“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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When a British shot tore the South Carolina flag from its staff during the attack on Sullivan's Island, Sergeant Jasper, an Irishman, risked becoming a target himself to replace the flag, lest the...
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The British ships fired on Fort Moultrie on June 28, 1776, in an attack outlined in this map. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The heroic defense of the fort on Sullivan's Island from a determined attack in June 1776, by a British Fleet under Sir Peter Parker (see Sir Peter Parker) gave South Carolina its state symbol. The...
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The focal point of this 1780 view of Charleston from the harbor is the handsome Exchange Building, begun in 1767 as an exchange and customs house for one of the most prosperous shipping towns in the...
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The town house of Charles Pinckney (1757-1824, see Charles Pinckney) on Meeting Street in Charleston, painted from memory by Mrs. Colden Tracy after it had been destroyed in the 1861 Charleston fire...
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The city of Charleston in 1742 was a bustling port town of 6,800, the fourth largest city in British North America. Half of its population were African-American slaves. They were the labor on which...
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Blackbeard (Edward Thatch, Teach, or Tench) was one of the best known of the pirates whose activities expanded in the period 1716-1718 when the end of the war against Spain threw great numbers of...
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The Pirate Stede Bonnet is one of the more colorful characters in South Carolina history. In the early 18th century there was sometimes very little difference between legal piracy--the licensing of...
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The Palmetto Guard flag, flown over Fort Moultrie during the War of 1812. Courtesy of the Fort Sumter National Monument.
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The coast of South Carolina has fascinated artists and visitors from the beginning. Xanthus Smith (1839-1928) served in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, and participated in the blockade of...
