Charleston

“Charleston County and the city of Charleston, its county seat, are the most historic locations in the state.”

“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.

The Hunley | Palmetto Special

Video

The video location is at the Naval Polaris Missile Base in North Charleston. This is the largest submarine base on the east coast today. Learn about the sinking of the U.S.S. Housatonic by the Hunley...
John James Audubon | History of SC Slide Collection
John James Audubon | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 10

Photo

John James Audubon (1785-1851), an American ornithologist, spent nearly four decades sketching, publishing, and promoting a monumental catalogue of the birds of America; his "The Birds of America,"...
William Aiken | History of SC Slide Collection
William Aiken | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 1

Photo

Born in Charleston in 1806, William Aiken (1806-1887) attended Hurlburt School and the South Carolina College. After receiving an inheritance from his father, he became a successful rice planter on...
Lester Bates | History of SC Slide Collection
Lester Bates | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 10

Photo

The growing pressures brought to bear against legal segregation by the federal court system, that culminated in the 1954 Supreme Court decision in "Brown v. The Board of Education" of Topeka, Kansas...
Battery Jasper | History of SC Slide Collection
Battery Jasper | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 2

Photo

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...