Where Local History Finds Safe Harbor
Harriet Tubman, 1821 - 1913, sought first her own freedom and then facilitated the freedom of others through the Underground Railroad. She came to Beaufort District, South Carolina during the Civil War as a scout, nurse and spy helping bring freedom to hundreds of enslaved African Americans living along the Combahee River in June 1863. This list of links and materials will help you learn more about this American heroine.
The following post was a web page written by Dennis Adams (Information Services Coordinator, Retired) for the old Beaufort County Library website at various points between 1998 and 2007. It has been revised with some new materials and with a list of materials added as compiled by Grace Morris Cordial, Senior Librarian in charge of … Continue reading Sweetgrass Baskets in the Lowcountry
Please note: Since Amanda Forbes came on staff in late June 2017, she has concentrated on organizing the archives portion of the Beaufort District Collection. She finished an inventory begun by Ashley Sylva and has begun compiling Finding Aids to our holdings. We will place the Finding Aids in this blog as they are completed. … Continue reading L.A. Hall Civil War Stereoscope Collection Finding Aid
Joseph "Smokin' Joe" Frazier was born in Beaufort, S.C to Dolly Alston-Frazier and Rubin Frazier on January 12, 1944. He was one of the couple's twelve children. Growing up, Frazier worked on his family's ten acre farm in the Laurel Bay area as well as Bellamy farm. Frazier would often rather put in a hard days … Continue reading Joe “Smokin’ Joe” Frazier, 1944-2011: A Selective List of Links & Materials
Hauntings abound in Beaufort District and one hears of them through many means, including oral history interviews about living along Ribaut Road.
The mid-19th century is considered to be the formative years of what we now know as modern medicine. Scientific medicine was on the rise yet in the rural South, where most communities did not have a doctor on-hand, it was still necessary to have an understanding of treatments that could be found using plants and … Continue reading Mid-19th Century Medicine: A Selective List of Links and Materials
According to the National Historic Register documentation for St. Helena Island, "One of the most significant influences on slave life here was religion, which was illustrated by the development and use of praise houses on the plantation. Praise houses were generally small frame houses, often an elder slave's cabin, in which the slaves held meetings, … Continue reading Praise Houses in Gullah Religion and Social Practices
Daufuskie Island, a sea island off the coast of South Carolina, has a long history. Read about the island and the Gullah people who captured Pat Conroy's heart and helped launch his writing career.
Frederik Holmes Christensen (second person seated on far left in the photograph) was born on September 9, 1877 to Niels Christensen and Abbie Holmes Christensen. For more than 50 years, he kept a journal that included family, business, and community news and his observations of same from 1893 until his death in 1944. According to … Continue reading Christensen writes about “Red Saturday” in his Journal
We begin our series of Finding Aid posts with our own institutional records. The Beaufort County Library was formed from the Beaufort Township Library of 1918 which grew from the Clover Club Circulating Library of 1902. The Clover Club honored the founding of the Beaufort Library Society of 1802 by setting up a small library for town residents one hundred years later. Unfortunately the first Minute Book of the Beaufort Township Library was destroyed by fire in 1927.
Learn about intrepid English adventurer Henry Woodward. What an exciting life he had. Read more about the first permanent English settler of South Carolina here in the BDC's WordPress blog.
