Charleston

“Charleston County and the city of Charleston, its county seat, are the most historic locations in the state.”

“Charleston County and the city of Charleston, its county seat, are the most historic locations in the state.” Situated in the Lowcountry, the county serves as a popular vacation destination but also relies on the business that results from its port. The area in general serves as a large cultural and economic hub for the state.

Charleston County was founded as Charleston District in 1769, and the district became smaller after some of its lands were used to create Colleton and Berkeley counties. The county and its seat were named after King Charles II.

The city and county are saturated with Revolutionary War and Civil War history. Three signers of the United States Constitution and two famous abolitionists resided in Charleston County, and the Civil War began when soldiers fired shots from the county’s Fort Sumter.

Pirates of the Carolinas
Episode 2

Video

Pirates had a strict list of articles, or laws, that had to be signed by each member of the crew before a voyage began. Those rules governed who would get how much of whatever treasure was captured...
Pirates of the Carolinas
Episode 6

Video

For a time, piracy was tolerated. Some would even say encouraged, based on the actions of many public officials in Carolina's port cities. Bargain prices were often paid by town merchants for ill...
Pirates of the Carolinas
Episode 3

Video

Blackbeard was one of the most infamous pirates. It's thought that his real name was Edward Teach, and he is believed to have been from Bristol, England. A very tall man for the time period, in a time...
Pirates of the Carolinas
Episode 4

Video

Stede Bonnett is a wealthy and well-respected sugar plantation owner from the tiny West Indian island of Barbados. He used his own resources to outfit a sloop he christened "Revenge." With ten guns...
Pirates of the Carolinas
Episode 8

Video

On November day in 1996, divers representing the private research group Intersal Inc. were concluding the first stage of their search of 18th-century shipwrecks in Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina...
"Onward, 54th!" | Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie
Episode 4

Video

Episode 4 focuses on the attempts of the North to take back Fort Sumter and hopefully bring the war to an end. This episode illustrates the struggles of African American soldiers who fought bravely on...