All Stories: 105
Stories
Hog Island Battery
Early in the war, torpedoes (mines) were placed in the Hog Island Channel to defend against Union ships that might slip past Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. The Hog Island Battery, also known as the Shem Creek Battery, was built on the southern tip…
Hibben Street Battery
The Hibben Street Battery was located behind the Hibben House on a high bluff at the western terminus of Hibben Street in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant overlooking Charleston Harbor. The battery was constructed to serve as an inner-harbor…
Venning's Landing Battery
Venning’s Landing Battery was located at another ferry landing 1.37 miles northeast of Kinloch’s Landing Battery on the southeast shore of Mount Pleasant facing Sullivan’s Island. Like Kinloch’s Landing Battery, this battery was placed to protect a…
Kinloch's Landing Battery
A two-gun battery was constructed in 1863 at Kinloch’s Landing, a ferry landing facing Sullivan’s Island. The battery was 2.16 miles northeast of Battery Gary. It was originally constructed with a powder magazine and gun positions for two heavy…
Battery Gary
On August 18, 1863, as Beauregard and his staff sought to strengthen inner harbor defenses, Lieutenant Colonel D. B. Harris, Chief Engineer, was directed to construct a new battery for “heavy guns” at the site of the old mortar battery on Mount…
Fort Palmetto
Fort Palmetto, a three-gun battery, was constructed at the eastern terminus of the Christ Church Lines. This strong fortification commanded both Hamlin Sound and Dewee’s Inlet. Dewee’s Inlet, located between Long Island (Isle of Palms) and Dewee’s…
The Christ Church Lines
General Robert E. Lee was sent to Charleston in early November 1861 to oversee the design and construction of defenses for the South Carolina coast and the cities of Charleston and Savannah. Lee and his engineers analyzed the multiple possible…
Mount Pleasant Mortar Battery
The Mount Pleasant Battery was a two-gun battery built at the end of present-day Schweers Lane, adjacent to Pitt Street. It was armed with two 10-inch seacoast mortars. From this vantage point, the battery could fire on the three Federal…
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
"When William L. Pierce of Georgia sat down in Philadelphia to assess his
fellow delegates at what would become the Constitutional Convention of
1787, he saw Charles Pinckney as “a young Gentleman of the most
promising talents…intimately…
Greenwich Mill
Jonathan Lucas, Sr., a skilled millwright, sailed from England in the 1780s and shipwrecked on the Carolina coast. Remembered for his brilliance in wind and water-powered mill design, Lucas invented a system that combined rice grinding and mortar…
Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary School
Mamie P. Whitesides Elementary School is named for Miss Mary Pinckney Whitesides, more fondly known as Miss Mamie. She was born May 3, 1884, and was the youngest of John Frazier Whitesides and Abigail Legare Whitesides' five children. Miss…
William Hopton's Starvegut Hall
Dunes West was part of two proprietary grants that deeded 460 acres to Francis Gracia in 1699 and 620 acres to Thomas Carry in 1704. When the two properties were combined and sold to George Logan in 1708, there was already a sizable plantation with…
54th Massachusetts Regiment
The Whilden House served as Union headquarters after the fall of Mount Pleasant in February 1865. Among the occupying troops was the first black volunteer 54th Mass. regiment. Under the command of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, this unit was made famous…
The Whilden House
Elias Whilden, planter and mayor (1857-1858), built his home c. 1840. Five sons fought for the Confederacy, including John Marshall Whilden. John was Captain of the Citadel cadets who fired on the steamer, The Star of the West. This action on…
War of 1812 Encampment
On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. One of the first units to be mustered into the service was the Third Regiment of South Carolina Militia, which was stationed at Haddrell’s Point, west of here, to aid in the…
Wando Pottery
Indians living along the Wando River 1200 years ago made distinctive pottery using limestone and clay from the river banks. This type of pottery is found only in the Wando River Basin and is distinguished by the presence of limestone used to temper…
USS Yorktown (CV-10)
The keel for the aircraft carrier BonHomme Richard was laid down December 1, 1941, six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The vessel was renamed USS Yorktown (CV-10) in honor of the original carrier Yorktown (CV-5), the only U.S. carrier lost…
Thomas Lynch at Rivertowne
Thomas and Sabina Lynch were some of Mount Pleasant’s earliest and wealthiest residents. Their 18th century plantation house was located here in Rivertowne. The Lynch family story begins in 1677 when Jonack Lynch emigrated from Ireland to Charles…
Sweetgrass Baskets
Coil baskets of native sweetgrass and pine needles sewn with strips of palmetto leaf have been displayed for sale on stands along Highway 17 since the 1930s. This craft, handed down in certain families since the 1700s, originally was used on…
Storm of the Century
At midnight on September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo, a category four storm, blew into Charleston County. Winds in excess of 140 mph, a massive 20 foot storm surge, and extraordinarily high tides ravaged the area. Hugo cut a swath 50 miles wide and 200…