South Carolina from A to Z

“G” is for Guignard Brick Works. James Sanders Guignard began making brick along the Congaree River near Columbia in 1803, under the name Guignard Brick Works.  During the Civil War, the plant fell into disuse. In 1886 Guignard’s great-grandson moved to the Columbia area to revive the brick operation. He mined clay extensively from alluvial deposits along the west bank of the Congaree River. In 19...

“G” Is for Guignard, Jane Bruce (1876-1963). Physician. Born in Aiken County, Guignard moved with her family to Columbia in 1895. With support from her family, she graduated from Women's Medical College in Philadelphia in 1904. After an internship, she returned to Colombia to practice medicine as one of the city's first female physicians. Obstetrics and pediatrics became the cornerstone of Guignar...

“S” is for South Carolina Budget and Control Board. South Carolina has historically been a “legislative” state with a tradition of a “commission” approach to government. Joining legislators with the executive branch decision-makers challenged the doctrine of separation of powers expressed in Article 1, Section 8 of the modern state constitution. Act 621, passed in 1948 created the State Budget and...

“S” is for South Carolina Baptist State Convention. The South Carolina Baptist State Convention became the first Baptist convention in the South when it was founded in 1821 at First Baptist Church in Columbia. The historical significance of the South Carolina Baptist State Convention in the formation of the Southern Baptist Convention and other state conventions should not be ignored. Major archit...

“S” is for South Carolina. Warship. During the Revolutionary War, patriot leaders of South Carolina worried about threats from the sea. Local officials dealt with this problem by creating a state navy--the most famous component of which was the frigate South Carolina , the largest warship under American command during the war. The state sent Commodore Alexander Gillon to Europe where in Amsterdam...

“M” is for Mount Dearborn Armory. Situated on an island in the Catawba River in Chester County, Mount Dearborn was initially conceived and selected by President George Washington to be one of the nation's three national arsenal-armories. In 1802 Secretary of War Henry Dearborn purchased 523 acres near the village of Rocky Mount. By early 1804 construction began on the magazine and arsenal, but the...

“G” is for Grimké, Sarah Moore (1792-1873), and Angelina Emily Grimké (1805-1879.) Abolitionists. Born into the upper echelon of antebellum Charleston society, the Grimké sisters first became involved in the public sphere through charity work in Charleston. Through their social work they began to challenge the contradictions between the teachings of Christian faith and the laws and practices of sl...

“C” is for Columbia, burning of (February 17-18, 1865). On the morning of February 17, 1865, when the mayor surrendered Columbia to General Sherman, the city was in chaos. Drunken mobs roamed the streets. Ragged cotton bales were everywhere. Driven by a strong wind, loose cotton covered the city like a snowstorm. Fires broke out in different sections of town. Driven by wooden buildings and burning...

“C” is for Columbia (Richland County: 2020 population 136,632). Named for Christopher Columbus and created in 1786 as the nation's first truly planned capital city, Columbia has a unique history that took shape in the wilderness near the geographic center of South Carolina. Since 1790 Columbia has continued to be a multifaceted community that defies easy classification. It is home to colleges but...

“R” is for Rutledge, John (ca.1739-1800). Lawyer, jurist, governor. A native Carolinian, Rutledge studied law at the Middle Temple in London. From 1761 to 1775, he was one of the leaders in the Commons House of Assembly. He represented his colony at the Stamp Act Congress and was a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. When events made reconciliation with Great Britain impossibl...

“P” is for Port Royal, Battle of (November 7, 1861). The Battle of Port Royal culminated an amphibious operation designed to establish a United States military depot on the islands on the southeastern coast to carry out land and sea operations against the Confederacy. Fort Walker on Hilton Head and Fort Beauregard on Bay Point defended Port Royal Sound. After nearly five hours of fighting, the Con...

“M” is for Moultrie flag. In January 1776, the South Carolina Council of Safety sent Colonel William Moultrie, commander of the Second South Carolina Regiment at Fort Sullivan, twenty-three yards of blue cloth. In the colonel's memoirs he wrote: “it was thought necessary to have a flag for the purpose of signals: (there was no national or state flag at the time) I was desired by the council of saf...

