Ridgeville
Inscription
(Front) This town, in Colleton County before Dorchester County was founded in 1897, dates from 1831. It was one of the first stations on the S.C. Rail Road from Charleston to Hamburg. This area was called Ridgeville as early as 1820, for its location on a ridge between Four Holes Swamp and Cypress Swamp.
From the 1840s to the Civil War Ridgeville was a popular destination for “pleasure parties,” day trips up from Charleston and back on the S.C. Rail Road. (Reverse) Town lots were laid out and sold here in 1849, and the town became a planters’ summer retreat and a center of trade. One antebellum visitor called Ridgeville “a very pleasant, healthy village” and its citizens “industrious, prosperous and hospitable.
” It was incorporated in 1875, with its limits a half-mile radius from the depot. The town was centered along Railroad Ave. and Main St. The timber and turpentine industries here flourished into the 20th century. Sponsored by the Upper Dorchester County Historical Society, 2013
Location
Sources
More markers in Dorchester
Old Dorchester
Summerville, SC
Laid out in 1697 as a market town for the Congregationalist colony from Dorchester, Mass.
Fort Dorchester
Summerville, SC
A brick powder magazine enclosed by a tabby wall eight feet high was built here in 1757.
Middleton Place/Arthur Middleton
MIDDLETON PLACE (Front) These famous gardens were laid out about 1741 by Henry Middleton (1717-84), President of Continental Congress.
Old White Meeting House and Cemetery
Summerville, SC
(Front) This church was established in 1696 by settlers from Dorchester, Mass.
Newington Plantation
Summerville, SC
(Front) Newington Plantation was established on this site in the 1680s after Daniel Axtell received a royal grant of 300 acres.