The extent of the Cherokee Nation prior to European settlement clearly included our present Cherokee County SC on the eastern boundary.  According to this map, the eastern Cherokee border extended well into what is later known to be Catawba Nation lands.  Without labels, this border appears to be the Yadkin or PeeDee River basin; clearly east of the Broad River basin.
 

image from http://www.cherokee.org/

By the time of the end of the American Revolution in 1791, the original Cherokee Nation claim was forced beyond the boundaries of present South Carolina.
 

image from http://www.cherokee.org/AboutTheNation/History/Facts/TreatyofHolston,1791.aspx

A 1772 map of South Carolina (http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1779n44.jpg) shows the Cherokee Nation west of the Tyger River and the Catawba Nation in a fairly confined area of present York County.  A map of 1780 makes no reference to the Cherokee Nation in the area around the Broad and Tyger Rivers but also includes no "towns" in the area.  By 1798 the Spartanburg, York, and Rutherford courthouses are shown but nothing in our present Cherokee County -- there is no reference to the Native Nations.

This earlier 1765 Map of the Carolinas shows a boundary of the Cherokee Nation extending further than most maps though it doesn't clearly define the eastern boundary.

Map from the University of Georgia