Discover the myriad of sites across The Liberty Trail 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.
Built in 1716 for Paul de St. Julien in Berkeley County. The house was later dismantled and moved to Clemson University and functions as a house...
This historic house museum was the home of Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of four South Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Discover the history of the Scots-Irish and African-Americans through preserved buildings and living history experiences of the Brattonsville...
Located near the famous Treaty of Hopewell site, the Hopewell Plantation house was the Pickens' family home and later served as the South Carolina...
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...
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...
Loyalists ambush a contingent of Patriot militia at a tavern in December of 1780, leading to a massacre
The plantation & gardens bears witness to 350 years of American history. Learn about the Europeans who colonized South Carolina, and the enslaved...
Though his Quaker faith precluded him from taking up arms, Lushington made the decision to join the Patriot cause and fight against the British during the American Revolution. Largely an outsider, joining the army may have been a means for Lushington to gain further acceptance within Charleston's social elite.
Tarleton, active in the Southern Campaign, came to be known as the ‘butcher’ after Continental soldiers accused his dragoons of disregarding a Patriot surrender by attacking the Americans after they laid down their arms at the Battle of Waxhaws.
At the Battle of Camden, British General Lord Cornwallis routed Gates’s army and captured nearly 1,000 men, including their supplies, baggage, and artillery. There was no organized retreat, and Gates rode near 170 miles north in three days to flee. It destroyed his reputation and his new southern army.
In 1779, after a stalemate in the north, Cornwallis went south as second in command to Sir Henry Clinton. Clinton captured Charleston in May 1780. Cornwallis pressed on to defeat General Horatio Gates at Camden, South Carolina, on August 16, 1780.
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.
As part of their Southern Campaign, the British set their sights on taking the vital port of Charleston.
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
When Jane Black Thomas overheard Loyalists plotting a surprise attack on her son's militia camp, she rode nearly 60 miles through dangerous territory to warn him. Her daring ride gave Colonel John Thomas Jr. and his Spartan Regiment time to prepare an ambush that repelled the attackers — fueling Patriot momentum toward the war-changing Battle of King's Mountain just three months later.
The site of the 1780 battle of Musgrove’s Mill where a small force of Patriot militia fought and defeated a larger force of Loyalist and Provincial soldiers in a short but pivotal battle.
The Battle of Sullivan’s Island, fought near the site of today’s Fort Moultrie in June 1776, was the first significant Patriot victory of the Revolutionary War.
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.
An oyster-shell, “tabby,” fortress, originally constructed here during the French and Indian War, was restored, and occupied by both the British and Patriots.
This battleground was the site of three British camps, attacked by Patriot troops on August 6, 1780. It was a fight primarily between countrymen.
Located in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, it was here that Francis Marion signed a treaty with a local Loyalist militia leader, effectively ending hostilities in the area
On May 29, 1780, British commander Banastre Tarleton engaged and overwhelmed a Patriot force under the command of Abraham Buford in a dreadful defeat for the Patriots.
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.
