[citation needed] The town was renamed for local resident Colonel Daniel Appling, a decorated soldier in the War of 1812, after he died in 1817.

[citation needed] Carmel Academy was founded by the famous Southern educator Moses Waddel and attended by John C. Calhoun and William H.

[10][11] Columbia Institute was founded by Connecticut-born David Bushnell, inventor of the first naval wartime submarine, who moved to the area after serving in the American Revolutionary War.

[citation needed] In 1855, the courthouse in Appling received a major overhaul, and after the remodeling was complete in 1856, the building was in more or less its present form, a vernacular structure with Greek Revival and Italianate influences.

[5] Despite the extensive project, the shell of the 1809-1812 building was retained and the structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.