Berkeley County, South Carolina: History and Information

Berkeley County, South Carolina

Berkeley County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Moncks Corner
Year Organized: 1882
Square Miles: 1,100

Court House:

P.O. Box 6122
County Courthouse
Moncks Corner, SC 29461-3707

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Berkeley County was named for two of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, Lord John Berkeley (d. 1678) and Sir William Berkeley (d. 1677).

Demographics:

History

Berkeley County was named for two of the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, Lord John Berkeley (d. 1678) and Sir William Berkeley (d. 1677).The county was orginally named in 1682, and at one time it included the parishes of St. John Berkeley, St. James Goose Creek, St. James Santee, St. Stephen, andSt. Thomas and St. Denis. In 1769 this area became part of Charleston District, and it did not become a separate county again until 1882. The county seat was Mount Pleasant from 1882 until 1895, when it was moved to Moncks Corner. This area was settled in the late seventeenth century by English and French Huguenot planters and their African slaves. Many of the old rice plantations are now covered by the waters of Lake Moultrie, which was built in the 1940s as part of the Santee-Cooper hydroelectric project. Two famous Revolutionary War generals were residents of the area: William Moultrie (1730-1805) and Francis Marion (1732-1795), known as the Swamp Fox. Henry Laurens (1724-1792), president of the Continental Congress, resided at Mepkin Plantation, which many years later was purchased by publisher Henry Luce (1898-1967). Luce and his wife, writer and diplomat Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987), are buried at Mepkin, which is now a Trappist monastery.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,228 square miles (3,181 km²), of which, 1,098 square miles (2,843 km²) of it is land and 130 square miles (338 km²) of it (10.61%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Georgetown County, South Carolina - northeast

Williamsburg County, South Carolina - northeast

Charleston County, South Carolina - south

Dorchester County, South Carolina - west

Orangeburg County, South Carolina - northwest

Clarendon County, South Carolina - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Bonneau

town

Incorporated Area

- Charleston

city

Incorporated Area

- Goose Creek

city

Incorporated Area

- Hanahan

city

Incorporated Area

- Jamestown

town

Incorporated Area

- Moncks Corner (County Seat)

town

Incorporated Area

- North Charleston

city

Incorporated Area

- St. Stephen

town

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our 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."

South Carolina State...

South Carolina

South Carolina Counties

Berkeley County, South Carolina

Berkeley County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

Geography

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide

Penn Foster High School