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Statement of Historic Context

The permanent European settlement of colonial South Carolina and its subsequent economic, political, and social development was tied so closely to the rivers of the lowcountry that the historic, archaeological, landscape, and other cultural resources located on or associated with those rivers are among the most significant places in the state, region, and nation. From the time the Carolina colony was founded at Charles Town in 1670—near the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers—the Cooper River was not only a major transportation route but was also one of the foundations on which the Carolina plantation society grew and flourished. After the abolition of slavery and the decline of the plantation system the society tied to the Cooper and other lowcountry rivers lost a great deal of its former influence, status, and wealth but continued to have a significant, if diminished, impact on the state and region through the end of the twentieth century.

Surviving resources located on or associated with the Cooper River in Berkeley County document the continuing occupation and use of the area from the late seventeenth century through the midtwentieth century and are related to several broad themes of American history. Such themes include the creation, growth, development, and decline of the Southern plantation society and its association with significant persons and events in state, regional, and national history; the range and diversity of its historic architecture and designed landscapes; and the changing face of the lowcountry over a period of almost three hundred years, including the ways in which it was shaped by the demands imposed on it by agriculture, industry, conservation, and tourism.

Home Page for the Historic Resources of the Cooper River, ca. 1670-ca. 1950

Historic Resources of the Cooper River, ca. 1670-ca. 1950
Name of Multiple Property Listing Berkeley County, South Carolina
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet