Jasper County, South Carolina: History and Information

Jasper County, South Carolina

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

County Seat: Ridgeland
Year Organized: 1912
Square Miles: 654

Court House:

P.O. Box 1149
County Courthouse
Ridgeland, SC 29936-1149

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Jasper is named for William Jasper, a soldier of the American Revolutionary War.

Demographics:

History

Jasper County was named for Revolutionary War hero Sergeant William Jasper (ca.1750-1779). The county was formed in 1912 from parts of Beaufort and Hampton counties. This area of the state was the home of the Yemassee and Coosaw Indians until colonial times. In 1732 Swiss-German immigrants led by Jean Pierre Purry established a settlement called Purrysburgh on the Savannah River, but the town did not survive. Other settlers built extensive rice plantations, some of which now form the Savannah River National Wildlife Refuge. Two other towns in the county, Coosawhatchie and Pocotaligo, served at different times as the seat of government for Beaufort District. During the Civil War the Confederate Army defeated federal troops at the Battle of Honey Hill in November 1864. Jasper County was home to Thomas Heyward, Jr. (1746-1809), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Henry Martyn Robert (1837-1923), author of Robert's Rules of Order.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 700 square miles (1,812 km²), of which, 656 square miles (1,699 km²) of it is land and 44 square miles (113 km²) of it (6.24%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Hampton County, South Carolina - north

Beaufort County, South Carolina - east

Chatham County, Georgia - south

Effingham County, Georgia - west

Cities and Towns:

- Hardeeville

city

Incorporated Area

- Ridgeland (County Seat)

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."

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