SC From A to Z

"S" is for Summerville (Dorchester County; 2010 population 42,210). Summerville was established as a summer refuge for plantation owners of St. George’s Dorchester and St. Paul’s parishes. Prior to 1831 Summerville had few year-round residents, but the population swelled in the summers as lowcountry planters sought the breezes and pine forests that were deemed healthier than their swampland rice plantations. With the coming of the railroad in 1831 the permanent town was established—and, in 1847 incorporated.

"S" is for Summers, Eliza Ann (1844-1900). Educator. A native of Woodbury, Connecticut, in 1866 Summers volunteered her services to the American Missionary Society to teach emancipated slaves in South Carolina. In January 1867 she arrived at Hilton Head. She and another teacher were assigned to work in Mitchellville--a hamlet of numerous small wooden houses built for five hundred former slave families. Three churches were utilized as freedmen schools. Throughout the next six months the teachers conducted both day and evening schools for pupils of all ages.

"S" is for Sully, Thomas (1783-1872). Portraitist. Sully was born in Lincolnshire, England. In 1792 the entire family immigrated to the United States and in 1794 settled in Charleston. Sully studied with several local artists before leaving the city in 1799. He went to England in 1809 where he, like other aspiring artists, spent his time copying canvases by Benjamin West and old masters painters.

"S" is for Sullivan’s Island (Charleston County; 2010 population 1,703). Sullivan’s Island was discovered in 1666 by Captain Robert Sandford and named for Captain Florence O’Sullivan, a former Irish soldier and one of South Carolina’s first colonists. In 1674 O’Sullivan was given the responsibility of manning the signal cannon on the island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor.

"S" is for Sugarloaf Mountain (Chesterfield County). Sugarloaf Mountain is an erosional remnant located in the Sand Hills State Forest within the upper coastal plain. It lies 513 feet above sea level and 100 feet above the surrounding terrain. From this position and elevation, Sugarloaf offers a wide view of the surrounding landscape. The sand dunes and clays that make up Sugarloaf were originally rocks of the various mountain ranges that formed beginning in the Ordovician period and continuing during the Devonian and Permian periods and then wore away.

"S" is for Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel. The Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel is an unfinished nineteenth-century railroad tunnel located near Walhalla. In the 1850s planners contemplated cutting a one-and-one-half mile railroad tunnel through the heart of the mountain in order to link the state’s rail lines with the Blue Ridge Railroad coming from Knoxville, Tennessee. If successful, this enterprise would have linked Charleston with the commercial heartland of the new nation.

"S" is for Stuart's Town. Stuart’s Town was a Scottish colony founded in 1684 and envisioned by the Lords Proprietors as a counterweight to the somewhat ungovernable English settlement at Charleston. Establishing New World colonies was difficult and dangerous work, but when the proprietors sought new settlers in 1689, they found willing recruits among Scots Covenanters (Presbyterians facing persecution for their adherence to the Covenant of 1683). The Covenanters wanted political autonomy and freedom of worship—which the Lords Proprietors guaranteed.

"S" is for Stuart, John (1718-1779). Soldier, colonial official. A native Scot, Stuart joined the Royal Navy. In 1748 he settled in Charleston. As a militia captain, in 1759, he was assigned to Fort Loudon in East Tennessee among the Overhill Cherokees. In 1762 he was named superintendent of Indian affairs for the Southern District. In his new position Stuart controlled the licensure of Indian traders and the transfer of Indian lands under his control—irritating other colonial officials.

"S" is for Stroyer, Jacob (ca. 1846- ca. 1908). Clergyman, author. Stroyer was born and raised a slave in antebellum South Carolina. After emancipation, he authored an engrossing autobiographical narrative, My Life in the South, first published in 1879.  Subsequently revised and expanded, the book is a collection of incidents that provides an intimate view of Stroyer’s life as a slave. In 1870 he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts where he studied at Worcester Academy.

"S" is for Striped Bass. State fish. The striped bass, or ocean rockfish, became the official state fish in 1972. It is one of America’s most popular game fish. Anglers appreciate the striper’s large size and fierce nature, and its table delicacy. Rockfish are caught year-round in South Carolina, being most plentiful during the spring spawning season. The mature fish often weighs 25 to 30 pounds. The largest recorded catch was 125 pounds, with a maximum length of six feet. The rockfish is pink or brown with a silver belly and seven or eight longitudinal stripes on the sides.

"S" is for Strickland, Lily (1884-1958). Composer, writer, artist. A native of Anderson, Strickland studied piano and composition at Converse. In 1905 she received a scholarship for study at the Institute of Musical arts in New York City (the forerunner of Julliard). She and her husband lived in various parts of the world—notably Africa and Asia. Her travel essays appeared in numerous American magazines and her watercolors graced the covers of her sheet music. A prolific composer, she published 395 musical works for popular, church, and children’s performances.

"S" is for Stretch-out. In the aftermath of World War I, with pressure to maintain profit margins, textile mill owners began looking for ways to cut operating costs. The resulting strategies collectively were known as the “stretch-out.” Workdays were extended (without any additional pay), meal breaks were eliminated, workers were forced to tend a larger number of machines (sometimes as many as three times previous workloads), and they were fired if they could not keep up the pace. The result was bitter strikes culminating in the General Strike of 1934.

"S" is for Strawberry Chapel (Berkeley County). James Child, founder of Childsbury Town on the Cooper River in St. John’s Berkeley Parish, bequeathed an acre and a half for a chapel. The building was completed by 1725, when the Commons House passed an act establishing a parochial chapel of ease at the site. Chapels of ease made services more accessible to those who lived a distance from the parish church. The plan of the chapel is typical of Anglican churches in colonial South Carolina: rectangular with entrances on the north, south, and west sides and a jerkin-head roof.

"S" is for Stowers, Freddie (d. 1918). Soldier, Medal of Honor recipient. This Anderson County native was the nation’s only African American from World War I to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He was drafted in October 1917 and underwent training at Camp Jackson. He was sent overseas as a member of the all-black 93rd Infantry Division. Because white U.S. generals did not want to command black troops, the regiment was attached to the French army. Corporal Stowers distinguished himself in action and lost his life on September 28, 1918.

"S" is for Stono Rebellion (September 1739). The Stono Rebellion was a violent, albeit it failed, attempt of as many as one hundred slaves to reach St. Augustine and claim freedom in Spanish-controlled Florida. The uprising was South Carolina’s largest and bloodiest slave insurrection. The rebellion began when conspirators broke into a store at Stono Bridge and equipped themselves with guns and powder. Lieutenant Governor William Bull encountered the insurgents and fled to raise the alarm. Confident in their numbers, the rebels paused in a field near Jacksonborough.