Edisto Island, 1663 to 1860: Wild Eden to Cotton Aristocracy

by Arcadia Publishing

Overview

Wild Edento Cotton Aristocracyis an impeccably researched and superbly written must-read for all whose hearts call Edisto home.

Beautiful Edisto Island has not always been a vacationers' haven in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Before European settlement, it was home to the Edisto Indians, who had seasonal fishing camps in the area, and a wide variety of wildlife. By the beginning of the Civil War, the wealthy planters had largely abandoned the area. What happened between those two periods is a must-read for fans of coastal South Carolina.

Author Charles Spencer chronicles Edisto's history, from the early days when English and Scottish planters and their African slaves settled the lush island paradise and established plantations that flourished until the Civil War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596291843
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/14/2008
Series:	Definitive History
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Charles Spencer is the sole proprietor of Intercultural Tours of Washington, DC, which specializes in tailored tours of the capital for international visitors sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from Clemson University and a master's and Ph.D. in Political Science from Vanderbilt University. He has taught at The Citadel, Vanderbilt, and Fisk University and was a Foreign Service Officer from 1966 to 1991.

Table of Contents

Preface     9
Acknowledgements     11
Edisto Before Colonization
The Land
An Erosion-Remnant Island
Edisto's Barrier Islands
Edisto's Marshes
A Major Black-water River
Edisto's Climate and Landscape
Edisto's Animal and Bird Life
The Earliest Humans in South Carolina
The Indians of First European Contact
How the Edisto Indians Lived
A Spanish Missionary among the Edisto in 1570
English Explorers Visit Edisto in the 1660s
The Decline of the Edisto Indians after 1670
The Edisto Indians Today
Edisto's Europeans     33
The Carolina Colony
The Earliest Settlers on Edisto Island
Paul Grimball, the Man and the Politician
The Second Wave of Settlers on Edisto Island
The Hamilton Family on Edisto
Edisto's Planter Class in the 1700s
Turmoil in the 1700s: Human Conflicts and Natural Disasters
Edisto Island in the Revolutionary War
Edisto's Africans     53
Slave Trading in Charleston, 1670-1807
Ethnic Origins of the Africans Brought to Carolina
African Slaves on Rice Plantations: A Unique Case
Slave Population on Edisto in the 1700s
The Illegal Trade in African Captives after 1807
An Edisto Family from "Angola"
Edisto's Early Economy     63
Lumber, Corn and Cattle
Rice
Indigo
The Advent of Sea-island Cotton
Growing Sea-island Cotton
Preparing Sea-island Cotton for Market
Sea-island Cotton Exports
Plantation Slavery on Edisto     77
The Slave Population on Edisto
Edisto Plantation Social Structure and Management
The SeaIsland Task System
Food, Clothing and Housing for Slaves
Health and Medical Care of Slaves on Edisto
Religion among Slaves on Edisto
Gullah Language and Culture
Was Slavery on Edisto Island "Different"?
Resistance by Slaves on Edisto Island
Edisto's "Golden Age"     93
Sea-island Cotton Was King
Edisto's Building Boom
Edingsville Beach
The 1850s Mapping Project
The Presbyterian Church on Edisto Island
Trinity Episcopal Church
Old First Baptist Church
Early Methodism on Edisto Island
Edisto's Tiny Middle Class
Edisto's Plantation Aristocracy     115
Southeast Corner of Edisto Island
Edingsville to Holmes's Store
Southwest Corner of Edisto Island
St. Pierre's Creek
North Edisto
Center of Island
Bailey's Island and Scanawah Island
Northwest Corner of Edisto Island
Little Edisto
Jehossee Island
Postscript     177
Notes     181
Selected Bibliography     207
Index     215