Tag: J. J. Smith’s plantation (Beaufort SC)

Wikipedia says: Beaufort (BEW-fərt, a different pronunciation from that used by the city with the same name in North Carolina) is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston.

Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, in the heart of the Sea Islands and South Carolina Lowcountry. The city is renowned for its scenic location and for maintaining a historic character by preservation of its antebellum architecture.

Written history began 500 years ago with the discovery of the area by Spanish Captain Diego Guilarte de Salazar in 1514. Thus, Beaufort County was the site of the second landing on the North American continent by Europeans, in 1514.

The Lowcountry region had been subject to numerous European explorations and failed attempts at colonization before Anglo-American colonists founded the city in 1711. The city initially grew slowly, subject to numerous attacks from Native American tribes and threats from the powerful Spanish Empire to the south. It flourished first as a center for shipbuilding and later, when the region was established as a slave society, as the elite center for the Lowcountry planters through the Civil War.

Several months after hostilities began between the states, Beaufort was occupied by Union forces following the Battle of Port Royal. Due in part to its early occupation, the city attracted escaping slaves. The Union declared the slaves emancipated and initiated efforts at education and preparation for full independence. The Freedmen’s Bureau worked with local blacks during Reconstruction.