The walls of the American fort on Sullivan Island, in Charleston Harbor, were made of spongy Palmetto logs. This was helpful in protecting the fort because the British cannonballs bounced off the logs.
Angel Oak on John’s Island is thought to be the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River. It’s believed to be more than 1,500 years old.
South Carolina’s state flower is the Yellow Jessamine. Children, mistaking the flower for honeysuckle, have been poisoned by sucking its nectar. The nectar is also toxic to honey bees.
South Carolina produces more peaches than anywhere in the country, except California. Take that, Georgia.
The present-day South Carolina State Museum is in the building of the former Mount Vernon Mills in Columbia. It became the first all-electric mill in the US in 1893.
On November 2, 1954, Senator Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) became the first US Senator in history to win an election with write-in votes. Thurmond received an unprecedented 139,106 write-in votes to win the election by a landslide.
Fortune tellers aren’t allowed to just go around telling fortunes willy-nilly in South Carolina. They’re required to obtain a special permit from the state.
Morgan Island, aka Monkey Island, is an uninhabited island that is home to the only free-ranging colony of rhesus macaque monkeys in the United States. There are around 3,500 monkeys on the island.
Comparing that same 2015 South Carolina GDP of 190 billion dollars against international dollars, South Carolina ranked between Uzbekistan and Finland’s GDP in the world economy.
The fort on Sullivan Island was great for protecting troops during the war since the walls were made of Palmetto logs. They were so spongy that cannonballs bounced off.
Wadmalaw Island is home to America’s only commercial tea plantation, American Classic Tea.
The first successful long-distance transmission of electricity in the south occurred in the city of Anderson on May 1, 1895, earning Anderson the nickname “The Electric City.”
Columbia is the first city in the US named for Christopher Columbus. The name Columbia won over the other popular option, Washington.
