Editing Parris Island, South Carolina (section)

==History==
{{Further|Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site|New France|French Florida|Spanish assault on French Florida|Santa Elena (Spanish Florida)|Spanish Florida|Province of Carolina|Province of South Carolina|South Carolina in the American Civil War}}

Parris Island was first colonized by Europeans in 1562, when members of a French expedition led by [[Jean Ribaut]] temporarily settled on the island. This was the first semi-permanent European settlement in what are now considered the United States. Four years later, a town named [[Santa Elena, la Florida|Santa Elena]] was founded here by Spanish Conquistador [[Pedro Menéndez de Avilés]]. It was the capital of [[Spanish Florida|La Florida]] from 1566 to 1587, during which time Spanish explorers sailed from Santa Elena to explore the Tennessee Valley and Chesapeake Bay. An expedition also traveled overland into the interior to western North Carolina and points west.

After coming under English control, the island was granted to Robert Daniell in 1706 and became known as Port Royal Island. It later came into the hands of Colonel Alexander Parris, sometimes spelled "Paris", Public [[Treasurer]] of South Carolina. After his death in 1736, it gradually became known as Parris Island (and the name [[Port Royal Island]] was applied to a different one to the north).<ref name="Salley1919">{{cite book|author=Alexander Samuel Salley|title=Parris Island, the Site of the First Attempt at a Settlement of White People Within the Bounds of what is Now South Carolina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVgvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA8|year=1919|publisher=The Commission|pages=8–11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Tryals for High-treason, and Other Crimes: Vol VIII |date=1731 |publisher=Thomas Wotton |location=London |page=337 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3f09AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA337 |access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=McCord |editor1-first=David J |title=The Statutes at Large of South Carolina: Vol 7 |date=1840 |location=Columbia SC |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUgUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA26 |access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref>

Parris Island was captured by the [[Union Army]] in 1861 during the [[American Civil War]]. It became a coaling station during the war. After the war, through the efforts of African American Congressman [[Robert Smalls]], it continued as a coaling station for the [[United States Navy]] and became known as the Port Royal Naval Station. The neighboring [[Port Royal Sound]] is the deepest natural harbor on the Atlantic coast of the United States south of New York. The island was purchased outright in 1883. In the early 1890s, a [[dry dock]] was constructed at the naval station. The dry dock was completed in 1895. The construction of the [[Charleston Naval Shipyard]] in 1901 resulted in the closing of the Port Royal Naval Station in 1903.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/port-royal-naval-station/ |title=Port Royal Naval Station |first=Lawrence S. |last=Rowland |date=August 22, 2022 |website=South Carolina Encyclopedia |publisher=Institute for Southern Studies, University of South Carolina |access-date=December 15, 2023}}</ref>

In 1915, Parris Island became the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. In the early years of the Marine Corps presence it was referred to as Paris Island.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Navy Register |date=1 January 1919 |publisher=Bureau of Naval Personnel |location=Washington DC |pages=817, 853 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dFp_KZ18eGkC |access-date=4 November 2019}}</ref>

The [[Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site]] and [[Parris Island Drydock and Commanding Generals House]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>