South Carolina from A to Z

"S” is for Sumter National Forest. Named for Thomas Sumter, famed partisan of the American Revolution, Sumter National Forest encompasses over 350,000 acres in the Piedmont and mountains of South Carolina.

“W” is for Wofford College. A four year liberal arts college in Spartanburg, Wofford College was founded with a $100,000 bequest from Methodist minister and Spartanburg native Benjamin Wofford.

“C” is for Cleveland, Georgia Alden (1851-1914). Writer, activist.

“B” is for Bonham, Milledge Luke (1813-1890). Soldier, congressman, governor.

“B” is for Bolden, Charles Frank, Jr. (1946-2017). Soldier, astronaut.

“B” is for Boineau, Charles Evans, Jr. (1923-2005). Legislator. Boineau was the first Republican to be elected to the South Carolina General Assembly in the twentieth century.

“S” is for Sumter County (665 square miles; 2020 population 105,556.)

“S” is for Sumter, Thomas (1734-1832). Soldier, congressman U.S. senator.

“S” is for Sumter (Sumter County; 2020 population 43,463).

“S” is for Summerville (Dorchester County; 2020 population 50,915).

“S” is for Summers, Eliza Ann (1844-1900). Educator.

“S” is for Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel. The Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel is an unfinished nineteenth-century railroad tunnel located near Walhalla.

“C” is for Clyburn, James Enos (b.1940). Congressman. In 2024 James Enos Clyburn won election to Congress for a seventeenth term.

“B” is for Boudo, Louis (ca. 1786-1827), and Heloise Boudo (d. 1837). Silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewelers.

“B” is for Bouchillon, Christopher Allen (1893-1968). Although largely forgotten today, Christopher Allen Bouchillon probably ranks as South Carolina’s most notable country music personality.

“B” is for Bosc, Louis Augustin Guillaume (1759-1828). Naturalist.

“B” is for Boonesborough Township. Boonesborough was one in the second wave of townships that South Carolina laid out during the mid-eighteenth century to defend her frontier from the Cherokee.

“S” is for Stoneman's Raid (May 1865). This minor cavalry raid through the South Carolina upstate occurred in the weeks following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the flight of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his cabinet from Richmond, Virginia.

“S” is for Stewart, Thomas McCants (1853-1923). Lawyer, civil rights leader.

“S” is for Stevenson, Ferdinan Backer (1928-2001). Lieutenant governor, civic leader, author.

"S” is for Steele, Henry Maxwell (1922-2005). Writer, educator.

“S” is for Steadman, Mark (1930-2020). Novelist.

“S” is for States’ Rights. The doctrine of states’ rights is a recurring theme of South Carolina political thought.

“S” is for Stateberg. The name of this town, located in western Sumter County in the High Hills of Santee, reflects Stateberg's raison d'être.

“S” is for state symbols. As sovereign political entities, all fifty states have adopted special symbols, a practice that came into vogue at the turn of the last century.

“S” is for state seal. The great seal of South Carolina was first used on a document dated May 22, 1777.

“S” is for State parks. As of 2026, South Carolina’s system of state parks consisted of forty-seven properties totaling more than 90,000 acres of land.

“C” is for Cunningham, Ann Pamela (1816-1875). Preservationist.

“C” is for Culp, Napoleon Brown (1929-2008). Musician. “Nappy Brown” was born in Charlotte but became identified as a South Carolina artist after settling in the Columbia area in the late 1960s.

“C” is for Crum, William Demosthenes (1859-1912). Physician, civic leader, political activist.

“C” is for Craven, Charles (1682-1754). Governor. Charles Craven had one of longest tenures of any proprietary-era governor, and despite political conflict and the outbreak of the Yamassee War in 1715, he was considered one of the most successful.

“C” is for Crafts, William (1787-1826). Legislator, writer, reformer.

“B “is for Burton, Edward Milby (1898-1977). Museum director, naturalist, historian.

“B” is for Burt, Armistead (1802-1883). Lawyer, congressman.

“B” is for Burroughs, Franklin Gorham, Jr. (b 1942). Essayist, environmentalist, educator.

“B” is for Burroughs, Franklin Gorham (1834-1897). Manufacturer, merchant, land developer.

“B” is for Burnettown (Aiken County; 2020 population 3,104). Burnettown is located in the Horse Creek Valley of Aiken County.

“S” is for state flag. South Carolina's blue Flag with its white crescent and palmetto tree is simple in design but profoundly symbolic of a long history.

“S” is for State Farmers Market. The State Farmers Market is a three-site system of state-sponsored facilities operated by the South Carolina State Department of Agriculture. M

“S” is for State Fair. The South Carolina State Fair, formerly the State Agricultural and Mechanical Society of South Carolina was established in 1869.