South Carolina - doesn't it just sing when you say it? South Carolina - smiling faces and beautiful places! How true - from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains to the Atlantic Coast.
How do I begin to tell you about our beautiful state, one of the original 13 colonies? Well, lets see...
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SC Revolutionary Flag |
SC State Flag |
I know, our State Flag and State Pledge: "I salute the flag of South Carolina and pledge to the Palmetto State love, loyalty and faith."
The history of the flag goes back to 1765 - pre-revolutionary days. If you were around in 1765, you might have seen a flag with three white crescents on a blue background carried by the SC protestors of the Stamp Act. When Colonel Moultrie was asked to design the flag he chose two components from the uniforms of the militia - the blue and silver crescent the soldiers wore on their caps. At the time of Civil War a new banner was created to fly over the newly created nation. Only one change was made and that was to add the Palmetto Tree which was instrumental in the defense of Sullivan Island by Colonel Moultrie against the British warships in 1776. The Cannonballs that were fired from these ships couldn't destroy the walls the fort which were built of the Palmetto logs. The cannonballs sank in the soft, tough wood of the Palmetto. The South Carolina flag with that one addition has flown over this state since 1765.
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Our state Flower is the Night Blooming Jessamine
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Our state Dog is the Boykin Spaniel
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Our state Bird is the Carolina Wren
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Our state Tree is the Palmetto
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Our state Dance is the Shag .
Our state songs are "Carolina" and "South Carolina on My Mind".
Our state Tartan (yes, we have one because of the many Highland Scots
and Ulster Scots that settled here) , isn't it pretty? This is the Carolina Tartan!
And of course, being the good wholesome folk that we are our state beverage is MILK!!!
We have three major rivers, Savannah, Edisto and the Santee. We also have two rivers, the Ashley and Cooper, that come together in Charleston Harbor to create the Atlantic Ocean!
South Carolina has four major lakes, Hartwell, Marion, Moultrie and Murray. The highest point in the state is Sassafras Mountain - 3,560 feet (1,085 m) above sea level.
Although North Carolinians try to claim him, we know that Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States, was born in Waxhaw, South Carolina on March 15th, 1767.
South Carolina has many "firsts". Here are just a few, both good and bad:
First European Settlement - 1526 - San Miguel de Gualdape thought to be close to present day Georgetown. The settlement failed due to famine, disease and unrest among the black and Indian populations. Only 150 of the original 600 settlers returned to Santo Domingo.
First slave revolt - November of 1526.
First American built ship to cross the Atlantic - 1563 - French Huguenot settlers built a makeshift vessel and sailed from Port Royal for France after being left behind in Charlesfort by their leader. (We would eventually see a large influx of French Huguenots into the Charleston area)
First public library-1700
First professional female artist -1707
First Opera performed - 1735 - Colley Cibber's ballad opera Flora, or Hob in the Well.
First Fire Insurance Company - 1736
First building constructed solely for use as a theater - 1736
First systematic, scientific recording of weather information - 1737
First major slave insurrection - 1739
First musical society - 1762
First cotton exported to England - 1764
First public museum (still in operation) - 1773
First black Baptist Church - 1773
Oldest municipal Chamber of Commerce in continuous operation - 1773
First business publication - 1774
First independent government in the colonies - 1776 - Four months before the Declaration of Independence was signed, South Carolina adopted a state constitution - drafted by a Provincial Congress and elected John Rutledge as the states president and Henry Laurens as the vice-president, titles which were later changed to Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the Constitution of 1779
First major Naval battle of the Revolutionary War - 1776
First treaty between two US states - 1777
First eminent architect born in America - 1781
First golf club - 1786
First cotton mill - 1789
First ice transported commercially - 1799
First tea planted - 1802 (and is still grown in the low country)
First fireproof building - 1823
First Reform Jewish Congregation - 1824
First regularly scheduled rail passenger service - 1830
First municipal college - 1836
First trial in a worker's compensation lawsuit - 1838
First building to be used solely as a college library - 1840
First American Opera written was by George Gershwin and it was set in Charleston on Catfish Row - 1934. It was based on a book by Dubose Heyward.
Read more about it HERE.
South Carolina has every sport imaginable for you sports fans, from professional and college football and basketball, to semi-pro teams of all kinds, hockey, soccer, baseball, Polo and horse racing, etc. The winningest high school football coach in history with over 500 hundred wins in his career at the helm of the mighty Green Wave of Summerville High School: John McKissick.
We have the finest Military College in the south - the Citadel - the first to admit women, albeit under a cloud. A top medical college in the Medical University of South Carolina. We have the University of South Carolina, Vorhees College, Teachers College, Presbyterian College, Newberry College, College of Charleston, you want to learn it, there is a school to teach you.
Our men are handsome and gentlemen and our women are beautiful and ladies.
We have everything from ocean to mountains, a old capital city, Charleston, with it's wealth of history to the new capital city, Columbia, with it midlands beauty to the Spartanburg-Greenville area with it's foot in modern commerce, to Aiken situated in the beautiful horse country.
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Angel Oak(on John's Island) is perhaps the oldest live oak at 1400 years plus, and the canopy of Angel Oak produces 17,000 square feet of shade! |
Golden Creek Mill in Easley |
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Downtown Greenville with the flag that's been there since 9-11 |
In Charleston we live and die by the bells of St. Michaels which presides over the "Four Corners of Law" - ecclesiastical, federal, state and county/city.
We have S.O.B's in Charleston - oh wait, it's not what you think! It means someone who lives "South of Broad".
Rainbow Row, Charleston, South of Broad St.
We have the international arts festival Spoleto, with everything from children's theatre to jazz. We have the Hunley! 
