“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.
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Although this photograph of Battery Jasper, located several hundred yards east of Fort Moultrie, was taken in the late 1890s, it shows the construction of the coastal defense system around the fort...
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The advent of a new century made many leaders of the South begin to talk of a New South, where industry and diversity would end the poverty and backwardness that had characterized too much of the...
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Scarcely had the city of Charleston recovered from the 1886 earthquake than the entire coast, including Charleston, was struck by a devastating hurricane in 1893. It created extensive damage in the...
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Hundreds of people were left homeless by the destruction of the 1886 earthquake. Others feared to stay in their homes lest there should be another quake, or weakened walls collapse. Here, families...
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The force of the 1886 Charleston earthquake knocked this train from its tracks. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.
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At 9:45 p.m. on August 31, 1886, a major earthquake struck Charleston. There were 27 people killed in the collapse of buildings, and another 33 died later of injuries. Buildings were destroyed, roads...
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In an effort to disrupt the federal blockade, the Confederacy resorted to many ingenious plans, but perhaps the most daring of all was the attempt to build and use a submarine. The "Hunley" eventually...
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A Confederate ram under construction in Charleston. From "Leslie's Illustrated Weekly." Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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In this segment, a student asks why Francis Marion is called the Swamp Fox, and the answer is given that he was one of the first to use what we now know as guerilla tactics. He would hide in the swamp...
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The successful assault on Hilton Head and Beaufort left many buildings in ruins, such as this "Beacon House" on Morris Island, photographed after the battle by Sam A. Cooley for the 10th Army Corps...
