Yeah, it was a pretty big deal. It was a minor victory in the war overall, but it marked the turnaround point for the Continental Army and patriot militias. Before Cowpens, the Americans had a pretty awful record against the British in the South (the Battle of Camden, which preceded Cowpens, was perhaps the worst defeat for the US military until the Civil War). After Cowpens, the Americans either won their battles, or fought the British to a draw, which was nearly as good as a victory, since the British were running low on soldiers and supplies. The Battle of Guilford Court House, which took place a couple months later, for example, was technically a British victory, but it was certainly a Pyrrhic one.

Cowpens also had an immediate impact on the ability of the British to be as aggressive as they might have wanted to be. From Wiki:

Morgan's army took 712 prisoners, which included 200 wounded. Even worse for the British, the forces lost... constituted the cream of Cornwallis' army. Additionally, 110 British soldiers were killed in action. Tarleton suffered an 86 percent casualty rate, and his brigade had been all but wiped out as a fighting force.

(NOTE: The British only had around 1,150 soldiers at Cowpens, so the butcher's bill for that battle is staggering.)

The Battles of Cowpens and King's Mountain (which, as you probably already know, was also close to you) were two huge body blows that the British were unable to recover from. Cornwallis more or less limped to Guilford Court House, and by the time that battle was over, he'd given up retaking the South, and headed north to Virginia to meet up with "3,500 men under British Major General Phillips and American turncoat Benedict Arnold" (cite). Of course, Washington and Rochambeau were able to cut Cornwallis off, and the French Navy blockaded the area around Yorktown, effectively ending the war.

So yeah, I'd say it was important. Of course the locals are going to hype it up, though. That's just human nature. They like the sense of pride and tourist dollars that come with it. That doesn't mean they're wrong, though.