Africans—featuring historic structures, cottages and a gift shop. During the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made several visits to the Penn Center, where he drafted the early words of his immortal “I Have a Dream” speech. and tribal craft classes such as beading and basket weaving. At Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site in Charleston, an exhibit explains how the Kiawah helped settlers find high ground at Albermarle Point to stave off conflicts long enough to develop the state’s first permanent settlement. AMERICAN REVOLUTION As one of the 13 colonies seeking independence from Great Britain, South Carolina was a major player in the Revolutionary War, with more than 200 battles and skirmishes fought on its lands. Start your journey at the Revolutionary War Visitor Center at Camden, which highlights the state’s role in the turning point of the war. Then, see the reconstructed Kershaw-Cornwallis House & Gardens and visit the forested site of the devastating 1780 Battle of Camden at the Camden Battlefield and Longleaf Pine Preserve . In Blacksburg, relive an important American victory—dubbed “the turn of the tide of success” by Thomas Jefferson—at Kings Mountain National Military Park , where you can peruse the museum exhibits, watch a live-action film and walk the 1.5-mile battlefield trail. NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY COURTESY OF VISIT YORK COUNTY For thousands of years before Europeans arrived in North America, indigenous tribes lived on the land now known as South Carolina. Learn about these ancient civilizations at several museums, such as Walhalla’s Museum of the Cherokee in South Carolina , which tells the history of this agricultural tribe that settled in established villages throughout northwestern South Carolina, growing corn, beans and squash, as well as tending to orchards. Meanwhile, the Catawba Cultural Center in Rock Hill preserves the culture of the Catawba people through its powwows, storytelling STORIES OF STATEHOOD How did South Carolina come to be what it is today? At Columbia’s South Carolina State Museum , the state’s storyline spans prehistoric times with dinosaur exhibits and fossils, Revolutionary War and Civil War displays, and modern-day art and technology. You also can chart the history of the state through maps, photographs and drawings at Charleston’s grand South Carolina Historical Society Museum . PHOTOS (from top): Catawba Cultural Center, Rock Hill; Penn Center, St. Helena Island 44
South Carolina Vacation Guide SC2022: Page 44
