The History of Mount Pleasant, SC

Mount Pleasant, located east of the Cooper River from Charleston, is a growing town with a population of nearly 100,000, but thanks to its historic character, marshes and coastlines, and unique neighborhoods each with their own character, living there can feel more like a village. Today’s Mount Pleasant began as a series of sprawling and small villages which first became a town in 1837 and has added new territory ever since.  Highlights of living in Mt. Pleasant include a choice of subdivisions with golf course and pool amenities, or historic enclaves, all in easy proximity to the beach, Charleston, shopping, and beautiful parks.

(Image 1): Boone Hall’s tree canopy.

Founding Years

Mount Pleasant bears the reminders of its first inhabitants in its place names, like the Wando River and Seewee Drive, which were Native American tribes in the area. English colonists arrived in South Carolina in 1670 and in 1680, Florence O’Sullivan received a grant of 2,340 acres including Sullivan’s Island and part of Mount Pleasant. Mount Pleasant today encompasses a large area that was originally known as Christ Church, an Anglican parish created by the legislature in 1706. 

(Image 2): Future Mount Pleasant, then part of Berkeley County, with the names of early plantation owners, on the 1711 “Plan of Charles Town.” Library of Congress.

In the colonial era, the lands east of the Cooper were developed as plantations to cultivate rice, sea island cotton, indigo, cattle, and naval stores. Beautiful mansions on oak lined alleys existed alongside simple buildings that housed the majority enslaved population of Mount Pleasant. Brickmaking became an important industry from the 1740s on, which is origin of Brickyard Plantation subdivision. The most famous brick plantation was Boone Hall, which is open to visitors and retains important brick slave dwellings.  

(Image 3): Oaklands Plantation, built circa 1750, one of Mt. Pleasant’s oldest frame houses. Library of Congress.

Roads and bridges help us traverse to, from, and across Mount Pleasant today, but historically, “the easiest way to travel from Charleston to Mount Pleasant was by water, on ferries driven by wind power, horse power (teams operated a treadmill that drove a paddle wheel), and later, by steam or fuel engines.” Hadrell’s Point Ferry was the earliest, opening in 1748 and operating until 1940.  Andrew Hibben built a landing at Old Village in 1769 that ran to Hobcaw Point on Pinckney Street in downtown Charleston. 

Villages and the Town

The most settled part of early Mount Pleasant were the villages that are now part of or adjacent to Old Village Mount Pleasant. The Town notes that, “the earliest hamlet was Greenwich Village (1766), followed by the Hibben Ferry Tract (1770), Mount Pleasant Plantation (1808), Hilliardsville (1847), and Lucasville (1853).”  Jonathon Scott developed Greenwich, Christ Church’s first village, on 100 acres next to his plantation in 1766, and laid out King, Queen, and Pitt Streets.  Ferry owner and politician James Hibben purchased Mount Pleasant plantation in 1803 and laid out Mt. Pleasant Village, next to his profitable ferry landing that floated people, vehicles, crops, and animals across the Cooper River to Charleston.  The original plantation house was built by Jacob Motte in 1759 and is known as Hibben House, perched alongside the Cooper River. The British used it as their headquarters during the American Revolution. 

(Image 4): 1770 South Carolina Gazette ad for Hibben’s Ferry.

The Nineteenth Century

In 1837, the town of Mount Pleasant was created when the eponymous village merged with Greenwich village.  More villages and rural lands were added over time, such as Hilliardsville. Villages were popular as a summer resort for Christ Church planters, and many eventually made permanent residences there. An article from 1858 noted that the Village’s early buildings were “nearly all built in the good old times when people were satisfied with plain one-story cottages.

After the American Civil War, Mount Pleasant’s African American residents were free at last. Many operated their own small farms or lived in freedmen’s communities like Scanlonville on former Remley Plantation. Their descendants, members of the Gullah Geechee community, keep their heritage alive in the face of development through folk practices like weaving sweetgrass baskets and creating heritage corridors and historic districts in partnership with the government. 

(Image 5): Freedmen ginning cotton, circa 1870, at Knox’ Plantation in Mount Pleasant. Library of Congress.

Modern Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant annexed Shem Creek in 1872, but lack of rail access kept the community rural.  Change came when East Cooper was connected to Charleston via the Grace Bridge in 1929. Easy auto access to Mount Pleasant and adding public water in 1933 allowed the first subdivisions to crop up.  

(Image 6): 1918 Topographic map showing Old Village Mount Pleasant, before East Cooper was linked to mainland Charleston.

More were constructed during the post World War Two boom, and a second Cooper River Bridge was built in 1966.  Locals remember the frighteningly narrow early bridges, which were replaced by the beautiful Ravenel Bridge in 2005. 

(Image 7): New subdivisions in Mount Pleasant, surveyed in 1947.

The Snee Farm subdivision was annexed in 1970, and new subdivisions have been built without pause ever since. Though it’s now the fourth largest city in South Carolina, conservation efforts, government oversight through the Historical Commission, and community involvement keep Mount Pleasant unique and beautiful, and the town won the All-America City distinction in 2010. 

Living in Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant boasts historic sites like Patriot’s Point (originally Hog Island, reminding us of early agriculture when pigs grazed there), with its World War Two aircraft carrier, and the Charles Pinckney Site, operated by the National Park Service and once the plantation of a founding father. There is also ample shopping along Highway 17 and Coleman Boulevard and at Towne Centre.  Mount Pleasant remains defined by its beautiful marshes and waterways including Shem Creek, Wando and Cooper Rivers, and their many small offshoots. Residents enjoy golfing, boating, swimming, fishing, strolling, and every outdoor sport the Lowcountry has to offer.  

(Image 8): Blessing of the Fleet: A Mt. Pleasant shrimp boat passes under the Ravenel Bridge in 2010. Library of Congress.

Each community in the town has its own unique history and selling points.  Buyers can pick between historic areas like Old Village, Hamlin, or larger former plantations; early suburbs like Snee Farm, Wakendaw Lake, or Long Point; or a host of late 20th/early 21st century developments including Dunes West, Brickyard, Oyster Point, Belle Hall, and Carolina Point.  

(Image 9: A home in I’on in Mount Pleasant)

I’on was created in 1995 as an award winning New Urban community, replete with traditional houses, parks, shops, and an old village feel.   Development has moved up Highway 17 to “North Mount Pleasant”, where large new communities like Carolina Park are located.  The Park has its own new library, the Wando Branch CCPL, and is near Charleston National Gold Course and Laurel Hill County Park.  Historian Nic Butler reminds us that, “Every piece of ground in our community has been impacted by numerous episodes of human activity dating back many centuries”, and this is what makes Mount Pleasant so special today.

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