The name of this deepwater tidal creek is derived from the Indian word “Shemee.” The creek has been an important site for shipbuilding, fishing, transportation, and milling industries since the early 1700’s. Shem Creek was also known as Sullivan’s,…

Shell rings and shell middens found along the SC coast were made by Native Americans 3000-4000 years ago. Several have been discovered in the East Cooper area. The rings, composed largely of shell, animal bone and pottery were sometimes used as…

The earliest documented owner of the property known as Seaside was Thomas Whitesides. A plat shows the property included a main house, a barn, other outbuildings, and a row of four slave cabins. The land was divided among his five sons in the 1790s.…

In 1868, John Scanlon, a freedman, purchased 614 acres of the former Remley Plantation at auction for $6,100. He then founded the Charleston Land Company to provide land ownership to freed slaves. The tract was subdivided into a planned community…

Guided by Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute, Julius Rosenwald, CEO for Sears and Roebuck, began a program in 1912 to build schools and vocational centers to educate African American children in the rural South. The Rosenwald program…

A ferry service connected Mount Pleasant to Charleston from the wharf at the end of Ferry Street (c. 1847) until the completion of the Cooper River Bridge. Passengers traveled by trolley from Ferry Street east on Pitt Street, across Cove Inlet to…

The crew of the Confederate submarine, H.L. Hunley, commanded by Lt. George Dixon, was temporarily quartered at Ronkin’s Long Room, 205 Ferry Street, in early 1864. The building, previously known as Shell Hall, summer home of Charles Pinckney, was…

Riverside Beach, developed by the Cooper River Bridge Company, opened in 1930 as the first black beach in the area. It was sold to the County in 1941. The site featured a dance pavilion, boardwalk, bath house, playground and ball fields. Louis…

A U.S. Navy rifle range was built near here during World War I on the site of an old S.C. National Guard firing range. Included were 100 targets. 2 armories, a 600 seat mess hall, 12 barracks, and auxiliary buildings. After 1918 the 100 acres site…

Richmond Plantation on Toomer Creek was owned by William Vanderhorst. After the death of his first wife Mary, Joshua Toomer married William’s daughter Sabina in 1784. Together, they acquired Richmond Plantation which they combined with the Point. In…

In 1715, John Vanderhorst purchased 540 acres known as the Point for ₤360. So began a long line of ownership by this well-known Colonial family. By 1740, John’s son Joseph and 29 slaves lived at the Point and operated a successful livestock and…

By the middle of the 20th Century, the residents of the old village shopped on Pitt Street. This area included grocery, hardware, department stores, a dress shop, doctors’ offices, the pharmacy, barber shop, post office, and Mount Pleasant Academy.…

The Pierates Cruze property, once part of the Hilliardsville tract, was a private residence and garden. The property changed hands several times before it was purchased and named by the Osgood family in 1928. The Osgoods transformed the grounds…

This community, settled along Horlbeck Creek in the 1870s by freedmen, was named after the Phillips Plantation. Former slaves of the Laurel Hill, Parker Island, and Boone Hall Plantations purchased the land in ten acre parcels and founded the…

The Medal of Honor is the highest award bestowed upon an individual for acts of valor in the armed services of the United States. It is generally presented by the President of the United States in the name of Congress. The Medal of Honor Museum…

The South Carolina General Assembly passed legislation in 1973 enabling the establishment of the Patriots Point Authority to develop a portion of Hog Island as a national naval museum. The museum opened on October 13, 1975, the 200th birthday of the…

In 1899, the Patjens family built this small office adjacent to their store on Church Street, to serve as the post office in Mount Pleasant. The Patjens family served as postmasters until 1917. Patjens Post Office has been owned and maintained by…

Congregationalists from New England built a church near here around 1700. Troops from both sides camped on the grounds during the American Revolution. Burned by the British in 1782, it was rebuilt in 1786. The building was abandoned during the Civil…

By 1872, several settlements which had developed along Charleston Harbor, were incorporated as the Town of Mount Pleasant. The earliest hamlet was Greenwich Village (1766), followed by the Hibben Ferry Tract (1770), Mount Pleasant Plantation (1808),…

Commissioned on Oct 18, 1919, the Army Quartermaster River Steamer Col. J. E. Sawyer was the first concrete passenger vessel made in America. The 700-ton, 128.5-foot ship, able to carry 500 people, was one of nine built from 1919-1920 by the Newport…