Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2020

35 www.ReadMPM.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature Congregationalists also settled on the Cainhoy peninsula. The various groups of white colonists maintained an amicable relationship with the Sewee tribe, which paid off when the Native Americans reported five French ships at Sewee Bay in 1706. The local militia, under the leadership of Colonel William Rhett, met the French forces at Abcaw (now Shem Creek) and killed or captured half of the 160 invaders. Twenty years earlier, Spanish warships from St. Augustine attempted an invasion but were halted by inclement weather in what came to be called the Spanish Repulse Hurricane. The storm may have saved the locals from that invasion, but 20 subsequent hurricanes wreaked havoc on the area over the next 100 years. In the early 1700s, rice plantations in the Lowcountry multiplied, as did the number of African slaves, with thousands being imported to the region each year. Farms of other types were established, too. Abcaw was the site of a 400-acre vegetable farm called Hobcaw Plantation. Colonel Alexander Parris (think Parris Island) owned Hog Island (now Patriots Point) along with the once- lush Shute’s Folly (the site of Castle Pinckney), which became known for its 1,100-tree orange orchard. Mount Pleasant Plantation, just south of Shem Creek and originally called Hog Island Hill, was the home of well-known Charleston merchant Jacob Motte, who likely used it as his country retreat. Shem Creek had many names through the years, usually related to the owners of nearby properties (Parris Creek, Dearsley Creek, Lempriere Creek, Rowser Creek, etc.). The area was a hub of activity with a brick-making establishment, a rice mill and sawmill, but the creek’s real identity was in the shipbuilding industry. The nearby Hobcaw Plantation was even referred to as Shipyard 1765 The small residential community of Greenwich Village is established. 1770 The first ferry service is established connecting Shem Creek with peninsular Charleston. 1776 British ships attack Sullivan’s Island at Breach Inlet and Fort Moultrie. 1775 South Carolina militia construct a battery at Haddrell’s Point. 1791 George Washington travels on the King’s Highway to Mount Pleasant. 1795 Jonathan Lucas builds the first water- driven rice and saw mill at Shem Creek. 1780 British troops seize the battery at Haddrell’s Point. Signs at Breach Inlet tell the history of the British attack on Sullivan’s Island in June 1776.