Beaufort

Bay Street Historic District

Landmark · Bay St, Beaufort, SC 29902

The waterfront commercial and residential district of Beaufort, which in the colonial and Revolutionary period was the center of the town's trade in rice, indigo, and naval stores. The street faces Port Royal Sound and the tidal creeks that made Beaufort simultaneously a prosperous port and a militarily exposed position. Most surviving architecture dates from the antebellum period, but the street plan and waterfront orientation date to the colonial era.

Old Beaufort Fort (Tabby Ruins)

Landmark · Beaufort area, SC 29902

Remnants of colonial-era tabby construction near Beaufort, representing the fortification tradition that sought to defend Port Royal Sound from seaborne threats. Tabby — a building material made from oyster shells, lime, sand, and water — was the primary construction material for colonial-era fortifications in the Sea Island lowcountry. The ruins represent the pre-Revolutionary effort to defend this strategic harbor.

Parris Island Historic Site

Landmark · Parris Island, SC 29905

Now the location of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island was a Sea Island plantation complex during the Revolutionary War period. The island was directly affected by British naval operations through Port Royal Sound and by the flight of enslaved people to British lines after the Philipsburg Proclamation. The island's transition from plantation labor to military use is a thread in the longer history of the Sea Islands.

Port Royal Sound

Landmark · Port Royal Sound, Beaufort County, SC

One of the finest natural harbors on the Atlantic coast, Port Royal Sound gave Beaufort its strategic importance throughout the colonial and Revolutionary War period. The British fleet used the sound as an anchorage for the 1780 Charleston expedition and for raids on the Sea Island plantations. Control of Port Royal Sound meant control of the entire Beaufort district.

Beaufort Arsenal (Beaufort Volunteer Artillery)

Museum · 713 Craven St, Beaufort, SC 29902

The early nineteenth-century arsenal building that houses the Beaufort History Museum, which covers the town's history from colonial times through the Civil War. The museum includes material on Beaufort's Revolutionary War period, including the British occupation of Port Royal and the plantation economy that shaped the district. The building itself postdates the Revolution but sits at the center of Beaufort's historic core.

St. Helena's Episcopal Church

Church · 505 Church St, Beaufort, SC 29902

One of the oldest churches in South Carolina, established in 1712. St. Helena's served as the parish church of the Beaufort planter elite through the colonial and Revolutionary periods. The churchyard contains graves of Revolutionary War-era Beaufort families. During the British occupation of 1779–1781, the church was used as a hospital by British forces, and some of its headstones were reportedly removed for use as operating tables.