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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...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.
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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...Photo
The Furman University Band performed at the formal opening of the Greenville Municipal Airport, November 1928. Band members reportedly went aloft in the Ford tri-motored plane in the background,...Photo
This postcard view of a roadway outside of Rock Hill in 1913 is titled "The Saluda Speedway." Courtesy of the Howard G. Woody Postcard Collection.Photo
An unidentified boy rides a motorcycle delivery vehicle for Scurry Nixon in Greenville, 1932. Photo by Elrod. Courtesy of the Greenville County Historical Society.Photo
Railroad timetables were published in local newspapers to enable business and private travelers to plan their journeys. Note the amount of time that it took to travel from Greenville to Columbia in...Photo
After the Civil War, the presence of the U.S. Navy at Port Royal consisted of the ex-ship-of-the-line, the U.S.S. "New Hampshire," which was covered over and used to house supplies needed by...Photo
Mailmen depended on horse and buggy for efficient delivery of the mail. Here, the Greenville mail buggies line up in front of Marchant's Pharmacy around 1918. Courtesy of the Greenville County...Photo
A hydroplane lands in the Charleston harbor around 1940. Courtesy of the Charleston Museum, Charleston, South Carolina.Photo
Traveling salesmen were using automobiles to travel across South Carolina as early as 1915. This photograph of the Dillon Wholesale Grocery shows horse-drawn transportation alongside such an...