Berkeley County Museum

Bonneau was named for the family of Floride Bonneau Colhoun Calhoun, wife of John C. Calhoun; the Bonneaus were of Huguenot descent. The town Of Bonneau was first chartered on October 25, 1911.

Cainhoy was settled in the early 1700s. By 1788, Lewis Fogartie was selling lots along the Wando River in what is today known as Cainhoy or Cainhoy Village. There are two possible origins of the name Cainhoy. One local tradition is that a local boatman named Cain was hailed by potential passengers shouting, "Cain, Ahoy!" Another theory is that it comes from an indigenous language.

Cordesville was first settled in 1686. It was named for Dr. Anthony Cordes and his family, who were responsible for the Huguenot settlement in the area.

The community name originated with John Cross, who purchased 500 acres in the area in 1844. In 1879, the Cross Post Office, originally named Cross Mill, was established.

In summer 1780, the British converted Fair Lawn Plantation house, also known as Colleton Castle, into a hospital and supply storeroom. Fort Fair Lawn was built on the edge of the plantation’s property. Its key location, at the head of the Cooper River and along two roads, rendered its defense strategically important. This square fort had two-meter-tall walls complete with a moat and easy river access. Portions of the wall and moat can still be seen today.

Goose Creek is one of the oldest white settlements in the state; "all the lands on both sides of Goose Creek . . . were taken up" by 1680. The first white settlers of the area named the settlement after the shape of a goose's neck.

Huger was named for Huguenot Daniel Huger, who lived on Limerick Plantation in the early 1700s.

The first church of St. James Santee was built of wood sometime in the 1680s. By 1699 the church had 111 members, and was the largest church outside Charleston. The town was laid out from 1705 to 1706. The community was abandoned in the mid-1700s; the modern community of Jamestown was established in the twentieth century on high ground.

By the 19th century, America had developed a rich culture of mourning. Though people of all races and classes mourned their departed loved ones, the majority of the remaining memento mori (lat., "remember you will die") come from white, upper-class individuals. The objects in this collection date from the 1880s to the 1910s and are largely gathered from the Dyson Collection.

Moncks Corner derived its name from Thomas Monck, who in 1735 purchased one thousand acres in the area. The Swiss immigrant Simeon Theus is credited with opening the first store at the crossroads around 1738.

Pineville, established in 1793-94, was an early "pineland retreat." By 1830 Pineville had more than 60 houses, a chapel, an academy, a library, and a race track. The Union burned much of the village in 1865, and since, the area has reverted to mostly farmland.

Pinopolis was established ca. 1845 because the location offered respite from mosquitoes and the oppressive South Carolina heat.

Constructed from 1939 to 1942, the Santee Cooper Power and Navigation Project provided hydroelectric power from the Santee and Cooper rivers and improved navigation from the coast to the midlands through the creation of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie.

By about 1700, French Huguenots were settling along the Santee near modern St. Stephen. In 1754, St. Stephen Parish was established. In the early 1900s, the lumber boom caused St. Stephen to grow and prosper even more.

Most of these items belonged to Marion Edward Sims (1886-1960). Sims was born near modern-day Foxbank Plantation. He enlisted in the SC National Guard in 1916 and saw service in Mexico. In 1917 or early 1918, he joined the Army and saw service in Europe through March 1919. Sims was honorably discharged on April 3, 1919. After the war, Sims worked for several decades at the Cigar Factory in downtown Charleston. He died in 1960 in Charleston.