Bibliographic Summary

A Brief History of Mount Pleasant Through the Eras

Bibliographic Summary of Sources


Petrona Royall McIver, the author of History of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (Mount Pleasant Town Council, 1960) was 77 years old when Mayor Francis F. Coleman and Town Council sponsored her publication of the town’s history. Remarkably, McIver produced an updated book ten years later in celebration of South Carolina’s tricentennial.This local history book has withstood the test of time as a worthy record of the town’s story in the eyes of both scholars and laymen.The selection of McIver, a sixth generation Mount Pleasant native, was the prudent decision of an earlier Town Council and her work is honored here, fifty years later, as the foundation of "A Brief History” on the municipal website History Page.

The following list is a selection of the resources used to write the ten sections of A Brief History:


• Anne King Gregorie, Christ Church, 1706-1959: A Plantation Parish of the South Carolina Establishment. Charleston, South Carolina: The Dalcho Historical Society, 1961. Excellent early history, source for 1721 population figures.

• Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 5. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, Rivington, 1887.

• South Carolina Historical Society, "'A Narrative... of an Assembly... January the 2d, 1705/6': New Light on Early South Carolina Politics," The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 85, No. 3 (Jul., 1984), 181-6.

• South Carolina Historical Society's The Civil War in South Carolina: Selections from the South Carolina Historical Magazine, edited by Lawrence S. Rowland and Stephen G. Hoffius, Home House Press, 302-8.

• Brockington and Associates, Historic Resources Survey of the Old Village Historic District: Mount Pleasant, Charleston County, South Carolina, October 2010 Final Report. Mount Pleasant: Brockington and Associates, 2010, 10, 11.

• History of Mount Pleasant, S.C. Sesquicentennial Souvenir Program. Mount Pleasant: Town of Mount Pleasant, 1987, 6-13.

• Michael Trinkley, Scanlonville, Charleston County, South Carolina: The Community and the Cemetery. The Chicora Foundation, 2001, 10-22, for discussion on Clinton’s 1780 Map and Scanlonville.

• Brockington and Associates, Cultural Resources Management Plan Town of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Mount Pleasant: Brockington and Associates, 1999, 10-32.

• Petrona Royall McIver, History of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Mount Pleasant: Town of Mount Pleasant, 1960, 1970,
reprinted by the Christ Church Parish Preservation Society, Inc., 1-17, 23-36, 56, 79-80, 87-8, 90, 92-3, 95, 96-7.

• Amy McCandless, “Mount Pleasant,” in The South Carolina Encyclopedia, editor Walter Edgar. Columbia: University of South Carolina, 2006, 651.

• Terry Lipscomb, The Carolina Lowcountry April 1775-June 1776. Columbia: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 1991, 19-20, 23-4, 26, 40-1. See this for a discussion on the Revolutionary War battle at Fort Sullivan (Moultrie).

• David Lee Russell, Victory on Sullivan’s Island: The British Cape Fear/Charles Town Expedition of 1776. Haverford, PA: Infinity Publishing Company, 2002, 240-1. See this for a discussion on the Revolutionary War battle at Fort Sullivan (Moultrie).

• Betty Lee Johnson, As I Remember It: An Oral History of the East Cooper Area, Vols I, II. Self-published, 1987.

• S. Max Edelson, Plantation Enterprise in Colonial South Carolina. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006. The description of plantation agriculture used here is found in Edelson’s book on p. 47 with an endnote #94 on p. 298, 50.

• Peter McCandless, Slavery, Disease and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2011. This is a study of the relationship between the region’s rice-growing slave economy and its high incidence of disease mortality and morbidity in the Carolina Colony at the end of the eighteenth century.

• South Carolina Department of Archives and History: for research resources and Palmetto Battery images (link for images <http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/charleston/S10817710130/index.htm>), (assessed 03/25/2011).

• On the 1886 Earthquake: See "A Terrible Night," Berkeley Gazette, September 4, 1886; "After the Quake," Berkley Gazette, September 11, 1886; "The Shake at Mount Pleasant," The News and Courier, September 3, 1886; "Damage at Mount Pleasant," The News and Courier, September 4, 1886. For an interesting scientific investigation into the liquefaction potential of aged soil deposits, based on this event, see T. Heidari and R. D. Andrus, “Mapping Liquefaction Potential of Aged Soil Deposits in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina,” Engineering Geology, Vol. 112, Issue 1-4 (March 2010).

• Naval History and Heritage Command, s.v. “Hunley,” http://www.history.navy.mil, (accessed 03/25/2011).

• Preservation Consultants, Inc. Town of Sullivan’s Island, Sullivan’s Island Historical and Architectural Inventory: 1987 Survey Report, 2-4. Read this report for information on traction trolley companies, <http://www.sullivansisland-sc.com/Files/Historic%20Preservation/Historical%20Summary.pdf>, (accessed 05/10/11).

• Mt. Pleasant Waterworks, Operations Center on Rifle Range Rd: Archive includes original minutes and documents.

• Mt. Pleasant Exchange Club, "Basket Weaving In Christ Church Parish and Christ Church Parish," in Honoring Those Who Serve In World War II: The Honor Roll Tablet Souvenir Booklet. Mount Pleasant: Mt. Pleasant Exchange Club, July 22, 1944.

• U. S. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places online: Review the list of nomination forms related to Christ Church Parish historic sites for interesting and useful details.

• On Hurricane Hugo: See Wikipedia, s.v. “Hurricane Hugo” for the most basic, well-known facts, (accessed 04/14/2011); Sully Witte, “Hurricane Hugo Commemorative Issue,” Moultrie News, September 23, 2009; United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Diaster Survey Report: Hurricane Hugo, Sept. 10-22, 1989, Published May 1990, (accessed 04/14/2011), <www.nws.noaa.gov>; Town of Mount Pleasant Municipal Website, "Preparing For the Big One," Town of Mount Pleasant, July 13, 2006.

• On ferrocement boats: For example, the Col. J. E. Sawyer (often misnamed the Maj. Archibald Butt), located in Mt. Pleasant's harbor, please see the book titled, "Ferro-Cement Boats" by Colin Brookes.mSNAME. For a 1922 primary source document pertaining to concrete ships of this experimental era, see Sea Going and Other Concrete Ships by N. K. Foughner, C.E. M.amsoc, Medlem Norsk Jngenieur, Forening, Assoc Inst. N.A. (London: Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton, 1922), http://www.archive.org/stream/seagoingothercon00fougrich/seagoingothercon00fougrich_djvu.txt.

• Maps: Charleston County Register Mesne Conveyance: Charleston Harbor, CCSD District Map, 1921 (for a list of Mount Pleasant historical maps see municipal website map section).