Clarendon County

In some places the Black River is swamplike, while in others it is swift moving with a sandy bottom. With the exception of the town of Kingstree and the final stretch in Georgetown County, the banks of the Black River remain forested and largely undisturbed by development. Since the collapse of the rice culture, South Carolinians have mostly used the Black River basin as a resource for timbering, hunting, and fishing.

Originally a lawsuit filed by twenty African American parents in Clarendon County for equal educational opportunities for their children, Briggs v. Elliott was the first case in the twentieth century to challenge the constitutionality of racially segregated schools. The case carries the names of the lead plaintiff, Harry Briggs, who had five children in the school district, and Roderick W. Elliott, chairman of School District 22.

As was the case with other coastal plain districts, the antebellum Clarendon economy revolved around slavery and cotton.

Forced to leave his native state, he later wrote the FBI that he fled South Carolina, “Not to escape justice, but to escape injustice.”

The fort’s garrison included seventy-eight regular British soldiers and thirty-six Loyalists under the command of Lieutenant James McKay. With the strong garrison, the abatis, and the cleared land around the fort, Marion and Lee realized that a frontal assault to take the fort would be too costly.

Gibson played nationally and internationally. In 1956 she won sixteen of the eighteen tournaments she entered. That same year she became the first African American to capture a Grand Slam event when she won the French Championship. She went on to win Wimbledon in 1957 and was welcomed home with a ticker tape parade. Ranked as the number one tennis player in 1957, Gibson won her first U.S. championship and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.

The highway’s many nicknames are an indication that it was popular among tourists throughout the second quarter of the twentieth century. These names included: “Tobacco Trail,” “Highway of Southern Hospitality,” “Tourist Highway,” “Shortest Route from Maine to Florida,” and “The Washington-Florida Short Route.”

These mounds, built between c.e. 1200 and 1500, were ceremonial, cultural, or administrative in nature and at times were associated with villages and burials.

Manchester State Forest includes several historical sites, including Bellfield, the home of Richard I. Manning, governor of South Carolina from 1915 to 1919. Except for salaries of forest workers, Manchester is completely self-supporting.

Following the war, Manning and the surrounding countryside returned to their economic mainstay—agriculture—and the town prospered.

Manning had a particular fondness for South Carolina College, his alma mater and a place he equated with conservative instruction and order.

In 1822 Manning entered politics by securing election to the state House of Representatives from Clarendon. He served until December 1824, when he resigned his seat following his election as governor.

In addition to continuing her writing after returning to Manning, Parish became the children’s book reviewer for the “Carolina Today” television show on WIS-TV in Columbia. She also participated in teacher workshops and taught creative writing techniques to elementary-school children.

Richardson taught herself to paint while growing up, eventually settling on birds as the primary subjects of most of her works. She received permits to create a wildlife sanctuary on James Island, South Carolina, where she rehabilitated birds and other wildlife and used them as models for her paintings.

Richardson became the first backcountry resident—indeed the first non-Charlestonian—to hold the office, and his election reflected the increasing political and economic solidification of the state based on cotton, slavery, and the plantation system.

In office, Richardson supported a statewide agricultural and geologic survey in order to improve agriculture and halt the migration of planters and farmers from the state.

Characterized as “a man of sense and a most lovable gentleman,” Richardson continued to be active in conservative Democratic politics and in civic and business affairs after relinquishing public office.

In November 1775 Richardson and Colonel William Thomson were given command of 2,500 men and ordered to scatter the large concentration of Loyalists gathering in the South Carolina backcountry.

Established in 1942, Santee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was created to alleviate the loss of natural waterfowl and wildlife habitat caused by the construction of hydroelectric projects on the Santee and Cooper Rivers.

The Santee flows southeast and meets the Atlantic Ocean between the cities of Georgetown and Charleston. Near its mouth, the river forms a delta created by the large amount of sediment picked up by the waters of the Santee and its tributaries as they pass from origins in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina through the Piedmont of North and South Carolina.