Living History Sites

An architectural treasure in its own right, the South Carolina Historical Society Museum is housed in a National Historic Landmark building and features interactive exhibits on the people, places, and movements that shaped the state and nation.

In May 1779, British troops under Augustine Prevost advanced toward Charleston, prompting William Moultrie to withdraw as John Laurens rashly engaged at the Coosawhatchie River and was driven back with heavy losses.

Located along the Great Pee Dee River, Snow's Island served as Francis Marion's favorite refuge for his militia in the swamps of South Carolina

A former British headquarters, explore the reconstructed Kershaw/Cornwallis House, British redoubts, and programs about colonial life.

The plantation & gardens bears witness to 350 years of American history. Learn about the Europeans who colonized South Carolina, and the enslaved people who worked in the rice fields and gardens.

Eighteenth-century Moncks Corner was a crossroads settlement of stores and taverns at the intersection of the Cherokee Path (the Indian traders’ path) and the road from Charleston to Santee. A powder magazine was established in 1760 and the village was occupied as a store depot by the British during the Revolutionary War.

Loyalists ambush a contingent of Patriot militia at a tavern in December of 1780, leading to a massacre

Nestled outside the traditional bounds of the South Carolina colony is the Presbyterian church where Andrew Pickens committed his time as an elder following the Revolution. In the adjacent cemetery lie the graves of several American soldiers who had fought by Pickens' side during the war.

Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to die in the Revolutionary War, was a London-born pioneer who moved to South Carolina in 1773. A vocal supporter of independence, he became the first Jewish person to hold political office in the state. Known as the "Southern Paul Revere," Salvador warned of attacks during the war but tragically died in an ambush in 1776 at just 29 years old, leaving behind a legacy of courage and commitment to freedom.

Once a simple ferry site, it gained prominence after Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," mustered the Williamsburg militia into his ranks in August of 1780

British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton pushed up the Enoree River hot on the trail of Patriot Brigadier General Thomas Sumter.

Treacherous waters and Patriot fire foil a British attack on Charleston Harbor