Beaufort is a city in and the county seat of Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston. Beaufort is known as the "Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands". The city's population was 13,607 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton metropolitan area.
Bluffton is a town in southern Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 27,716, an increase of over 120% since the 2010 census, making it the 17th-most populous municipality and one of the fastest growing municipalities in South Carolina. It is primarily located around U.S. Route 278, between Hilton Head Island and Interstate 95. The Lowcountry town's original one square mile area, now known as Old Town, is situated on a bluff along the May River. Bluffton is a primary town within the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Robert Gibbes Barnwell was a South Carolina slave owner, revolutionary and statesman who was a delegate to the Confederation Congress and a United States Congressman.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort is a public college with three campuses in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. It is part of the University of South Carolina System, enrolls about 2,000 students, and offers over 50 areas of study. The main campus is in Bluffton. The institution's campus in Beaufort houses the school's honor programs and the Department of Visual Arts & Design. The campus location on Hilton Head Island is home to the institution's program for hospitality management.
Robert Woodward Barnwell was an American slave owner, planter, lawyer, and educator from South Carolina who served as a Senator in both the United States Senate and that of the Confederate States of America. Barnwell was a public defender of slavery and secession; he personally owned at least 128 enslaved persons.
Mary Alicia Rhett was an American actress and portrait painter who is best remembered for her role as India Wilkes in the 1939 epic film Gone with the Wind. At the time of her death, Rhett was one of the oldest surviving credited cast members of the movie.
Robert Barnwell Rhett was an American politician who served as a deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Confederate States Congress from 1861 to 1862, a member of the US House of Representatives from South Carolina from 1837 to 1849, and US Senator from South Carolina from 1850 to 1852. As a staunch supporter of slavery and an early advocate of secession, he was a "Fire-Eater", nicknamed the "father of secession".
Burnet Rhett Maybank was a three-term US senator, the 99th governor of South Carolina, and mayor of Charleston, South Carolina. He was the first governor from Charleston since the American Civil War (1861-1865) and one of twenty people in United States history to have been elected mayor, governor, and United States senator. During his tenure in the Senate, Maybank was a powerful ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His unexpected death on September 1, 1954, from a heart attack, led to Strom Thurmond being elected senator.
Beaufort Historic District is a historic district in Beaufort, South Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.
The Barnwell-Gough House, also known as Old Barnwell House, is a house built in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1789.
The 1788 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 24 and 25, 1788 to select five Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. The elections resulted in two candidates in support of Washington's administration and three candidates opposed to his policies.
The Robert Barnwell Rhett House is a historic house at 6 Thomas Street in Charleston, South Carolina. A National Historic Landmark, it is significant as the home of Robert Barnwell Rhett, a leading secessionist politician. He opposed John C. Calhoun to lead the Bluffton Movement for separate state action on the Tariff of 1842. Rhett was one of the leading fire-eaters at the Nashville Convention of 1850, which failed to endorse his aim of secession.
The Gov. William Aiken House was built in 1820 at 48 Elizabeth Street, in the Wraggborough neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina. Despite being known for its association with Gov. William Aiken, the house was built by John Robinson after he bought several lots in Mazyck-Wraggborough in 1817. His house was originally configured as a Charleston double house with entrance to the house from the south side along Judith Street. The house is considered to be the best preserved complex of antebellum domestic structures in Charleston. It was the home of William Aiken, Jr., a governor of South Carolina, and before that the home of his father, the owner of South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, William Aiken.
Rose Hill Plantation House is an historic Carpenter Gothic house located on US 278 in Bluffton, Beaufort County, South Carolina. It was begun in 1858 for Dr. John Kirk and Caroline Kerk, his wife, but construction was interrupted by the Civil War and not resumed until after World War II when it was renovated and finished by architect Willis Irvin for John Sturgeon and Florence Sturgeon, his wife. On May 19, 1983, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It preserves the antebellum plantation home of Dr. & Mrs. John William (1803-1868) & Caroline (1815-1864) Kirk, a wealthy planter and physician.
Fairfield Plantation, also known as the Lynch House is a plantation about 5 mi (8 km) east of McClellanville in Charleston County, South Carolina. It is adjacent to the Wedge Plantation and just north of Harrietta Plantation. The plantation house was built around 1730. It is located just off US Highway 17 near the Santee River. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1975.
The Charleston Mercury was a secessionist newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, founded by Henry L. Pinckney in 1819. He was its sole editor for fifteen years. It ceased publication with the Union Army occupation of Charleston in February 1865. After the American Civil War, publication resumed in November 1866 before the paper closed permanently two years later in 1868.
The Col. William Rhett House is a historic, stuccoed brick two-story home at 54 Hasell St., Charleston, South Carolina. A historical marker was erected at the house in 2001 by the Preservation Society of Charleston.
The 1860 United States presidential election in South Carolina took place on November 6, 1860, as part of this 1860 United States presidential election. The state legislature chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. By 1860, South Carolina was the only state using this procedure in a presidential election and would be the last time the state would do so.
R. Barnwell Rhett Jr. was a Confederate-American thought leader who edited the pro-secession Charleston Mercury newspaper owned by his father, the Fire-Eater politician Robert B. Rhett. He was later a Reconstruction-era editor of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He killed a New Orleans judge in a duel in 1873.
