Scenic USA - South Carolina

Each day Scenic USA presents a new and interesting photo feature from somewhere in the United States. Chosen from a wide variety
of historic sites, city scenes, backcountry byways, points of interest and America's best parklands, this site offers the viewer hundreds
of unique vacation destinations and photographic subjects. Each feature is coupled with a brief explanation. For further detailed
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Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site

Colonial Dorchester - Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, South Carolina

Photos by Ben Prepelka

     Motivated by strong disagreements with the Anglican Church, Puritan Pilgrims left England in 1620 for the New World. By 1697, Puritan descendants from Dorchester, Massachusetts, founded a new Dorchester, just inland from Charleston, South Carolina. These new settlers, known as Congregationalists, were surprised when the Carolina colony declared Anglicanism as their official church. Adding more cause for anger, these religious dissenters were taxed to support the St. George's Anglican Church raised in the center of their town in 1717.
     Today, all that remains of Colonial Dorchester is the bell tower of St. George's Church, the tabby walls that once surrounded a brick powder magazine and a small number of headstones in the Colonial Dorchester churchyard. Colonial Dorchester Fort - Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, South Carolina Ongoing archaeological digs continued to recover remnants of this once prosperous village.
     Fearing a French attack in the mid 1700s, the Colonial legislators authorized construction of a second powder magazine on the Ashley River at Dorchester. Completed in 1760, thick walls of tabby surrounded the brick storage facility. This defensive structure was soon utilized by both the British Redcoats and American Patriots during the Revolutionary War.

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