Editing Edisto Island (section)

==History==
[[Indigenous peoples]] often had fishing camps on the islands, using them seasonally. The historic Edisto people are known to have occupied the island as well as mainland areas and traded with the upcountry [[Catawba people|Catawba]].<ref name="Bo"/> The sub-tribe became extinct during the colonial period. The [[Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians]] is a group of descendants of various tribes, including Edisto, who intermarried and who have occupied a settlement between [[Summerville, South Carolina|Summerville]] and Moncks Corner in [[Berkeley County, South Carolina]]. In 2009, they gained state recognition as an Indian Tribe, one of nine tribes to do so.<ref name="Bo">[https://archive.today/20130102231552/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=20050417&id=zWBJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IgoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2674,687304 Bo Petersen, "Researchers explore local tribe's ties to legendary temple"], ''The Post and Courier,'' April 17, 2005, accessed December 14, 2011</ref><ref name="Bo1">[https://archive.today/20130102231552/http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2482&dat=20050417&id=zWBJAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IgoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2674,687304 Bo Petersen, "Local tribe reclaims its roots, heritage"], April 17, 2005, accessed December 14, 2011</ref>

The first tracts of land, called plantations, were granted on Edisto Island before 1700.  There were several attempts by the French and the Spanish to settle in this area in the 1500s, however, those attempts all failed.  The first group of Europeans who succeeded in settling Edisto Island were English people who settled the island in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Though it is unclear when the modern name was adopted, the island was called "Locke Island", after the English philosopher and Secretary to the [[Lords Proprietors of Carolina]] [[John Locke]], during the late 1600s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Connor |first=Amy S. |title=Edisto Island: A Family Affair |date=June 1998 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=9780738517674 |edition= |pages=7 |language=English}}</ref> For most of the 1700s, the area exported rice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.edistobeach.com/edisto-storied-past/|title=Edisto's Storied Past|date=May 3, 2021}}</ref> Landowners first harvested timber and deerskins, planted indigo and some rice, and kept herds of free-ranging cattle to produce hides for the European market and salt beef for Caribbean plantations. Cotton gradually became the principal crop, and after the American Revolution, Edisto Island planters became wealthy and famous from their production of long-staple Sea Island cotton. The labor was 
done by hundreds of enslaved [[African diaspora|Africans]] who developed the creole [[Gullah language]] and culture on the islands and in the Lowcountry, distinctive for its African traditions.

During the American Revolution, there were huge amounts of British soldiers present on Edisto Island.  After retaking Savannah in 1778, the British pushed into South Carolina, during this time Beaufort was made into their headquarters and large amounts of British troops were stationed on Edisto Island under the capture of Charleston in 1780.<ref>Wicked Edisto: The Dark Side of Eden by Alexia Jones Helsley</ref>

The 1790 census reported the island had a population of 223 Whites and 1,692 Black slaves. The 1860 census indicated 329 Whites and 5,082 slaves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Starobin|first1=Paul|title=Madness Rules the Hour: Charleston, 1860 and the Mania for War|date=April 11, 2017|publisher=Public Affairs|edition=First}}</ref>

===Civil war===
{{main|Edisto Island during the Civil War}}
Edisto Island was largely abandoned by planters in November and December 1861, and escaped slaves began setting up their own refugee camps there. In January 1862, armed settlers from the island and Confederate forces clashed, and a Confederate raid in reprisal killed unarmed settlers. In February, Union forces were stationed on the island to develop it as a staging area for future campaigns against Charleston, twenty-five miles away, as well as to protect the colony, which would eventually number thousands of settlers. As Union forces took control of the island, a number of skirmishes occurred, and Confederates withdrew. Pineberry Battery was further up the [[Edisto River]] from the island, which was one likely path for a land campaign against Charleston. In June, most of the Union troops left the island in a campaign, which culminated in the [[Battle of Secessionville]]. In July, the remaining troops withdrew, and the colony was removed to [[St. Helena Island, South Carolina|St. Helena Island]]. For the rest of the war, a small number of escaped slaves and plantation owners remained and farmed the island, but it was largely abandoned. Near the end of the war, the island was again used as a location of colonies of freed slaves.<ref>Tomblin 2009, p65-73, 85-86, 95</ref>

===Reconstruction===
From 1865 until 1877 the Island was primarily run by agents of the Freedmen's Bureau as well by recently freed [[African-Americans]].  As a result, the island became a base of support for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].  While Klan terror affected much of the state, Edisto Island was largely spared this by coincidence. There were large amounts of troops from the [[United States Army]] present on Edisto Island, and the population was overwhelmingly [[African-American]]. Most whites on the island were either troops from the [[United States Army]] or agents of the [[Freedmen's Bureau]]. As a result, the Klan deemed the area not worth it, and focused their activities elsewhere in the state.<ref>Edisto Island, 1861 to 2006: Ruin, Recovery and Rebirth By Charles Spencer</ref>

===Historic preservation===
Since the twentieth century, the island has been redeveloped for use as a tourist destination and resorts, although some private plantations remain.

The [[Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line]], [[Bailey's Store]], [[Botany Bay Plantation Wildlife Management Area#Bleak Hall Plantation|Bleak Hall Plantation Outbuildings]], [[Brick House Ruins]], [[Brookland Plantation]], [[Cassina Point]], [[Crawford's Plantation House]], [[Edisto Island Baptist Church]], [[Edisto Island Presbyterian Church]], [[Fig Island]], [[Frogmore (Edisto Island, South Carolina)|Frogmore]], [[Paul Grimball House Ruins]], [[Hutchinson House (Edisto Island, South Carolina)|Hutchinson House]], [[Middleton's Plantation]], [[Oak Island (South Carolina)|Oak Island]], [[Old House Plantation]], [[Peter's Point Plantation]], [[Presbyterian Manse (Edisto Island, South Carolina)|Presbyterian Manse]], [[Prospect Hill (Charleston County, South Carolina)|Prospect Hill]], [[William Seabrook House]], [[Seaside School]], [[Seaside Plantation House]], [[Spanish Mount Point]], [[Sunnyside (Edisto Island, South Carolina)|Sunnyside]], [[Hephzibah Jenkins Townsend's Tabby Oven Ruins]], [[Trinity Church (Edisto Island, South Carolina)|Trinity Church]], [[Wescott Road]], and [[Windsor Plantation]] are listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>