[3] Fairfield County is part of the Columbia, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.

It is alleged that the county name originated from a statement made by General Cornwallis when he declared "How Fair These Fields" during the British occupation of the area in 1780–81.

Several years before the Revolution, Richard Winn from Virginia moved to what is now called Fairfield County.

A note penciled on the wall of the Old Brick Church is testimony to a Union soldier's regret at the church's floor boards being taken up to build a crossing over the nearby river for General Sherman's troops during the American Civil War.

In the antebellum era, most of the intensive labor was accomplished by African-American slaves, many of whose descendants still live in this rural area.

After the Civil War, many African Americans initially worked as sharecroppers and tenant farmers.

In the first half of the 20th century through the 1940s, millions of African Americans left the rural South in the Great Migration to northern and midwestern cities for other job opportunities and the chance to escape Jim Crow restrictions.

The narrow building was modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia and built on the site of a duck pond.

Designed by South Carolina architect Robert Mills, the courthouse houses records dating to the mid-18th century.

The South Carolina state constitution of 1868 was such that those who fought for the confederacy were barred from voting in the 1868 elections.

[14] This was considered revolutionary at the time and those who had previously been slave owners were extremely angry.

[16] During the presidential election of 1872, there were three companies of U.S. troops stationed in Fairfield County to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from disrupting voting.

Winnsboro blue granite, "The Silk of the Trade," is used worldwide in buildings and monuments.

[20] The Enoree Ranger District of the Sumter National Forest provides opportunities for outdoor recreation.

[21][22] The county has an abundance of deer and wild turkeys, making it an attraction for hunters.

[39] Some of the largest employers in the county include BOMAG, Dominion Energy, Element Electronics, Food Lion, the town of Winnsboro, and Universal Protection Service.

[40] Fairfield County's violent crime rate is 629, as compared to the South Carolina average of 521 and the top performing states at 62.

Violent crimes are defined as offenses that involve a face-to-face confrontation between the victim and the perpetrator, including homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

Fairfield County's rate of Children in Poverty is 32%, which is greater than the South Carolina average of 23% and far exceeds the top performing states at 12%.