We love the small clock tower outside this new public building somewhere in South Carolina. Where is it? Send your best guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com and make sure to include your name and hometown. If possible, write “Mystery Photo” in the subject line.
Three people correctly identified last week’s mystery, which was taken from an interesting angle on the Ashley River. It shows the tabby walls of Fort Dorchester at the Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site near Summerville. Congratulations to Charles E. Davis of Montmorenci, S.C.; Phillip Tanner of Florence, S.C.; and George Graf of Palmyra, Va.
Graf wrote that he spent a lot of time scanning the area near Fort Fremont in Beaufort County before giving up and looking elsewhere, only to learn about Fort Dorchester:
“According to senicusa.com, Puritan Pilgrims left England in 1620 for the New World. By 1697, Puritan descendants from Dorchester, Massachusetts, founded a new Dorchester, just inland from Charleston, South Carolina. These new settlers, known as Congregationalists, were surprised when the Carolina colony declared Anglicanism as their official church. Adding more cause for anger, these religious dissenters were taxed to support the St. George’s Anglican Church raised in the center of their town in 1717. In the mid 1700s, fearing a French attack, the Colonial legislators authorized construction of a powder magazine on the Ashley River at Dorchester. Completed in 1760, thick walls of tabby surrounded the brick storage facility. This defensive structure was soon utilized by both the British Redcoats and American Patriots during the Revolutionary War.” Thanks George!
Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!