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McPhersonville is an unincorporated community in eastern Hampton County, South Carolina, United States, near the county's borders with Beaufort and Jasper counties. Once an important center of affluence and culture in colonial Prince William Parish (roughly analogous to modern-day Hampton County), McPhersonville is now little more than a marked location on a secondary road between Yemassee and Early Branch.
McPhersonville is located at 32° 41' 31" North, 80° 55' 09" West (32.6918437, -80.9192743). [1] It is approximately 85 feet above sea level. The McPhersonville area is largely shady pine forests in sandy soil, which made it an attractive summer retreat for colonial plantation owners from the lower areas closer to the Atlantic coast, along with their extended families.
By the time of European colonization, Yemassee and Creek Indians had established trading posts, trails, burial grounds and ceremonial grounds throughout the pine woods and swampland surrounding McPhersonville. The first lasting English settlements in the McPhersonville area date to the 1670s, before the Carolinas were divided in 1729. In 1682, the Proprietary County of Colleton was established, within which were later created Parishes of St. Bartholomew's (1706), Prince William (1745), St. Peter's (1747) and St. Luke's (1767). In 1769, Beaufort District was created from the merger of three earlier parishes: St. Peter's, St. Luke's, and Prince William, the latter roughly corresponding to modern-day Hampton County.
McPhersonville proper was established by rice planters from along the Combahee and nearby rivers, who valued the inland area's cool winds, relatively low humidity and dense pine shade canopy. General James McPherson and his family were among the earliest residents; they were followed by the Drayton, McLeod, Pope, Mackey, Verdier, Brailsford, Martin, Palmer, McDougal, DeSaussure, Screven, Colcock, Hutson and Gregorie families. The Yamasee War of 1715 was largely fought in the areas around McPhersonville. It involved the Yamasee, Creeks, and many other tribes who rebelled against the unfair business practices of the region's white traders. Hundreds of colonists were killed and the loss of property was dramatic.
During the Revolutionary War, British troops occupied the plantation of Isaac McPherson (described as "a great Rebel, a man of property" in contemporary reports) in March, 1780, after unsuccessfully trying to chase down 50 American troops on horseback. During their stay, the British engaged in what they thought was a skirmish with the enemy, but mistakenly attacked their own troops. The British left McPherson's Plantation and marched to the crossing of the Saltketcher (now the Salkehatchie) River, where a bridge had stood before the beginning of the war. They were met by 80 American militiamen who tried to prevent their crossing. The British Light Infantry crossed the river below this spot and came up behind the Americans. A captain and 16 privates were bayoneted to death by the British.
During the Civil War, McPhersonville was overrun early in the Carolinas Campaign by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's forces. Only two pre-Civil War homes and one church escaped the Union Army's passage through the village. Stoney Creek Independent Presbyterian Chapel of Prince William Parish is the daughter chapel of old Stoney Creek Presbyterian Church, built in 1743 on the other side of the Pocotaligo River. The chapel was used as a hospital during the Civil War. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic Prince William's Episcopal Church, on the other hand, did not survive the Civil War; it was first built in 1832, as a summer place of worship by the congregation of Sheldon Church of Prince William's Parish (now famous as "Old Sheldon" ruins). Sherman's army destroyed it in 1865 following its use by the Confederates as a smallpox clinic. Prince William's strongest timbers were used to build bridges across the Combahee, and the Federals set fire to the rest. It was rebuilt in its present modest form in 1898.
The economic tumult of the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, compounded by the destruction of the local infrastructure by Sherman's troops began a long era of decline for McPhersonville, in terms of its commerce, summer occupancy and year-round population. The McPhersonville post office closed in the 1950s and the community is now served by Yemassee's branch office. There are no significant businesses in modern McPhersonville, though the area has experienced a small renaissance in the past 20 years as modern property owners and investors are drawn to the same favorable environmental conditions that lured the early settlers. Stoney Creek Independent Presbyterian Chapel is now administered by Stoney Creek Presbyterian Foundation, associated with First Presbyterian Church in Beaufort. It was used as the Four Square Baptist Church where Gump prays with the choir for shrimp in the film Forrest Gump . [2]
Beaufort County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 187,117. Its county seat is Beaufort and its largest community is Hilton Head Island.
Yemassee is a small Lowcountry town in Beaufort and Hampton counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 1,027 at the 2010 census. Yemassee is near the borders of Colleton and Jasper counties. The town is divided by the county line between Beaufort and Hampton counties, which follows the roadbed of the CSX railroad. Most of the town's population presently lies within Hampton County. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, the Beaufort County portion of Yemassee is included within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Beaufort, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Yemassee hosts one of the few commercial breeding facilities of non-human primates in the entire United States, Alpha Genesis, Inc., which serves as a major employer for the town. Also, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Auldbrass Plantation house and outbuildings lie just outside the town limits of Yemassee.
James Birdseye McPherson was a career United States Army officer who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. McPherson was on the general staff of Henry Halleck and later of Ulysses S. Grant and was with Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. He was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, facing the army of his old West Point classmate John Bell Hood, who paid a warm tribute to his character. He was the second-highest-ranking Union officer killed in action during the war.
The Atlanta campaign was a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War throughout northwest Georgia and the area around Atlanta during the summer of 1864. Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman invaded Georgia from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee, beginning in May 1864, opposed by the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston.
