Kiawah Island

In its modern configuration, Charleston County is a long sliver of land—mainland and islands— bounded at the north and south by the South Santee and South Edisto Rivers. It has existed only since 1882.

Following the war, Vanderhorst spent most of his time in Charleston. He operated a mercantile firm and came to own considerable property around the city.

In addition to economic motives, indigo production also succeeded because it fit within the existing agricultural economy. The crop could be grown on land not suited for rice and tended by slaves, so planters and farmers already committed to plantation agriculture did not have to reconfigure their land and labor.

Cotton was the basis of the state’s agricultural economy at the end of the antebellum period, employing more than eighty percent of the slave labor force.

Timber has been part of South Carolina’s economy since the late seventeenth century. Over time, timber grew into a major…