South Carolina from A to Z

“M” is for Montagu, Lord Charles Greville (1741-1784). Governor. Montagu arrived in Charleston in July 1766. In 1769 Montagu signed the act establishing much-needed circuit courts. He sailed for England in 1769. Returning in 1771, Montagu immediately became embroiled in controversy. The Commons House of Assembly had long controlled the taxation of the colony. It refused to back down when colonial...

“M” is for Moncks Corner (Berkeley County; 2020 population 12,497). The village of Moncks Corner in St. John's Berkeley Parish derived its name from Thomas Monck, who in 1735 established a plantation at a fork where the Charleston Road intersected with the Cherokee Path. A small commercial community grew up around the plantation. After the Revolutionary War, the opening of the State Road between C...

“L” is for Lowndes, William Jones (1782-1822). Congressman. Lowdes was born in Saint Bartholomew's Parish. In 1804 he was elected to the General Assembly where he served until 1808. In 1810 Lowndes was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, where he became a leading member of the “War Hawks,” a faction of young congressmen who strongly favored a military resolution of the nation’s dispute...

“S” is for St. Mark’s Parish. South Carolina’s first backcountry parish and by far its largest in land area, St. Mark’s was established in 1757 and included the country between the Great Pee Dee and Santee Rivers from the modern Clarendon-Williamsburg County line northward to North Carolina and westward as far “as it shall be inhabited by his Majesty’s subjects.”. In the 1750s a tremendous influx...

“R” is for Ravenel, Harriott Horry Rutledge (1832-1912). Novelist, biographer, historian. A native of Charleston, Ravenel attended Madame Talvande’s female academy. Though she wrote on other subjects, her major works focused on southern history and manners. Her most successful piece of fiction, Ashurst; or “The Days That Are Not fondly depicted antebellum lifestyles and landscapes. In 1896, as par...

“P” is for Parish, Margaret Cecile (1927-1988).  Author. A native of Manning, “Peggy” Parish graduated from USC.  She moved to New York to teach—and there she began writing children’s books. Her first book, My Golden Book of Manners appeared in 1962. International acclaim for Parish followed the creation and publication of Amelia Bedelia in 1964. The title character is a housekeeper who interprets...

“O” is for Opera houses. In the period between 1880 and 1920, opera houses flourished in communities across South Carolina. Especially in larger towns, the opera houses were imposing architecturally distinctive buildings with elaborate interiors. Sumter’s three-story Richardson Romanesque stone building had a one hundred foot clock tower. In smaller communities, they were more modest and often loc...

“N” is for New Era Club. Founded in Spartanburg in 1912, the New Era Club began disguised as a study group. Thirty Spartanburg women founded the club, they said, “to stimulate interest in civic affairs and to advance the industrial, legal, and educational rights of women and children.” They met twice monthly to discuss education, public health, and domestic issues. They also sponsored a section in...

“S” is for St. Luke’s Parish. In 1767, the Commons House created St. Luke’s Parish by taking territory from St. Helena’s Parish. The new parish, located in modern Beaufort and Jasper Counties, included the mainland region between the New and Broad Rivers, known as the Euhaws, and Hilton Head Island. The British government disallowed the act creating the parish in 1772, but after the Revolutionary...

“R” is for Ravenel, Edmund (1797-1871). Physician, naturalist. A native Charlestonian, Ravenel received his M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He established a practice in Charleston and helped to establish the Medical College of South Carolina. He served the institution as professor chemistry, pharmacy, and dean. However, Ravenel became better known for his work in natural history....

“P” is for Pardo, John. Spanish soldier, explorer. Pardo was born in Cuenca, Spain in the first half of the sixteenth century. He travelled to Spanish Florida in 1566 as the captain of one of six military companies sent to reinforce the colony. Pardo’s company was stationed at Santa Elena. In the summer of 1566, the colonial Governor ordered him to explore westward to find a route to the silver mi...

“O” is for O’Neall, John Belton (1793-1863). Jurist, author, social reformer, entrepreneur. A native of Newberry, O’Neall graduated from the South Carolina College and read law. He was admitted to the bar in 1814. He represented Newberry District in the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving as Speaker. He was elected a state judge in 1828 and two years later to the court of appeals. Fro...