We have several distinct areas - the Low Country, the Midlands,
the PeeDee, the Sand Hills and the rest of the state.
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Beaufort |
Campbell's Covered Bridge |
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Columbia, the state capital |
Actually, everything is the "Up-Country or the Low Country".
Beautiful swamps, marshes and forests. Beautiful weather.
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Cypress Gardens |
Shem Creek shrimp boats |
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Golf at Hilton Head Island |
We have suffered through hurricanes, tornadoes and the great earthquake of 1886. The earthquake almost accomplished what Sherman couldn't. We came back twice as strong and twice as determined to move forward and make our state great.
We have representatives from all services here, Air Force, Marine, Navy and Coast Guard. We are proud of our training facilities at Fort Jackson and Parris Island.
We have given more of our men and women to protecting this country than any other state. We have fought in every war since the beginning.
South Carolina continues to give her sons and daughters
to the service of their country in Operation Iraqi Freedom. God
rest the souls and comfort the families of these brave men
and women who have given their lives for the cause of freedom.
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Capt. Kimberly Hampton, 27
Easley, SC82nd Airborne Division |
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Staff Sgt. Patrick Lee Griffin, Jr., 31
Elgin, SC728th Air Control Squadron |
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Spc. Rian C. Ferguson, 22
Taylors, SCRegimental Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment |
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Capt. Josh Byers, 29
Anderson, SC Army ranger and paratrooper was a company commander in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment |
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Sgt. George Edward Buggs, 31
Barnwell, SC3rd Forward Support Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, GA |
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Pfc. Michael Scott Adams, 20
Spartanburg, SCLoader on an M1A1 Abrams tank assigned to 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, 1st Armor Division |
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Pvt. Algernon Adams, 26
Aiken, SC122nd Engineer Battalion, Army National Guard |
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Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, 19
Boiling Springs, SC1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Camp Lejeune, NC |
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Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22
Cordova, SC2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment |
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Pfc. Vorn J. Mack, 19
Orangeburg, SC3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment |
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Staff Sgt. Paul M. Neff II, 30
Fort Mill, SC5th Battalion, 101st Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) |
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Spc. Orenthial J. Smith, 21
Allendale, SCCompany A, 123rd Main Support Battalion |
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Sgt. Anthony O. Thompson, 26
Branchville, SCHeadquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery |
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Lance Cpl. Joshua Daniel Speer, 20
Slater-Marietta, SCMarine Corps (Killed in a car wreck one week after returning home from Iraq) |
If you look at South Carolina you will see a History of America. From the first Indian Agent in the 1500's to the late great Senator Thurmond. If you look anywhere in history you will find a South Carolinian, from Fort Moultrie to the Alamo - Col Travers who was from the sea islands of South Carolina.
Andrew Jackson's vice president was another South Carolinian, John C. Calhoun. Strom Thurmond like John C. Calhoun was an American statesman and political philosopher. Calhoun served until his death in these offices - congressman, secretary of war, Vice President, senator, secretary of state and again as senator. Calhoun resigned as Vice President to serve in the senate again because of the nullification problem that was facing the country and the conflict over slavery. Thurmond, like Calhoun was loyal to his Nation, to his state and above all to his principles. Thurmond like Calhoun served at a troubled time in our history.
Robert Smalls, a slave whose knowledge of Low Country waters aided the Union forces, eventually served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, after serving 5 terms in state government.
I have included here snipped excerpts from an essay of his from North American Review (1890). I'm sure FReepers will get a sense of deja vu!
"In South Carolina there is neither a free ballot nor an honest count, and since the election in 1874 the history of elections in the State is the history of a continued series of murders, outrages, perjury and fraud...
...Having perfect immunity from punishment, the encouragement, if not the active participation, of the State government, and the protection of the courts of the State, the rifle clubs committed their outrages without restraint, and the election officers their frauds without even the thin veneer of attempted concealment. Elections since then have been carried by perjury and fraud – two things worshipped and adored by the South Carolina Democracy...
...Many apologists for the rule of the minority in South Carolina assert that the negro votes the Democratic ticket, and that to form a majority from the census giving the entire vote to the Republican party is erroneous. There are colored men who vote the Democratic ticket, and I suppose that there are Irishmen in Ireland who act with the Tories of England...
....All persons desiring to vote the Democratic ticket are registered without personal application, and certificates are furnished them either before or on the day of election without even the formality of an oath as to eligibility. Registration the fountain-source of election, curtails Republican suffrage by the expense and inconvenience it entails upon persons not living at the county-seat, by refusal through willful neglect to register Republicans, and by fraud of the supervisor in making false entries; it adds to the Democratic vote through his fraud in unlawfully adding to the names on the registration-books those of all persons who are expected to vote the Democratic ticket....
....At a neighboring poll another scene is enacted. The polls are open, the boxes shown, the voters deposit their ballots, there is general levity, and everything appears to be fair. There are three hundred Republican voters; the Democracy have secured forty or fifty votes, and the polls close. The votes are counted; there are two or three hundred more ballots than names on the poll-list; instead of fifty Democratic ballots there are three hundred and fifty..."
You guessed it, Robert Smalls was a Republican!
More images of South Carolina...
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Governor's Mansion |
The famous Gaffney "Peachoid" We call it the "Big Butt"! |
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Hard Rock Cafe, Myrtle Beach |
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See the Yorktown, the submarine Clamagore, the destroyer Laffey, Coast Guard cutter Ingham and the Medal of Honor museum. Vintage military aircraft are on display at Patriot's Point as well as weapons and living and working areas of ships. |
Oh yes, one more thing...we also have LadyX!
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WE HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED THIS LITTLE TOUR OF SOUTH CAROLINA!! |
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