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Coal furnaces provided central heating for many South Carolina homes. This Ballanger coal wagon delivered fuel to houses throughout the Greenville area in the 1950s. Courtesy of the Greenville County...F. Transportation in South Carolina | History of SC Slide Collection
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.
Within this Series
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Shipping traffic moving in and out of the harbors along the Carolina coast depended upon a series of lighthouses to guide them through sometimes narrow and treacherous channels in the complicated...Photo
The Southern Railroad takes on a shipment of Anderson Automobiles from the platform in Rock Hill, where the Anderson was manufactured. The storage warehouse and loading platforms are shown in this...Photo
"Close-up view of house loaded on two trailers ready to be moved. Boy Scout Cabin Site is immediately at right-hand side of picture." This photograph was taken on January 29, 1949, as construction...Photo
The Inland Waterway between the Stono and Ashley Rivers, 1950. The Atlantic IntraCoastal Waterway is another form of canal. Not one route but many, it stretches from Massachusetts in the north all the...Photo
Union Station, Columbia, in 1962, after the heyday of the railroads had passed. At its height, the Union Station served passenger trains of the Atlantic Coast Line, the Southern Railway and the...Photo
First operated in 1707, the Strawberry Ferry crossed the Cooper River in Berkeley County. In this photo around 1900, passengers are going to church across the river. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana...Photo
The Sullivan's Island mule trolley was photographed on its last trip in July of 1898. Photograph by Lieutenant E.H. Schultz, Engineer Corps. Courtesy of the Charleston Museum, Charleston, South...Photo
Truck drivers wait in line to leave their containerized cargo at the Wando Welch Terminal Facilities of the South Carolina State Ports Authority in Charleston. In 1988, Charleston handled nearly 5...Photo
Chandler and Drake Auto Repair Shop in 1924; the third man from the left is F.W. Drake. Courtesy of the Darlington County Historical Commission.