South Carolina from A to Z

“P” is for Pine Bark Stew. “Communal stew” is the name that southern cooking authority Stan Woodward gives stews made in big batches and cooked over open fires in large cast-iron pots.  In the 1930 edition of Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking , the recipe for pine bark stew was attributed to Captain John A. Kelly of Kingstree, who made it a favorite dish of the Otranto Hunting Club. Most aut...

“M” is for Middleton Place (Dorchester County). Middleton Place is an Ashley River plantation located on the Ashley River Road just outside Charleston. When Henry Middleton married, he acquired the property through his wife. He then expanded the land holdings and began the elegant gardens that have made Middle Place internationally famous. The gardens are renowned for their collection of Camellia...

“M” is for Middleton, Henry (1770-1846). Legislator, governor, congressman, diplomat. Born in South Carolina, Middleton was sent to England by his uncles in the 1780s. In 1799 he returned to South Carolina, to assume management of his family’s properties. In 1802 he began a long career in South Carolina politics representing the Parishes of St. Philip’s and St. Michael’s in the House of Representa...

“H” is for Hollywood (Charleston County; 2020 population 5,339). The automobile bumper sticker declares, “We’re the Real Hollywood.” In fact, no tourist would confuse this crossroads village on the western edge of Charleston County with California’s Tinseltown. In the 1880s Charles W. Geraty began a new farming venture on land five miles west of the Stono River. Truck farming was the community’s e...

“L” is for Longstreet, Augustus Baldwin (1790-1879). Educator, author, clergyman. Born in Augusta, Georgia, Longstreet was educated at Yale and the law school in Litchfield, Connecticut. In the wake of a family tragedy, he became deeply religious and a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1835 he published Georgia Scenes one of the best examples of southern backwoods humor. In 1839 he b...

“C” is for Carolina bays. Carolina bays are elliptical, shallow depressions found on unconsolidated sediments of the coastal plain region of eastern North America from Maryland to Florida.

"A” is for Allston, Washington (1779-1843). Painter, writer.

“D” is for Donaldson, John Owen (1898-1930). Aviator. In 1951 Greenville Air Base was renamed to honor John Owen Donaldson.

“C” is for Charlesfort. A mid-sixteenth century French outpost in Port Royal Sound, Charlesfort was the first French settlement in the present-day United States.

“C” is for Chapman, Martha Marshall, II (b. 1949). Musician. Classified by many as a country-music artist, Martha Marshall Chapman,II, and her style nonetheless have been difficult to categorize.

“B” is for Bethune, Mary McLeod (1875-1955). Educator, social activist, government official.

“W” is for Wilkinson, Marion Birnie (1870-1956). Social reformer, Black women’s club leader.

“S” is for Scarborough, William Harrison (1812-1871). Painter. Examples of William Harrison Scarborough’s works can be found in museums around South Carolina.

“R” is for Rivers Bridge, Battle of (February 2-3, 1865). The battle marked the only major resistance to Sherman’s march through South Carolina.

“P” is for Pickens, Francis (1807-1869). Congressman, diplomat, governor. In 1860 Pickens was elected governor, four days before South Carolina seceded.

“M” is for McKaine, Osceola Enoch (1892-1955). Civil rights activist. In 1944, McKaine was the Progressive Democratic Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate—the first time since Reconstruction that a Black Carolinians had run for statewide office.

“M” is for McGuire, Frank Joseph (1913-1994). Basketball coach. In 1977 the Frank McGuire Arena in the Carolina Coliseum was named in his honor.

“W” is for Wilkinson, Eliza Yonge (b. 1757). Chronicler, letter writer. Wilkinson is remembered principally for her letters, twelve of which were edited from her original letterbook and published after her death.

"S” is for Sayre, Christopher Gadsden (1876-ca.1935). Architect. Sayre made a career out of designing public buildings throughout the Carolinas during the first three decades of the twentieth century.

“R” is for Rivers, Prince (ca. 1824-1887). Soldier, statesman. During the occupation of Beaufort by United States forces, Rivers joined the First South Carolina Volunteers, one of the first African American Union regiments.

“P” is for Pickens, Andrew, Jr., (1779-1838). Governor. At the urging of Governor Andrew Pickens, Jr., the legislature in 1818 appropriated the unprecedented sum of $1 million to implement a statewide program of roads and canals.

“M” is for McGowan, Clelia Peronneau (1865-1956). Civic leader. Born in Columbia, McGowan studied in Sweden with a pioneer in the woman’s movement in that country.

“L” is for Lister, Hovie Franklin (1926-2001). Musician. For more than half a century Hovie Lister was leader and pianist for the Statesman Quartet, one of the best-known and most significant exponents of southern gospel music.

“H” is for Heyward, Duncan Clinch (1864-1943). Governor. Espousing a progressive agenda, Clinch touted reforms to advance the “general welfare” of the state.

“G” is for Grace, John Patrick (1874-1940). Politician. John Grace was elected mayor of Charleston in 1911