“N” is for New Ellenton (Aiken County; 2020 population 2,189). New Ellenton was an offspring of the cold war in South Carolina and considered by many locals to have been “the first victim of the H-bomb.”  Incorporated in 1952, the town was the reincarnation of the town of Ellenton that dated to the 1870s. Ellenton’s quiet existence came to an abrupt end following the announcement by the Atomic Ene...

“S” is for Seneca (Oconee County; 2020 population 8,850). Founded in 1873, as Seneca City, the town’s name was taken from an earlier Indian village and the nearby Seneca River. It was the arrival of the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railroad (intersecting with the Blue Ridge Railroad) that was responsible for the town’s establishment. In 1874 Seneca was chartered by the General Assembly. And it w...

“R” is for Rock Hill Movement. Following the 1955 bus boycott in Montgomery and the 1960 lunch-counter sit-ins in Greensboro, African Americans in Rock Hill took the lead in energizing the civil rights movement in South Carolina. In 1957 boycott of the local city bus company resulted in its bankruptcy and the creation of a Black-operated alternative transportation company. In 1960, students at Fri...

“P” is for Pinckney, Eliza Lucas (ca. 1722-1793). Planter, matriarch. Born in the West Indies (probably Antigua), Eliza was educated in London and later moved with her family to a rice plantation on Wappoo Creek near Charleston. When her father returned to Antigua in 1739, he left his teenaged daughter in charge of the plantation. He sent Eliza indigo seed from the West Indies hoping that the crop...

“P” is for Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth (1746-1825). Soldier, statesman, diplomat. Born in Charleston, Pinckney was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford, and the Middle Temple. Returning home, he was elected to the Commons House of Assembly. By 1775 Pinckney was a member of all the important revolutionary committees. With the outbreak of hostilities, he was appointed commander of the First Re...

“M” is for Mennonites. The Mennonites of South Carolina are a Protestant group descended from the Anabaptists of the Reformation. They believe in a conscious choice to join the church (adult baptism), a disciplined church in which members are responsible to each other, and a sharing church in which material needs are met by fellow members. They reject the union of church and state and the validity...

“L” is for Lowndes, Rawlins (1721-1800). Jurist, governor. Lowndes was born on Saint Kitts in the West Indies, but his family migrated to South Carolina in 1730. In 1745 he became provost marshal, the chief law enforcement officer of the colony. He was first elected to the Commons House of Assembly in 1749 and served in that body for almost every session until the end of royal government. In 1763...

“L” is for lowcountry baskets. Far as long as people of African descent have lived in South Carolina, they have made baskets. Like the grasslands and marshes of western and central Africa, coastal wetlands provide grasses and plant fiber appropriate for making coiled baskets. The early history of lowcountry coiled grass baskets parallels the rise of rice cultivation. After the Civil War men contin...

“H” is for Huger, Isaac (1743-1797). Soldier. Born in South Carolina, Huger was educated in Europe. He began his military career as an officer in the provincial South Carolina Regiment during the expedition against the Cherokees in 1761. In 1775 he was lieutenant colonel in in the First South Carolina Regiment. In 1776 he was promoted to Colonel and appointed commander of the Fifth South Carolina...

“H” is for Huger, Daniel Elliott (1779-1854) Jurist, U. S. Senator. Born near Charleston, Huger graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University.) He was admitted to the Charleston bar in 1811 and for sixteen years represented St. Andrew's Parish in the State House of Representatives. In 1819 Huger was elected judge of the Court of General Sessions and Common Pleas where he serve...

“H” is for Huck, Christian (d. 1780). Soldier.  Christian Huck, a loyalist captain of dragoons under Banastre Tarleton, gained notoriety in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War for his vicious acts and excessive use of profanity. A Philadelphia lawyer, Huck was known for his intense hatred of all patriots, especially Scots-Irish Presbyterians. He commanded British outposts around Camden and...

“H” is for Howard, Frank James (1909-1996). Football coach. A native of Barlow Bend, Alabama, Howard played college football at the University of Alabama. Upon graduation in 1930, he accepted a position as assistant football coach at Clemson. In 1940, he was named head coach and directed the Clemson football program for the next thirty seasons. He established several traditions that have become a...

“G” is for Greer (Greenville County; 2020 population 35,316). Situated midway between Greenville and Spartanburg, along the line of the Richmond and Danville Air Line Railway, Greer was incorporated in 1876. By 1908 there were four cotton mills in operation. Greer suffered through hard times during the Great Depression but some relief was afforded by the establishment of a Civilian Conservation Co...