Your favorite activities, attractions, real estate & vacation rentals on Hilton Head Island
Activities
Surrounding Areas
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Beaufort Beaufort's Parris Island Bluffton Charleston Atlanta |
Daufuskie Island Savannah Yemassee History |
Yemassee
Yemassee is a small town rich in local history. In the late seventeenth century, when Englishmen began to settle coastal Carolina, a number of tribes, mostly of Muskogean stock, inhabited the area. Of those tribes, the Yemassee was the most extensive and powerful. Its territory stretched along the coast from southern Georgia to the region of the Edisto. Its two major centers of power lay between the Savannah and Combahee rivers at Pocataligo and Coosawhatchie, villages which to this day retain those names.
The Old Yemassee Marine Barracks
The Yemassee Historical Association is working to preserve a piece of American history by acquiring the historic Corps barracks building (still in Yemassee) and moving it to it original location. There are hoping to restore it and open it into a museum or monument to the patriotic American that stayed there.
The Yemassee barracks was referred as the "bridge from civilian life to life in the Corp." For nearly half a century more than 500,000 recruits passed through that station.
During World War II, over a quarter million recruits passed through Yemassee on their way to Parris Island. The Yemassee train station is now a regular stop for Amtrak. Visit this station from I-95, Exit 38. (95 North from Hilton Head)
Old Sheldon Church
Old Sheldon Church Ruins... (the Prince William Parish Church) Originally built between 1745 - 1757 of brick and tabby. The church was destroyed in May of 1779 by British troops under the command of General Augustine Provost, rebuilt, and subsequently ruined by General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops in 1865. Many tourists visit this church ruins where many ghost stories are told and, ironically, where weddings are held.
