South Carolina from A to Z

“P “is for Pope, Thomas Harrington, Jr. (1913-1999). Attorney, legislator, historian. Born in Newberry County, Pope won his first election to the state House of Representatives from Newberry in 1936. With America's entry into World War II, Pope was called to active duty and served in North Africa and Italy. When one of Newberry's seats in the General Assembly became vacant in the spring of 1945, l...

“N” is for Nullification. The passage of the federal tariff law of 1828 signaled the rise of the nullification controversy in South Carolina. Led by John C. Calhoun a majority of South Carolinians eventually came to assert that a state had the right to nullify or veto federal laws and secede from the union. In 1832 the General Assembly called for a special convention to nullify the tariffs of 1828...

“N” is for Nuclear power. The first time nuclear power was used to generate electricity in South Carolina was a small 17 megawatt experimental prototype by South Carolina Electric and Gas (and partners) at Parr from 1963 to 1967. In 1967 the General Assembly passed the Atomic Energy and Radiation Control Act. This led to the creation of nuclear-powered electrical generation plants and the creation...

“C” is for Coastal plain. The coastal plain is South Carolina's largest landform region, forming two-thirds of the state and encompassing approximately 20,000 square miles. It includes the land from the Sandhills to the coast. The upper coastal plain is that section lying between the Sandhills and the Orangeburg Scarp. The middle coastal plain continues only a few miles to the Surrey Scarp, where...

September 19, 2025

“L” is for Ludwell, Phillip (1638-1723). Governor. Born in England, Ludwell travelled to Virginia where he became a member of the Grand Council and Speaker of the House of Burgesses. In 1689 he was appointed governor of North Carolina. In 1691 the Lords Proprietors appointed him governor of all Carolina and sent him to Charleston to reestablish order. This he failed to do, as the Goose Creek Men (...

“H” is for Humphreys, Josephine (b.1945). Novelist. Born in Charleston, Humphreys graduated from Duke and received a master of arts degree from Yale. After further study at the University of Texas she returned to Charleston to teach at Baptist College (now Charleston Southern University). Drawing praise for its finely honed language and strong characters, Humphreys first novel, Dreams of Sleep (19...

“G” is for Gressette, Lawrence Marion (1902-1984). Legislator. Born near St. Matthews, Gressette received his law degree from the University of South Carolina. He served state government as a legislator for more than a half century. Gressette represented Calhoun County for three terms in the state House of Representatives (1925-1932). He later served twenty-three terms in the South Carolina Senate...

“D” is for Dutch Fork. The Dutch Fork lies in a fork between the Broad and Saluda Rivers that includes parts of the modern counties of Newberry, Lexington, and Richland. Many of the early settlers were German speakers, although others came from northern colonies to the Dutch Fork via the Great Wagon Road. The preponderance of German speaking settlers however gave the area its name Dutch fork for D...

“C” is for Cockfighting.  Cockfighting is a blood sport that has existed in South Carolina from colonial times into the twenty-first century, despite the fact that it was banned by the General Assembly in 1887 and carries a felony charge for participants and less severe penalties for spectators. Until 2023, the oldest continuously published magazine for cockers (as cockfighters signed styled thems...

“C” is for Coastal Carolina University. Located in Horry County between Conway and Myrtle Beach, Coastal Carolina University is a public comprehensive liberal arts institution with more than 11,000 students. In 1954 local citizens opened Coastal Carolina Junior College as a branch of the College of Charleston. In 1958 the school became independent and a voter referendum approved county funding for...

“C” is for Clyburn, James Enos (b.1940). Congressman. Born in Sumter, Clyburn has had an extensive career in public service. From 1971 to 1974 he served on the staff of Governor John C. West. From 1974 to 1992, Clyburn was South Carolina human affairs commissioner. In 1992 he won the Sixth District congressional seat, becoming South Carolina's first African American congressman since 1897. In 1998...

“B” is for Boudo, Louis (ca. 1786-1827), and Heloise Boudo (d. 1837). Silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewelers. Louis Boudo arrived in Charleston from Santo Domingo about 1809 and established himself as “goldsmith, jeweler and hairworker.” In addition to representing himself as a jeweler and watchmaker, he advertised the manufacture of silver spoons and other silver work. Boudo's best known piece is a s...

