Effective:
26-Jan-2012
South Carolina
Smiling
Faces Beautiful Places
Digital-Topo-Maps.com
Both
Beaufort County
and its county seat of
Beaufort were
named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714), one of the
Lords Proprietors of Carolina. The district was formed
in 1769 from the parishes of Prince William, St. Luke, St. Helena, and St.
Peter. It remained relatively unchanged in size until 1878, when a large portion
was removed to form Hampton County. French explorers visited this area long
before the English arrived. They established a fort in 1562, as did the Spanish
in 1566; neither of these settlements survived, however. Beaufort, the second
oldest town in South Carolina, was founded in 1710. In the years before the
Civil War, rice and sea island cotton plantations brought great wealth to the
region. Federal troops occupied Beaufort in December 1861, and the first school
in the South for freed slaves was established during the Civil War at what is
now Penn Center
on St. Helena Island. The United States Marine Corps began training recruits at
Parris Island
in 1915, and later in the twentieth century
Hilton Head Island
and neighboring sea islands have become popular resort and retirement
destinations. Some famous residents of Beaufort County are naturalists Alexander
Garden (ca. 1730-1791) and
Stephen
Elliott (1771-1830);
Robert Smalls
(1839-1915), a former slave who became a United States Congressman; boxer
Joe Frazier;
and writer
Pat Conroy.
By: SC State Library/Mary Morgan
