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The Commemorative Quarter for South Carolina





Our Genealogy Helper

Introduction ...

We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:

  • That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
  • We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
  • On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.

By learning about Charleston (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.

As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Charleston. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.

Name Variations for Charleston ...

When searching records, keep in mind that names and their spelling can change over time. Our sources include documents like maps, railroad schedules, Travel, Express and Shipping Guides. Many of these documents date from the 1800's and it's common to find spelling differences.

Although we can't give a definitive list, hopefully the following will give you a feel for the variations that might have occurred.

Other variations include: Charles Town and Charlestown.

If you have information about these names (such as the reason for the change, date of change, the origin of the name), please Contact Us.

Neighboring Counties ...

When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.

For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the southeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most doctors were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the south.

So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived:  their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the south contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.

If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.

Charleston is primarily located in Charleston County and is the County Seat. A portion of Charleston extends into Berkeley County.

To see how the shape of South Carolina's counties have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Charleston County: Berkeley, Colleton, Dorchester & Georgetown.

Below are the counties that are near Charleston. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Charleston:

  • Charleston County     (The home county of Charleston)
    • The following are listed by their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.
    • Charles Towne Village
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charles Towne Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charles Towne Village
      • Charles Towne Village is located in Charleston County
    • Old Town
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Old Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Old Town
      • Old Town is located in Charleston County
    • Grove Creek Village
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grove Creek Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grove Creek Village
      • Grove Creek Village is located in Charleston County
    • James Island
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • The Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for The Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for The Village
      • The Village is located in Charleston County
    • Dorchester
      (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Essex Village
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Essex Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Essex Village
      • Essex Village is located in Charleston County
    • Sullivan's Island
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • North Charleston
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Pleasant
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Island-of-Palms
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Island-of-Palms have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Island-of-Palms
      • Island-of-Palms is located in Charleston County
    • Folly Beach
      (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
  • Berkeley County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.
    • Hanahan
      (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Wando
      (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Goose Creek
      (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Camelot Village
      (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Camelot Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camelot Village
      • Camelot Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Caromi Village
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Caromi Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caromi Village
      • Caromi Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Ladson
      (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Mount Holly
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Holly have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Holly
      • Mount Holly is located in Berkeley County
    • Highland Village
      (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Highland Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland Village
      • Highland Village is located in Berkeley County
    • Tarry Town
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tarry Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarry Town
      • Tarry Town is located in Berkeley County
    • Huger
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Cordesville
      (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Washington Town
      (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Washington Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Washington Town
      • Washington Town is located in Berkeley County
  • Colleton County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.
    • Edisto Beach
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Edisto Beach have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edisto Beach
      • Edisto Beach is located in Colleton County
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 402 people
    • Jacksonboro
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the west)
  • Dorchester County
    • The following are listed by their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.
    • Chandler Village
      (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Chandler Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chandler Village
      • Chandler Village is located in Dorchester County
    • Summerville
      (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Flowertown Village
      (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Flowertown Village have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flowertown Village
      • Flowertown Village is located in Dorchester County
    • Brownsville
      (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Ridgeville
      (30 miles [48.3 km] to the northwest)

For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Charleston, see our County-by-County Page for Charleston.

Cemeteries Near Charleston ...

Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Charleston.

This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.

If you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our selection of Genealogy Websites (see below).

If not found below, our Cemetery List for Charleston covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.

The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.

Nearby Communities in 1895 ...

We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<4>

The Rand McNally Atlas shows that Charleston had a population of 54,955 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. In 2020, Charleston had a population of 139,714 people.

These communities are listed based on their distance from Charleston, with the one closest to Charleston listed first.

We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Charleston. See our List of 1890's Communities around Charleston.

Newspapers Published in the Vicinity of Charleston ...

An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).

To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.

Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 215 newspapers that have been published in the area around Charleston.

We have organized these newspapers into two lists:

  • A Local Newspaper List - focusing on the papers published in the immediate area of Charleston. There are actually two parts to this list - papers printed in the immediate area of Charleston and those printed in the larger area surrounding Charleston.
  • An Extended Newspaper List - a longer list, sorted by paper name and containing those papers published within 6 miles [9.7 km]<6> of Charleston.

Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These professional and volunteer websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.

To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Charleston:

The official website for Charleston: www.charleston-sc.gov/

The official website for Charleston County: www.charlestoncounty.org/

The official website for State of South Carolina: https://sc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Charleston, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Charleston) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Charleston. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.7922, Longitude: -79.9407    









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 30 Mar 2025