SC Historical Roadside Markers Compiled by: Paul M. Kankula NN8NN (non-copyrighted)

10 May 2015

(*) = In 1998, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History published a guide to the state's historical markers. At that time, there were approximately 800 markers in the state.  History Happened Here: South Carolina's Roadside Historical Markers is the first time a print listing has been completed since 1998. Documenting 1,446 markers in the South Carolina roadside marker system, this book includes the text, title, GPS coordinates, and all of the other information needed to locate each marker in South Carolina. 

After spending nearly a decade researching and photographing historical markers across South Carolina, Anderson S.C. native and author Brian Scott has published the first printed listing of the 1,446 markers in South Carolina's roadside historical markers, History Happened Here: South Carolina's Roadside Historical Markers. The last time such a publication appeared was in 1998. The book is divided by county and then by city or town. Each entry includes the marker number, title, text, sponsoring organization, year erected, physical location, and GPS information. The book also includes a numeric list of markers as well as the history of the marker program.  History Happened Here by Brian Scott (paperback)
 

General Information

HMdb.org SC - Historical Database Program:

This website is an illustrated searchable online catalog of historical information viewed through the filter of roadside and other permanent outdoor markers, monuments, and plaques. It contains photographs, inscription transcriptions, marker locations, maps, additional information and commentary, and links to more information. Anyone can add new markers to the database and update existing marker pages with new photographs, links, information and commentary.

National Park Service - National Register of Historical Places:

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture. The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

SC Dept. of Archives & History - Historical Marker Program:

J. Tracy Power, Coordinator, South Carolina Historical Marker Program, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, S.C. 29223, (803)896-6182, [email protected]

The South Carolina Historical Marker Program, originally the South Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program, was authorized by an act of the South Carolina General Assembly in 1905 creating the Historical Commission of South Carolina with authority "to have direction and control of the marking of historic sites, or houses, or localities." The program was officially established in 1936 when a marker was erected near the site of the Long Cane Massacre near Troy, in McCormick County. More than 1,000 markers have been erected by the program since that time. Since 1954 the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, as the successor state agency to the Historical Commission of South Carolina, has been responsible for the program as part of the Historical Services Division. The enabling legislation creating the Department of Archives and History gave it the responsibility for "the approval of the inscriptions for all historical markers or other monuments erected on state highways or other state property."