Dewees Island History Tour: Begin at the Landings Building
Perfect Front Row Seat to Maritime History
Take a few minutes to look around the nature center and check out the exhibits and artifacts in the display. If you had been standing on this spot in 1706, you would have seen a maimed French privateer in the direction of Mount Pleasant. In February of 1700, explorer John Lawson arrived to “Bell’s Island”. In 1718, Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet made their way past on their way to Cape Fear. You would have seen British ships amassing right off the coast, preparing to attack Fort Moultrie and Sullivans Island. You might have seen Francis Marion slipping northward to Georgetown.
Attempted French and Spanish Joint Invasion of 1706
In 1706, Spanish and French marauders joined forces, launching a flotilla out of St. Augustine with an attempt to invade Charleston and force the English Colonists northward to the Virginia Colony. According to Nic Butler, we might imagine that they stopped briefly at Dewees Island in their voyage up the coastline. Certainly the maimed French vessel would have been visible from places on Dewees Island.
Pirates in 1718
Sounding the Alarm, "The British are Coming!"
