Women's history
Women who led, wrote, taught, founded and voted, and the schools and causes they built. 53 places on the trail.
Era of American Revolution (1764-1783)
South Carolina in the Early Republic (1784-1815)
- 40-20Site of Columbia Female AcademyAuthorized by legislature 1792, the Columbia Female Academy was located here from about 1820 to 1883, when this property...
- 22-24Theodosia Burr AlstonDaughter of Aaron Burr and one of the most learned women of her era; wife of Governor Joseph Alston, who is buried west ...
Antebellum (1816-1860)
- 10-89Blake-Grimké HouseThis Charleston double house was built before 1789 by William Blake, a planter and descendant of former Proprietary Gove...
- 20-14Cathcart-Ketchin HouseRichard Cathcart purchased this lot from John McMaster in 1829, and it is thought he built the present federal-style hou...
- 23-24Fountain Fox Beattie HouseThis house, built in 1834, first stood a few blocks south on East North St. It was built by Fountain Fox Beattie (1807 1...
- 23-15Greenville Woman's CollegeEstablished in 1854 by the S. C. Baptist Convention, this institution opened as Greenville Baptist Female College in Feb...
- 11-03Limestone CollegeFounded in 1845 as the Limestone Springs Female High School by Dr. Thomas Curtis and his son Dr. William Curtis, disting...
- 40-126Mann-Simons CottageThis cottage, built before 1850, with alterations and additions throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was t...
- 35-04Old Female AcademyThe oldest part of this building served as Bennettsville Female Academy 1833-1881. It originally stood opposite First Me...
- 40-52Original Site of Columbia CollegeThis land was purchased in 1854 by the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church as the site of Columb...
- 02-24Pickens-Salley HouseThis plantation house, first known as “Edgewood,” is an excellent example of Federal-era architecture. Originally near E...
- 30-02RosemontAbout 2 ½ miles southwest, a granite monument stands on the site of Rosemont, birthplace and home of Ann Pamela Cunningh...
- 40-33South Carolina Female Collegiate InstituteAt Barhamville, about ½ mi. west of this point, a famous girls' school, founded by Dr. Elias Marks (1790-1886), was loca...
- 46-52Yorkville Female InstituteYorkville Female Institute or Yorkville Female College was the first school here, where private schools and then public ...
Civil War (1861-1865)
Reconstruction (1866-1876)
- 43-16Birthplace of Mary Mcleod BethuneThis noted humanitarian and educator was born five miles north of Mayesville, S.C., on July 10, 1875. She was one of the...
- 40-168Harriet Barber HouseIn 1872 Samuel Barber (d. 1891) and his wife Harriet (d. 1899), both former slaves, bought 42 1/2 acres here from the S....
- 25-23Huspah Baptist Church and SchoolHuspah Baptist Church was organized c. 1873. The congregation first met in the homes of church members before erecting a...
- 07-16Mather SchoolShortly after the Civil War, Mather School was founded here by Rachel Crane Mather of Boston. In 1882 the Woman's Americ...
- 02-19Schofield SchoolThis school was founded by the Freedmen's Bureau shortly after the Civil War to educate freedmen, women, and children. I...
- 10-44The Parsonage“The Parsonage,” the home of Rev. James B. Middleton (1839-1918), stood here at 5 Short Court (now President’s Place) un...
- 43-13The Sumter Institute 1867-1901A boarding school for girls located on the northeast corner of Washington and Calhoun Sts. Founded by Laura Fraser Brown...
New South (1877-1913)
- 40-156Alston HouseThis Greek Revival cottage, built ca. 1872, was the residence and business of Caroline Alston, a black businesswoman who...
- 14-04Anne Custis BurgessThis is the childhood home of Anne Custis Burgess, who was born in 1874 in Mayesville. After receiving a diploma from Co...
- 07-21Beaufort Female Benevolent SocietyThe Society, founded in 1814 to educate and provide relief for destitute children, built this house in 1895 and leased i...
- 40-149Blossom Street SchoolBlossom Street School, at the corner of what was then Blossom & Gates (now Park) Streets, was built in 1898 as the first...
- 42-02Converse CollegeFounded by citizens of Spartanburg in 1889 for the liberal education of women. Named for Dexter Edgar Converse, pioneer ...
- 05-17Denmark Industrial SchoolThe Denmark Industrial School was started by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright after she made attempts to start a school for black...
- 40-223Hettie Anderson HomesiteHarriette “Hettie” Eugenia Anderson, acclaimed African American art model of the Gilded Age, grew up in a house at this ...
- 02-84HopelandsHopelands was the 14-acre winter estate of C. Oliver (1854-1932) and Hope Goddard Iselin (1868-1970). They acquired the ...
- 02-20Marie Cromer Seigler HouseThis house was for many years the home of Marie Cromer Seigler (1882-1964), educator and national pioneer in agricultura...
- 28-11Mather AcademyMather Academy was founded in 1887 by the New England Southern Conference of the Women's Home Missionary Society of the ...
- 25-28Steele Missionary SchoolNorthern teacher Almira S. Steele opened a school for African American children at this site c.1885. Part of the America...
- 07-32The Great Sea Island StormOn the night of August 27, 1893, a huge “tropical cyclone,” the largest and most powerful storm to hit S.C. until Hurric...
World War I and the Interwar Period (1913-1941)
- 40-155Matilda A. Evans HouseDr. Matilda A. Evans (1872-1935), an African American physician, as well as a public health and civil rights advocate, l...
- 40-163Monteith SchoolThis African-American school, built nearby before 1900, was originally New Hope School, a white school affiliated with U...
- 02-68Pickens-Salley HouseThis white frame building, first known as “Edgewood,” was an excellent example of Federal-era architecture. Originally n...
- 10-49Pollitzer HouseThis was the home of sisters Carrie (1881-1974), Mabel (1885-1979), and Anita Pollitzer (1894-1975), longtime activists ...
- 40-187S.C. Confederate Soldiers' HomeThe Confederate Infirmary opened here in 1909. S.C. was the last southern state to create a residence for indigent Civil...
- 46-73Sadler StoreThis brick-veneered, wood frame building was built in 1927 as a country store opened by William Sadler (1865-1930). An A...
- 40-217Woman's Club of ColumbiaThe Woman’s Club of Columbia was founded in 1925 as a civic and social club for local women. In 1941, their first perman...
- 30-05Young's SchoolHere at Young's School in 1915 Dr. Wil Lou Gray (1883-1984) initiated for her native county of Laurens a seven-school pr...
World War II and After (1941-present)
- 38-51Christ the King Catholic SchoolThis was the site of Christ the King Catholic School for local African Americans. Classes were previously held at Christ...
- 40-213Columbia Hospital "Negro Unit"Columbia Hospital, est. 1892, opened a segregated wing for African Americans in 1934 at its Hampton St. location. In 194...
- 37-01First Soil Conservation District PlanOn February 4, 1938, Mrs. Ploma M. Adams, owner of this farm, assisted by the Upper Savannah Soil Conservation District,...
- 38-48Matte E. Pegues New Homemakers CampAt the end of this road is the site of a camp opened in 1946 by the S.C. New Homemakers of America (N.H.A.), an organiza...
- 08-72Maude E. Callen ClinicMaude E. Callen (1898-1990) was born in Quincy, FL. She received formal training at Florida A&M Univ. and the Tuskeegee ...
- 40-148Modjeska Simkins HouseThis house was for sixty years the home of Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899-1992), social reformer and civil rights activ...
- 08-79S.C.O.P.E. Freedom HouseIn 1965, this was the Berkeley County headquarters of Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE), a v...
- 10-97Septima Clark BirthplaceSeptima Poinsette Clark, who Martin Luther King Jr. called “the Mother of the Movement,” was a nationally influential Ci...
- 32-47Wil Lou Gray Opportunity SchoolIn 1921, Wil Lou Gray (1883-1984), State Supervisor of Adult Education, founded the first “Opportunity School” in Tamass...