South Carolina from A to Z

“G” is for Guerard, Benjamin (died 1788). Governor.

“C” is for Congaree River. At the fall line in Columbia the Broad and Saluda Rivers form the Congaree River.

“C” is for Compromise of 1808. Under the constitutions of 1778 and 1790, the House of Representatives was apportioned to benefit the lowcountry while the majority of the voting (White) population lived in the upcountry.

“C” is for Commons House of Assembly (1670 to 1776). The dominant political institution in colonial South Carolina was the Commons House of Assembly.

“B” is for Bratton, William (ca. 1742-1815). Soldier, legislator.

“B” is for Bratton, John (1831-1898). Soldier, congressman.

South Carolina Public Radio began broadcasting in 1972 as the South Carolina Educational Television Radio Network.

“S” is for South Carolina Educational Television Network. The South Carolina Educational Television Network (SCETV) is a state agency providing educational, cultural, and historic programming to South Carolina through telecom communications.

“P” is for Port Royal Naval Station. The conquest of the Sea Islands by the United States Navy in November 1861 was the beginning of more than a century of US naval involvement with Port Royal Sound.

“M” is for Mulberry Plantation (Berkeley County). Completed in 1714 Mulberry is one of the most distinctive eighteenth-century houses in America.

“G” is for Grosvenor, Vertamae (1938-2016). Writer, culinary anthropologist. A woman with varied interests Grosvenor traveled abroad and became interested in the African diaspora and how African foods and recipes travelled and changed as a result of it.

“C” is for Congaree National Park. South Carolina's only National Park, Congaree is located on 22,000 acres in the Congaree River floodplain of lower Richland County.

“C” is for Commission of Indian Trade. In 1707 the Commons House of Assembly created the Board of Indian Commissioners to regulate the traffic between Indian traders and such nations as the Cherokees, Creeks, and Catawbas.

“C” is for Coming, Affra Harleston (circa 1651-1698). Pioneer of early South Carolina. The Harleston family's property had been so ravaged by the English Civil War that two of the family's children, Charles and Affra, left for South Carolina in 1669.

“C” is for Columbia Theological Seminary. An institution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the seminary was founded in 1828 in Georgia, and moved to Columbia, South Carolina in 1831.

“C” is for Columbia Museum of Art. The Columbia Museum of Art was established in 1950 as an art, history, and science museum and included the Gibbs planetarium.

“C” is for Columbia Mills. The first textile mill in the world to be powered exclusively by electricity, the Columbia Mills Company was chartered in 1893 with an initial capitalization of $700,000.

“C” is for Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The airport, which serves Midlands South Carolina, is located in Lexington County.

“C” is for Columbia International University. Founded as the Southern Bible Institute in 1921, the school's name was changed in 1923 to the Columbia Bible College.

“B” is for Brainerd Institute. A historically Black primary, secondary, and normal school located in Chester, Brainerd Institute was one of the first educational institutions for newly freed African Americans.

“B” is for Bragg, Laura (1881-1978). Museum administrator, educator.

“S” is for South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Officially formed in 1994, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) combined the nonregulatory programs of the South Carolina Water Resources Commission and Land Resources Commission, the State Geological Survey, the South Carolina Migratory Waterfowl Committee, and the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department.

“S” is for South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Created by the General Assembly in 1967, the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (SCPRT) is charged with promoting tourism in the state, operating a system of state parks, and assisting local governments in the development of recreational facilities and programs.

“S” is for South Carolina Department of Education. The South Carolina Department of Education is the administrative arm of the State Board of Education.

“S” is for South Carolina Department of Commerce. The South Carolina Department of Commerce administers the state's economic development program.

“S” is for South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Located in Columbia, the SCDAH is a state agency responsible for collecting the valuable public records of South Carolina.

“S” is for South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) was created by the General Assembly in 1967.

“P” is for Port Royal Island, Battle of (February 3, 1779). The battle of Port Royal Island was part of a larger campaign the British to use their command of the waterways to strike at both military and civilian targets.

“M” is for Mount Zion College. Established in 1777 the institution started in a small log building as an all grades public school in Winnsboro.

“M” is for Mount Pleasant (Charleston County; 2020 population 90,801). Mount Pleasant was a small village until the 1970s, when it began a dramatic expansion to become the fourth largest municipality in South Carolina.

“G” is for grits. Grits is (or are) the coarse-to-fine ground product of a milling process whereby the hull of the dried corn kernel is popped open and the fleshy part is milled into tiny particles.

“C” is for Columbia College. Chartered in 1854 by the South Carolina Methodist Conference, Columbia College, was the eleventh-oldest women's college in the United States.

“C” is for Columbia Canal. Completed in 1824, the Columbia canal originally extended three miles below the city of Columbia off Laurel St. It was one of several canals constructed by the state of South Carolina in the 1820s to improve transportation links between the upstate and Charleston.

“C” is for Columbia Army Air Base. Columbia Army Air Base served as a training center for B-25 bomber crews during World War II.

“B” is for Boykin spaniel. The Boykin spaniel was originally bred in South Carolina before the 1920s.

“B” is for Boyd, Blanche McCrary (b. 1945). Writer, educator.

“S” is for South Carolina Commission on Government Restructuring. In March 1991 Governor Carroll Campbell appointed the thirty-eight member Commission on Government Restructuring to devise a blueprint for enhancing the powers of the state's weak chief executive.

“S” is for South Carolina Coastal Conservation League. Established in 1989, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League has been a leading voice in the campaign to protect and preserve the coastal plain of the state.

“S” is for South Carolina Christian Action Council. The South Carolina Christian Action Council is a statewide ecumenical agency embracing many of the state's major Christian denominations.

“S” is for South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce is an association organized mainly to promote and lobby the interests of business.

“P” is for Port Royal Experiment. The Port Royal Experiment, also called the Sea Island Experiment, was an early humanitarian effort to prepare the former enslaved persons of the South Carolina Sea Islands for inclusion as free citizens in American public life.

“G” is for Guignard Brick Works. James Sanders Guignard began making brick along the Congaree River near Columbia in 1803, under the name Guignard Brick Works.

“S” is for South Carolina Budget and Control Board. South Carolina has historically been a “legislative” state with a tradition of a “commission” approach to government. Joining legislators with the executive branch decision-makers challenged the doctrine of separation of powers expressed in Article 1, Section 8 of the modern state constitution.

“S” is for South Carolina Baptist State Convention. The South Carolina Baptist State Convention became the first Baptist convention in the South when it was founded in 1821 at First Baptist Church in Columbia.