“B” is for Bouchillon, Christopher Allen (1893-1968). Musician. A native of Oconee County, Bouchillon was raised in Greenville.  From his father he learned to play the old-time banjo. Bouchillon was the first person to popularize “the talking blues” form of song delivery. In 1926 Chris went to Atlanta for the first of six sessions for Columbia records. His initial effort resulted in “Talking Blues...

“B” is for Bosc, Louis Augustin Guillaume (1759-1828). Naturalist. Born in Paris, France Bosc attended natural history lectures at the Garden of the King where he met prominent French naturalists and became a friend of the botanist-horticulturist Andre Michaux. Wishing to escape the turmoil of post-revolutionary France, Bosc decided to visit Michaux in Charleston, with the hopes of collecting natu...

“B” is for Boonesborough Township. Boonesborough was one in the second wave of townships that South Carolina laid out during the mid-eighteenth century to defend her frontier from the Cherokee. Patrick Calhoun, father of John C Calhoun, surveyed the 20,500-acre Township on the headwaters of Long Cane Creek in 1762. Boonesborough lay between the Carolinians and the Lower Cherokee towns. The majorit...

“W “is for Women's suffrage. The earliest suffrage clubs in the state were not organized until the 1890s but suffragists were beginning to receive notice. Virginia Durant Young of Fairfax almost single handedly transformed the South Carolina woman suffrage climate in the 1890s. Through her weekly newsletter, Fairfax Enterprise, she championed prohibition and votes for women. In 1890 she and others...

“S” is for Slave trade. The Atlantic slave trade was one of the most important demographic, social, and economic events of the modern era. It extended across four centuries and fostered the involuntary migration of millions of African peoples from their homelands to forced labor in the Americas and elsewhere. The major stream of African labor went to sugar-producing regions in the West Indies or L...

“S” is for slave religion. Enslaved Africans arriving in South Carolina brought their traditional belief systems with them and until the early nineteenth century Christianity only marginally affected them and their descendants. By the late 1820s slaveholders allowed, and even supported, missionary efforts to evangelize enslaved persons. Conversions occurred because eventually the power of African...

“S” is for slave patrols. Slave patrols were a crucial mechanism of slave control in the colonial and antebellum periods of South Carolina history. Like South Carolina's earliest slave codes, the earliest slave patrol systems were based on Barbadian models. Official slave patrolling began in 1704. Following the Stono Rebellion of 1739, the Commons House of Assembly passed the Negro Act of 1740, wh...

“R” is for Russell, Donald Stewart (1906-1998). University president, governor, U.S. senator, jurist. As a protégé of James F. Byrnes, Russell had a successful career in government and the law. From 1951 to 1957 he served as president of the University of South Carolina. In 1958 he lost the 1958 Democratic Party primary for governor, but four years later again ran for governor and was elected. Fol...

“P” is for Pompion Hill Chapel (Berkeley County). Built in 1763, Pompion Hill Chapel is among the finest remaining examples of the Anglican parish churches of the lowcountry. Situated near Huger, the chapel stands on a bluff along the eastern branch of the Cooper River. The chapel is built on a rectangular plan and features Georgian styling. Its exterior features include a steeply pitched, slate-c...

“M” is for Moore, Samuel Preston (1813-1889). Surgeon general of the Confederacy. Born in Charleston, Moore graduated from the Medical College of South Carolina and was commissioned an assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1835. In 1861 he resigned from the U.S. Army and sought a commission in the Confederate military. Upon being appointed acting surgeon general of the Confederacy, he faced the da...

“M” is for Moore, James, Sr. (ca.1650-1706. Governor. Moore arrived in South Carolina from Barbados around 1675 and became a leading Indian trader. A shrewd politician, by 1690, he was the acknowledged leader of the anti-proprietary faction, the Goose Creek Men. In 1700, with the death of the governor, the Goose Creek Men were able to maneuver Moore temporarily into the governorship—a move the Pro...

“M” is for Moore, James, Jr. (ca.1682-1774). Governor. South Carolina's first native-born governor, Moore was the eldest son of former governor James Moore, Sr. James, Jr., established himself as a prosperous planter and represented Berkeley and Craven Counties in the Commons House of Assembly. He participated in the 1713 expedition against the Tuscarora Indians. During the Yamassee War, Moore--no...