SC National Heritage Corridor

Colonial Dorchester Sate Historic Site

Revolutionary War
For almost one hundred years the village of Dorchester existed as an important inland trading center in colonial South Carolina. The village is gone now, but the fort that occupied one corner of Dorchester still stands overlooking the Ashley River. Made of oyster shell concrete called tabby, the fort was built during the French and Indian War to house some of the colony’s precious gunpowder supply. Later, during the American Revolution, the entire town became a fortified post, first occupied by the Americans and then by the British. Dorchester apparently never recovered from the effects of the war, and the village was gradually abandoned.

The South Carolina State Park Service preserves and interprets the entire village site, conducting ongoing public archeological investigations into the rich layers of the past that lie buried beneath the surface. The fort remains almost completely intact and is the best preserved tabby fortification in the United States.