Coosawhatchie, South Carolina

Coosawhatchie is one of the oldest European settlements in the South Carolina lowcountry, established around seventeen forty-three along the river that bears the name of the Coosaw people, with hatchie meaning river. It served as the seat of Beaufort District court and a waypoint on the colonial post road between Charles Town and Savannah. During the Civil War, Confederate forces under General Robert E.

Lee, then commanding the Department of South Carolina, used the swampy Coosawhatchie Swamp while fortifying the coast against Union forces in late eighteen sixty-one. The hamlet today has only a few dozen residents, but its mossy live oaks and antebellum church ruins give it the feel of a place time folded quietly around itself.