Mount Pleasant Charleston County, South Carolina Mount Pleasant was originally occupied by the Sewee Indians. Mount Pleasant’s first white settlers arrived from England on July 6, 1680 under the leadership of Captain Florentia O’Sullivan. Captain O’Sullivan had been granted 2,340 acres which included not only the island that bears his name, but also the land that was to become Mount Pleasant. On the earliest map of the time this area was called “North Point.” In 1696 fifty-one new settlers arrived. Each family was allotted several hundred acres in the area that became known as Christ Church parish. In 1706 the Province of Carolina withstood several attacks by the Spanish and the French and were victorious in defeating French invaders in an area known as “Abcaw.” The area of “Abcaw” was Hobcaw Plantation, located between Shem Creek and the Wando River. Later, it was also known as shipyard Plantation because its deep water and abundance of good timber made it ideal for a prosperous shipbuilding enterprise. Lands adjacent to Hobcaw Point were owned at different times by several different families, many of which maintained ferries which served Mount Pleasant. On September 24, 1860 a public meeting was held in Mount Pleasant that produced the first secession resolution of the state. The secession convention met in Charleston December 20, 1860 and seven southern states formed the Confederate States of America. With the advent of the Civil War, Battery Gary and an adjacent floating battery between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island were instrumental in defense of the town, as well as attacks on Fort Sumter. The Town was also defended by a line of fortifications from Elliot’s Creek at Boone Hall to Copahee Sound. Mount Pleasant was also the secret training ground for the nine-man crew of the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley. It was from Breach Inlet in 1864 that this small vessel was launched to attack and sink the USS Housatonic. As a result of the Civil War, slaves who worked the area plantations were free to seek their own enterprise. Of special note is Scanlonville, one of the first African-American communities to be formed in Charleston after the Civil War which still exists today in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon, a former slave and freedman carpenter, purchased the 614-acre  property known as Remley’s Plantation bordering Charleston Harbor along the Wando River in Mount Pleasant. Robert Scanlon was the president and founder of the Charleston Land Company, formed by 100 poor African-American men of Charleston who paid $10 per share to purchase large tracts of land in the area. The Charleston Land Company then divided it up for possession by freed slaves seeking to own their own land. Remley’s Plantation was divided into farm lots and town smaller lots to form the community of Scanlonville. The Charleston Land Company and Scanlonville are one of the only four known cooperative ventures among African-American freedmen after the Civil War. West of Scanlonville was Riverside, the largest and oldest of five black beaches in Charleston County. Riverside “officially” opened in 1930 and featured a dance pavilion, athletics field, bathhouse, playground and a boardwalk along the Wando River. Riverside Pavilion was the only venue for black Charlestonians to see musical legends like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louie Armstrong, B.B. King, and Ivory Joe Hunter. Music performances at the Pavilion spawned Juke Joints, or night clubs, in Scanlonville and eventually a hotel called White’s Paradise – where James Brown was known to have frequented. After the original park owner died in 1975, operations of the Riverside property were taken over by Charleston County who eventually sold it to a company that developed it into a gated community. Mount Pleasant is separated from Charleston by the Cooper River. For many years it was primarily populated seasonally by Charleston residents wealthy enough to afford summer homes across the river from the Charleston peninsula. The population of Mount Pleasant was centered in an area of the town now known as "The Old Village." The county seat for Berkeley County was located in Mount Pleasant from 1882 until 1895, when it was moved to Moncks Corner. In 1928, a bridge from the Charleston Peninsula to Mount Pleasant was built. Spanning Town Creek and the Cooper River and crossing the uninhabited Drum Island, the two-lane Grace Memorial Bridge was opened as a toll bridge. A second and larger bridge, the Silas N. Pearman Bridge, opened in 1966. On July 16, 2005, the eight-lane Arthur Ravenel Bridge (is a cable-stayed bridge) opened for automotive traffic, replacing the two aging bridges. A week before the new bridge, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the western hemisphere, officially opened, pedestrians were allowed to cross the bridge, and commemorative coins were distributed. Also, a fireworks display was a part of the ceremonies leading up to the actual opening of the bridge. Several cars from the same time period as the Grace Memorial Bridge, including several restored Model A Fords, made a final crossing of the old bridges. The remaining portions of the old bridges were demolished. Local residents watched as the bridges were blown up in spectacular shows. In 2004, Mount Pleasant became one of the first cities in the United States to pass a "pay-before-you-pump" gas ordinance. Elementary Schools: James B. Edwards Elementary School Belle Hall Elementary School Mount Pleasant Academy Charles Pinckney Elementary School Jennie Moore Elementary School Whitesides Elementary School Laurel Hill Primary School Middle Schools: Moultrie Middle School Laing Middle School Thomas Cario Middle School High Schools: Wando High School (source: Wikipedia) ©Genealogy Trails and the submitters - all rights reserved HOME