The ways in which South Carolinians have earned their livings, enriched themselves and the state, and provided essential goods and services to each other, the region, and the nation have varied over time and place, and are becoming increasingly diverse. The images collected together in this category do not make up the whole story. Users of this collection are urged to look also at the following section on transportation, and to use the search function for additional images that illustrate the agriculture, commerce and industry of South Carolina.
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Ripened bolls of short-staple cotton in the fields of Calhoun County in September of 1968. Cotton still produced in South Carolina dominated agriculture in the state in the first half of the 19th...
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Shealy's Barbecue in Leesville. Mrs. Sara Shealy stirs the green beans at lunch time. April 21, 1983, photo by Perry Baker. Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
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Squabs were an important commercial poultry product for Midlands farmers. Here a group of African-American women pick feathers from squabs headed for market in Sumter. Photograph by Bill King, for the...
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The Graniteville Mill, built by William Gregg (see William Gregg) in 1846, was one of the first cotton textile mills in the South, and laid the basis for the expansion of South Carolina's textile...
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The Highland Park Hotel was an important part of the "Winter Colony" of Aiken, photographed here in February of 1894. Built in 1866, the hotel provided luxury accommodations for wealthy visitors from...
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The hotel terrace at the Isle of Palms, 1911. Courtesy of the Howard G. Woody Postcard Collection.
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The Winburn Photo Studio, located on South Main Street in Sumter around 1900, illustrates the importance of this form of business in many South Carolina communities. The Studio advertises "Photographs...
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Artist Richard Lofton painted this tobacco farmer during the 1930s. Courtesy of the Collection of the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina. Richard Morrison Lofton, American, 1908-1966....
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The turpentine industry has been an important part of the forest products industry in South Carolina from its earliest days. The first step in making turpentine is to gather pitch from pine trees; fan...
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Water power was an important resource for early industry in South Carolina. This mill south of Columbia created a mill pond where the state fair grounds are now located. The presence of the mill and...