“M” is for Moultrie, William (1730-1805). Soldier, governor. Born in Charleston, in 1752 Moultrie won election to the Commons House of Assembly. Over the next four decades he was a fixture in South Carolina government, representing various lowcountry parishes and royal, revolutionary, and state assemblies almost continuously until his retirement from public life in 1794. He achieved national fame...

“M “is for Moultrie, John, Jr. (1729-1798.) Physician, planter, political leader. Born in Charleston, Moultrie was the first native-born American to receive a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh. In 1761 he participated in the expedition against the Cherokees and in the same year elected to the Commons House of Assembly. In 1764 the governor of British East Florida (newly acquired from...

“H” is for Hurricanes. The term “hurricane” comes from the West Indian word “huracan” which means “big wind” and is used to describe severe tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. From the earliest days of European settlement in South Carolina, there have been references to West Indian storms that we would now call hurricanes. The hurri...

“G is for Grimké, John Faucheraud (1752-1819). Legislator, jurist. Grimké was born in Charleston and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1775 he organized an artillery unit for service in the Revolutionary War. In 1780 he was captured and imprisoned by the British but escaped to join General Nathanael Greene's army. In 1782 Grimké began the first of five terms in the General Assembly, inclu...

“C” is for Colonoware. On historic-period sites in South Carolina, archaeologists often find locally made, hand-built, unglazed pottery that was fired in open hearths rather than kilns. Vessels and sherds of this ware may be found on the sites of Indian camps and villages, the city lots of Charleston and other towns, underwater near wharves and ferries, and on small farms and large plantations. Th...

“C” is for colonial agents. The overseas market for rice, South Carolina ‘s principal export was restricted by Parliamentary legislation. How could South Carolina get parliament to pay attention to its particular concerns? The answer was a colonial agent, paid for by the colony’s Commons House of Assembly. The colonial agent regularly reported to the Commons House on matters of interest to the col...

“C” is for Colleton County (1,056 square miles; 2020 population 38,604). Colleton County was one of the three original counties organized in the English province of Carolina in 1682. However, the county was divided into three parishes by 1730 which took over most county responsibilities. Lying south and west of Charleston between the Stono and Combahee Rivers, the current boundaries of the county...

“B” is for Boyce, Ker (1787-1854). Merchant, bank president. Born in Newberry District, Boyce opened a store in the town of Newberry in 1814. After prospering as a young upcountry merchant, he opened a store on King Street in Charleston and later established a factorage and commission house. As he prospered, he invested in other enterprises and from 1837 to 1841 he was president of the Bank of Cha...

"S” is for Sothel, Seth (d. 1694). Proprietory, governor. In 1675 Sothel was granted 12,000 acres near Charleston to establish a settlement. Before this transpired, he purchased the Clarendon proprietorship in 1677 and agreed to undertake the government of North Carolina. From 1682 to 1688 Governor Sothel ruled Carolina (or Albemarle as it was called) with considerable skill. A coup in 1689 forced...

“S” is for Sonoco. This Hartsville-based international packaging manufacturer had its beginnings in the late nineteenth century, when Major James Lide Coker and his son James, Jr. became the first to successfully produce paper from pine wood pulp. The Cokers made a modest investment in equipment and began making cones for the southern textile industry with paper produced by their pulp mill. In 189...

November 26, 2025

“S” is for Smyth, Thomas (1808-1873). Clergyman, author. Born in Ireland, Smyth immigrated with his parents to the United States. At Princeton Theological Seminary, he came under the influence of conservative Presbyterian theologians. In 1831 Smyth was called to the be the supply pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston. Three years later he was called to be the congregation’s duly i...

“S” is for Smyth, Ellison Adger (1847-1942). Industrialist. A Charleston native, Smyth’s business career began after the Civil War when he took a position as a junior clerk with a hardware wholesaler. By the end of the 1870s he was convinced that it was better to invest in the emerging textile industry of the upstate than in Charleston. In cooperation with Charleston capitalist Francis J. Pelzer,...