Trail Sites

Liberty Trail Historic Sites

Discover the myriad of sites across South Carolina where significant cultural and Revolutionary history unfolded. From military ruins to meticulously restored mansions, immerse yourself in the footsteps of our nation’s history-makers.

Historic Site | Historic House
Camden, SC

After the Siege of Charleston in 1780, the British established a headquarters at the Kershaw/Cornwallis House. Today the house and grounds are open to...

Historic Site
Gaffney, SC
Historic Site | Gardens & Grounds
Charleston, SC

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

State/County Park | Historic Site

Marion Square, named in honor of Francis Marion, is greenspace in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and features remnants of The Hornwork, a large...

Battlefield | Historic Site
Moncks Corner, SC

Former Plantation of Henry Laurens: Merchant, Slave Trader, South Carolina Statesman, and Father of Revolutionary War Soldier John Laurens.

Historic Site | Gardens & Grounds
Charlestown, SC

Middleton Place is America’s Oldest Landscaped Gardens and home to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Historic Site | Historic House
Charleston, SC

In 1780, after the British occupied Charleston during the American Revolutionary War, the Brewton house was used as the British headquarters for Henry...

Battlefield | Historic Site
Moncks Corner, SC

Eighteenth-century Moncks Corner was a crossroads settlement of stores and taverns at the intersection of the Cherokee Path (the Indian traders’ path)...

Historic Site
Charleston, SC

Completed in 1771, the Old Exchange Building is a Charleston landmark and the site of some of the most important events in South Carolina history...

Liberty Trail History Makers

America’s independence was secured in South Carolina across its swamps, fields, woods and mountains. These events of 1779-1782 directly led to victory in the Revolutionary War. We call this history The Liberty Trail.
Biography

After the siege of Yorktown, Laurens returned to his home state of South Carolina where Nathanael Greene appointed Laurens to lead Lee’s Legion and his light troops. Along with this command, Laurens’s new responsibilities included the gathering and analysis of intelligence for Greene.

Biography

Elizabeth, Grace, and Rachel Martin, devoted Patriots during the Revolutionary War, disguised themselves to ambush a British courier, seizing crucial dispatches that they forwarded to General Nathanael Greene, aiding the American cause in the Southern campaigns.

Biography

Peter Harris, a Catawba Indian who survived a devastating smallpox epidemic as a child, served bravely in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, fighting in key battles like Stono Ferry and Rocky Mount; despite his contributions, he later petitioned South Carolina for a pension, poignantly describing himself as "one of the lingering embers of an almost extinguished race," and was granted $60 a year just before his death in 1823.

Biography

Catawba leader General New River, born around 1740, allied with the Patriots during the Revolutionary War, leading Catawba warriors in key southern battles. Despite their service, the Catawba lost much of their ancestral land, and New River continued advocating for his people's rights until his death in 1804.

Explore South Carolina History
We invite you to visit the preserved locations along the Liberty Trail and to immerse yourself in the extraordinary events that determined the fate of a nation.
National Park | Historic Site
Huger, SC

The Francis Marion is a forest literally steeped in history. Marion, dubbed the “Swamp Fox” by the British troops whose supply lines he disrupted with surprise attacks from the swamps.

State/County Park
Lancaster, SC

Andrew Jackson State Park combines history, art and community activities into a setting that has made it one of the state’s most popular parks.

Battlefield | National Park
Gaffney, SC

The Cowpens Battlefield commemorates Daniel Morgan’s victory over Banastre Tarleton on January 17, 1781.

Battlefield
Summerton, SC

Located within the Santee Wildlife Refuge, this was the last major battle of the war in South Carolina.

Historic Site | Historic House
McConnells, SC

Discover the history of the Scots-Irish and African-Americans through preserved buildings and living history experiences of the Brattonsville community.

Historic Site
Charleston, SC

Completed in 1771, the Old Exchange Building is a Charleston landmark and the site of some of the most important events in South Carolina history. Over the last two and a half centuries, the building has been a commercial exchange, custom house, post office, city hall, military headquarters, and museum.

Battlefield | Historic Site
Moncks Corner, SC

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.

State/County Park
Santee, SC

Santee State Park offers biking and hiking trails and pontoon boat tours of the flooded cypress forest on Lake Marion, named after Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox”.

Historic Site | Gardens & Grounds
Charlestown, SC

Middleton Place is America’s Oldest Landscaped Gardens and home to a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

State/County Park | Historic Site

Marion Square, named in honor of Francis Marion, is greenspace in downtown Charleston, South Carolina and features remnants of The Hornwork, a large fortification built in 1758 that played a major role in the fight for independence.

Historic Site | Historic House
Georgetown, SC

Built circa 1740, Hopsewee Plantation was one of the South’s major rice plantations and the birthplace of Thomas Lynch, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Historic Site
Sullivan's Island, SC

William Moultrie died in 1805 and was buried in the family cemetery. In 1977, his remains were moved to Sullivan's Island within Fort Moultrie.