Find Online CollegesFind Campus Colleges
Choose a County
Abbeville,
Aiken, Allendale,
Anderson, Bamberg,
Barnwell, Beaufort,
Berkeley, Calhoun,
Charleston, Cherokee,
Chester, Chesterfield,
Clarendon, Colleton,
Darlington, Dillon,
Dorchester, Edgefield,
Fairfield, Florence,
Georgetown, Greenville,
Greenwood, Hampton,
Horry, Jasper,
Kershaw, Lancaster,
Laurens, Lee,
Lexington, Marion,
Marlboro, McCormick,
Newberry, Oconee,
Orangeburg, Pickens,
Richland, Saluda,
Spartanburg, Sumter,
Union, Williamsburg,
York
South Carolina Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge South Carolina CountiesSouth Carolina is made up of 46 counties. They range in size from 392 square miles (1,016 square kilometers) in the case of Calhoun County to 1,358 square miles (3,517 square kilometers) in the case of Charleston County. The least populous county is McCormick County, with only 9,958 residents, while the most populous county is Greenville County, with a population of 395,357, despite the state's most populous city, Columbia, being located in Richland County. |
Beaufort County, South CarolinaBeaufort County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameBoth Beaufort County and its county seat of Beaufort were named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714), one of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistoryBoth Beaufort County and its county seat of Beaufort were named for Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort (1684-1714), one of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. The district was formed in 1769 from the parishes of Prince William, St. Luke, St. Helena, and St. Peter. It remained relatively unchanged in size until 1878, when a large portion was removed to form Hampton County. French explorers visited this area long before the English arrived. They established a fort in 1562, as did the Spanish in 1566; neither of these settlements survived, however. Beaufort, the second oldest town in South Carolina, was founded in 1710. In the years before the Civil War, rice and sea island cotton plantations brought great wealth to the region. Federal troops occupied Beaufort in December 1861, and the first school in the South for freed slaves was established during the Civil War at what is now Penn Center on St. Helena Island. The United States Marine Corps began training recruits at Parris Island in 1915, and later in the twentieth century Hilton Head Island and neighboring sea islands have become popular resort and retirement destinations. Some famous residents of Beaufort County are naturalists Alexander Garden (ca. 1730-1791) and Stephen Elliott (1771-1830); Robert Smalls (1839-1915), a former slave who became a United States Congressman; boxer Joe Frazier; and writer Pat Conroy. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 923 square miles (2,390 kmē), of which, 587
square miles (1,520 kmē) of it is land and 336 square miles (870 kmē) of it (36.41%) is water. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
County Resources:Enter County Resources and Information Here |
County Resources
The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define
the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local.
And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions,
reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history. Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally." |
