Guâ-upa-caré

Guaypacaré grew beside a bend of the Paraíba do Sul, where a river port served travellers and expeditions heading toward Minas Gerais. A chapel dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade was founded through donations around 1705, and the settlement became a parish in 1718. In 1788 it was raised to a town named Lorena, after the governor of São Paulo, Bernardo José de Lorena.