The Battle of Ezra Church, also known as the Battle of Ezra Chapel and the Battle of the Poor House saw Union Army forces under Major General William T. Sherman fight Confederate States Army troops led by Lieutenant General John B. Hood in Fulton County, Georgia during the Atlanta campaign in the American Civil War. Sherman sent Oliver Otis Howard's Union Army of the Tennessee circling around the west side of Atlanta with the purpose of cutting the Macon and Western Railroad. Hood countered the move by sending two corps commanded by Stephen D. Lee and Alexander P. Stewart to block the move. Before Howard's troops reached the railroad, the Confederates launched several attacks on them that were repulsed with heavy losses. Despite the tactical defeat, the Confederates prevented their foes from blocking the railroad.
The Battle of Dallas was an engagement during the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. The Union army of William Tecumseh Sherman and the Confederate army led by Joseph E. Johnston fought a series of battles between May 25 and June 3 along a front stretching northeast from Dallas toward Acworth, Georgia. At Dallas a probe launched by William B. Bate's and William Hicks Jackson's Confederate divisions accidentally turned into a full-scale assault against the defenses of John A. Logan's XV Corps. The attack was driven off with heavy Confederate losses. The previous Union defeats at New Hope Church and the Pickett's Mill are sometimes considered with Dallas as part of one battle.
The Yamasee War was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native American peoples, including the Muscogee, Cherokee, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaw, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, Cheraw, and others. Some of the Native American groups played a minor role, while others launched attacks throughout South Carolina in an attempt to destroy the colony.
The Yamasees were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamasees engaged in revolts and wars with other native groups and Europeans living in North America, specifically from Florida to North Carolina.
The Salkehatchie River originates near the City of Barnwell, South Carolina and accepts drainage from Turkey Creek and Whippy Swamp before merging with the Little Salkehatchie River to form the Combahee River Basin, which empties into Saint Helena Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to the confluence, the Little Salkehatchie River accepts drainage from Lemon Creek, Buckhead Creek, and Willow Swamp.
Auldbrass Plantation or Auldbrass is located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, near the town of Yemassee. The guest house, stable complex and kennels were designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright from 1939 to 1941. It is one of two structures that Wright designed in South Carolina. The property was purchased in the 1930s by Charles Leigh Stevens. Wright designed the plantation to serve as a retreat for Stevens. During Stevens' retreats he would use the property for riding and hunting excursions.
The Raid on Combahee Ferry was a military operation during the American Civil War conducted on June 1 and June 2, 1863, by elements of the Union Army along the Combahee River in Beaufort and Colleton counties in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Port Royal Sound is a coastal sound, or inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the Sea Islands region, in Beaufort County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is the estuary of several rivers, the largest of which is the Broad River.
William Ferguson Colcock was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina.
The Old Sheldon Church Ruins is a historic site located in northern Beaufort County, South Carolina, approximately 17 miles (30 km) north of Beaufort in the Sheldon area.
The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of cavalry in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. They were from the state of South Carolina and served primarily in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment was organized on December 16, 1862, by consolidating the 10th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry, the 12th Battalion South Carolina Cavalry, the Charleston Light Dragoons and Company A of the St. James Mounted Riflemen. The 10th Cavalry Battalion was organized in the spring of 1862 with five companies, and Major James P. Adams and Major William Stokes were the commanding officers. The 12th Cavalry Battalion had also been known as the 4th Cavalry Battalion.
The Biggin Church Ruins are the ruins of a church in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Biggin Church is its name in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. The ruins are about 2 mi (3 km) from Moncks Corner, South Carolina, near the intersection of South Carolina Highway 402 and State Highway 8-376. The church has been burned three times since it was first constructed in about 1711. It was the church of the parish of St. John's, Berkeley The ruins are from the church built in 1761 and its reconstruction in 1781. It was included in the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1977. UPDATE 11/2019: Biggin Church Ruins remain part of Strawberry Chapel’s land.
Stoney Creek Independent Presbyterian Chapel of Prince William Parish or Stoney Creek Presbyterian Chapel is a chapel in southeastern Hampton County, South Carolina, United States in the unincorporated community of McPhersonville, South Carolina about 4 mi (6 km) west of Yemassee. In the USGS Geographic Names Information System, it is called McPhersonville Church. It was built about 1833. It is one block north of Pocotaglio Road on State Highway 25-286. The chapel is only antebellum structure in McPhersonville. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 2002.
Pocotaligo is an unincorporated community located in northeastern Jasper County, South Carolina, United States, close to the border of Beaufort County. The community takes its name from the Pocotaligo River, a small tidal creek that separates Jasper and Beaufort counties. Although historically significant, Pocotaligo today primarily serves as a junction point between U.S. Highway 17, U.S. Highway 17 Alternate and U.S. Highway 21. These roads lead to Interstate 95 at Point South and Yemassee, which have over time eclipsed Pocotaligo in population and importance. Very few people live in the community today.
The Parish Church of St. Helena is a historic Anglican church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Founded in 1712, it is among the oldest churches in the United States. Its building—erected in 1724 but expanded and substantially modified in the 19th century—is among the oldest continuously used church buildings in the United States. The church is a contributing property to the Beaufort Historic District, and the broader parish encompasses several sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Beaufort County.
Municipalities and communities of Hampton County, South Carolina, United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |