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...
During the Revolutionary War, Sumter became a prominent commander in the South Carolina militia. When Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton’s raiders burned his home, however, he organized a band of partisans to harass the British and their Tory allies. General Cornwallis called him one of his “great plagues.”
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.
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.
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.
A former British headquarters, explore the reconstructed Kershaw/Cornwallis House, British redoubts, and programs about colonial life.
Patriot Francis Marion earns his famous nickname — "The Swamp Fox”— after a futile chase by British Commander Banastre Tarleton
Now under the man-made Lake Marion, British Lieutenant Colonel John Watson and Patriot Brigadier General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” skirmished in Wyboo Swamp near Santee Road.
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 Patriots Take Provisions and Prisoners in a Surprise Attack on a British Supply Depot.
This park features the Lands Ford crossing, used during the Revolutionary War by both British and American troops under Cornwallis and Sumter before and after pivotal battles.
Known as an extremely important ferry crossing in the Colonial Period, Marion fortified this ferry and frequently utilized it to quickly move his troops to lay ambushes
Completed in 1713, The Powder Magazine is South Carolina's oldest government building.
This 18th-century plantation home, on the grounds of the Hampton Plantation State Historic Site, served as a place of refuge for Francis Marion who hid here from when British troops.
The site of the 1775 Battle of Williamson's Fort and a critical outpost for the British after they captured Charleston in 1780, the colonial town of Ninety Six was also the setting of a 28-day siege in 1781. Here, Nathanael Greene’s Patriots attacked the heart of Loyalist commander John Cruger’s defenses — the Star Fort.
On August 16, 1780, the unexpected Patriot success at Kings Mountain infused those favoring rebellion with new confidence.
Old Santee Canal Park hosts the Berkeley County Museum and Fort Fair Lawn, where in 1780, the British attacked the Patriot army stationed at Monck’s Corner.
