30 Jul 08 Dorchester State Park

This park is located just outside Summerville, SC.

In 1697, settlers from Dorchester, Massachusetts, who had originally come from Dorchester,  England, founded a town here.

The church was built in 1719; a town fair was established in 1723, and even a Free school (which unusual for the time, educated girls too), in 1734.

The town prospered as a trade center for around a hundred years, but as the frontier moved inland, and after the British destroyed much of the town during the American Revolution, the town was largely abandoned by 1800.

Tags: american revolution, dorchester massachusetts, dorchester south carolina, England, frontier, girls, hundred years, settlers