as the same legal identity , never ceasing, never “regrouping”(taking on other newspapers and changing our name). The Edgefield Advertiser is the same as when it began its duties on February 11, 1836, as it is today, February 11, 2026; 190 years of continued publishing for the people of this area, and we love doing it!

Ten more years of publishing will get us to the 200-year mark, and we will be due a great birthday celebration.  But, we are celebrating a birthday today as well.  Let’s make this coming decade one to remember by increasing our subscriber list and growing our Community Correspondents’ list.  Yes, we are calling for community writers to share their creative efforts and tell the story of what is happening among the people in their church, social and school communities.  Recently someone said to me: “We need more community news writers.”  They are out there to be discovered or to initiate the discovery, with a visit to our office, 117 Courthouse Square. We will welcome you!

Let us give to this decade of newspapers a view of our area as seen community by community.  It has always been my wish to have every child’s name and photo in print as they make their way through school as a way to underpin an identity –“I’m from this county,  Edgefield.”

Your hometown newspaper needs you!

Suzanne Derrick