Historic Landscapes
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Historic Landscapes
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| Home | South Carolina Low Country | Low Country Plantations |
Preserving Historic Landscapes | Horticulturists and Botanists | Landscape of Slavery | Appendix Bibliography |
Low Country Plantations
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Click the link or plantation image to navigate to detailed pages about each historic site. |
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Both the Spanish and French unsuccessfully attempted to settle the region known as Carolina but the English who arrived from Barbados in 1670 stayed and founded the colony which became known as South Carolina.
The initial settlement was on the south bank of the Ashley River, but a decade later the colonists relocated Charles Town to the peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. This harbor location offered protection from marauding Spaniards, Indians and pirates.
As the center of Low Country government, Charles Town developed into rich cultural center and provided the colonists with a winter social season and an escape from their plantation's sweltering and sickly summers. Charles Town's connection to the Low Country was considerable leading to its comparison as a Greek city state with its surrounding provinces.
During the early 18th century, the goal of the colonists in Charles Town was rapid profits. Planters quickly settled the areas along the Ashley and Copper Rivers experimenting with a number of crops and soon rice was the most successful. By 1700, the Low Country plantations were an obvious source of wealth.
From archaeological studies, the earliest plantation houses were quite small and utilitarian but by 1710 dwellings were constructed along the Ashley and Copper Rivers reminiscent of English gentlemen's country seats.
