County of marker: Beaufort County
Location of marker: Bay St. & Charles St., Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, Beaufort
Dated marker erected: May 5, 1975
Marker dedicated by: Hon. J. Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator
Marker erected by: The City of Beaufort; Beaufort County, and both city and county Historical Societies
Marker text:
BEAUFORT COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
1520 - 1711
"In 1520, the Spaniard Francisco Gordillo, sailing from Hispaniola, stopped near Port Royal Sound long enough to call the place Santa Elena. Forty-two years later, in 1562, Jean Ribaut and his French Huguenots named the region Port Royal and attempted a colony on Parris Island. It survived a year.
"Alarmed by the French intrusion, the Spanish, in 1566, built Fort San Phillip which was destroyed following an Indian massacre and replaced by the larger San Marcos in 1577.
"In 1586 St. Augustine was burned by the English privateer, Sir Francis Drake, forcing the withdrawal of the Spanish from Port Royal. The Spanish maintained their claim, however, and a hundred years later destroyed the fledgling Scottish colony of Lord Cardross at Spanish Point.
"The English explored Port Royal Sound in 1663 under Captain William Hilton followed by Robert Sanford in 1666. Sanford left Dr. Henry Woodward at Port Royal to establish trade with the Indians. By 1700 English planters and traders had established a foothold in the area, but the Spanish threat discouraged a permanent settlement. In 1711 Beaufort was founded and named for Henry Somerset Duke of Beaufort.
"Easter Sunday, 1715, the Yemassee and Creek Indians attacked and burned Beaufort, massacring many settlers. Others escaped to a ship anchored in the river. The militia was rallied and assisted Governor Craven in driving the Yemassee into Florida, from where they raided the Sea Islands until 1729."
BEAUFORT COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
1711 - 1860
During the colonial period the Beaufort District grew and prospered. Rice was produced for exportation on the mainland, Indigo in the Sea Islands. Shipbuilding flourished. The Parish system developed as the political basis and Beaufort competed with Charleston for prestige and influence.
Until 1779, Beaufort played little part in the Revolution. Early in that year the first British attempt to take the town was repulsed by General William Moultries Militia at the Battle of Port Royal Island. The same year Beaufort was occupied by British forces. Patriots and Tories fought bitterly throughout the area to the end of 1782. Beaufort's most prominent Patriot was Thomas Heyward, Jr. signer of the Declaration of Independence.
After slow recovery from the wars depletion, the introduction of Sea Island cotton in 1893 brought a rapid increase in plantations and slaves. New wealth provided Beaufort's elegant homes, fine libraries and some of the best preparatory schools in the South between 1800 and 1860, including Beaufort College. So many men of state and national prominence were produced that anti-bellum Beaufort was describes as the "wealthiest and most aristocratic and cultivated town of its size in America." It was an economy based upon cotton, undergirded by slavery.
BEAUFORT COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA
CIVIL WAR AND FORWARD
1860 --
"On November 7, 1861, a flotilla of U.S. warships steamed into Port Royal Sound and the "Cotton Kingdom" came to a swift & thunderous end. The planters were forced to flee inland, many never to return, abandoning homes, lands, and slaves. Beaufort became headquarters for the U.S. Army Department of the Southland and the chief base for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The houses were used by the occupying forces and thus were saved for future generations.
"After the war the tough minded accepted quickly and struggled back from defeat and reprisal. The long-fibered Sea Island cotton recovered and continued to support the economy. The coming of the Boll Weevil, some sixty years later, banished cotton forever from the Sea Islands.
"In 1893 a great storm came ashore at the high tide, piling water on water until the Islands were swept clean of agriculture and shipping. Thousands drowned.
"Now, where rice, indigo and cotton once flourished, cattle feed crops, vegetables, and soybeans grow. A fishing fleet "drags" the local waters for shrimp. Crabs and oysters are harvested for local consumption and export. Clean industry, military installations, tourism and retired persons contribute heavily to the present economy."