From horse and buggy to space shuttles, South Carolinians have relied upon a wide variety of motive power and vehicles to get to where they are going. The story of transportation is actually an extended part of the account of South Carolina's economy: without the ability to move people and goods, neither agricultural, commercial nor industrial activity can succeed in bringing prosperity. Other examples of how people travel can be found, especially in the section of this collection on economy, but also scattered throughout all the images. This section is organized by forms of transportation, and within each example by chronology. Using these images you can: begin with animal power (horses and buggies); explore the changes in water transportation from Native American log canoes to the latest in ocean going and pleasure boats; see the changes in rail travel (train and trolley) over time; follow the progress of the impact that the internal combustion engine has made in South Carolina; and witness the beginning of the air age in our state.
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A "Good Roads Tour," organized around 1914, promoted the building of better highways by traveling across the country dramatizing road conditions. Curious crowds in Anderson inspect the vehicles on the...
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Rail travel has not always been dependent upon mechanical locomotion. An early invention using horsepower for locomotion won, for C.E. Detmole, the $500 prize offered in 1829 by the South Carolina...
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"Mr. Fisher, Julie, and Hosie," guests at Sedgewick House, one of a number of boarding houses that were part of the Aiken Winter Colony, pose with their wheelchair and bicycle in 1896. Courtesy of the...
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This airplane--thought to be South Carolina's first - was purchased in 1911 for $1,000 by William Murchison of Dillon, and F.E. Rowe and C.W. Dudley of Bennettsville. It was assembled in Hamer's...
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Students were transported to Charleston High School by horse-drawn busses in 1909. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The "Henrietta" was the largest ship ever built in Horry County. She was launched in 1875, registering more than 1,200 tons, 201 feet long, and 39 feet wide. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The car on the right in this 1913 accident on South Carolina's largely unpaved roads is a 1912-13 Oldsmobile; the car on the left is a 1912-13 Model T Ford. U.S. Bureau of Public Roads photo. Courtesy...
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Dedication of Woodward Airport, just outside of Camden, in Kershaw County, 1929. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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These two boys wait patiently in the wagon that will take the family's purchases home. Their wagon is parked on the street in front of Welling and Bennoit Hardware in Darlington around 1900. Courtesy...
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The first builders of boats for transportation in North America were the tribes of Native Americans who greeted the European invaders with canoes. The canoes of the southeast woodlands tribes were...
