Dorchester was a town in
South
Carolina
.
Situated
on the Ashley River
around from Charleston
, it was founded in February 1696 by the followers
of Reverend Joseph Lord from Dorchester
, Massachusetts
, who gave it the same name of the town from whence
they had emigrated, which was in turn named after the English
town
Dorchester
. It was abandoned in 1751.
History
The town was located near the mouths of Dorchester Creek and
Eagle's Creek (Named for Richard Eagle, who bought the land where a
road crossed the creek around 1734), where they flowed into the
Ashley. To the local Native Americans, this region, especially the
land between the two mouths, was referred to as
Boo-shoo-ee. It is unknown what exactly the name meant,
although the
-ee suffix probably referred to water, given
that nearly all other names ending in
-ee referred to a
water feature.
John Smith
In 1675, a wealthy Englishman named John Smith arrived in South
Carolina with his wife Mary. Because he was a personal friend of
the influential
Earl of
Shaftesbury, who had requested a generous land grant for him,
on November 20th, 1676, he was given of land that included the
Boo-shoo-ee region and the nearby Boshoe Swamp. He therefore
received the title "John Smith of Boo-shoo". When he died in
December 1682, his wife remarried Arthur Middleton, and when
he died two years later in 1684, Ralph Izard. Since John
Smith was childless, his land grant lapsed after he died.
Founding
On October 20, 1695, Reverend Joseph Lord and two of his supporters
were officially given permission by the church at Dorchester,
Massachusetts to lead a congregation south into South Carolina. Two
days later, on October 22nd, Lord held a gathering where he asked
his parishioners to accompany him to the site of the future
township. After receiving the endorsement of the well-liked
Reverend John Danforth, six more agreed to embark, bringing the
total to nine of prospective emigrants. Four of these, however, do
not appear in any records as having settled in the new town, so it
is possibly they changed their minds or died during the trip. At
least one did not make it through the journey, as one of the
settlers, William Pratt, specifically stated in his diary that
there were less than nine when they arrived in South
Carolina.
On December 5th, a skiff carrying the settlers left the Boston Town
Dock. A storm engulfed the ship four days into the journey, on
December 9th, nearly sinking it, and the passengers held a day of
prayer for deliverance through the maelstrom. The storm's wind blew
southward, however, and it actually propelled the ship so quickly
that it arrived in Charles Town after only six days on December
20th, when the journey should have taken two weeks. There was a
mixed reaction to their arrival. Many residents, including the
governor, Joseph Blake, were of the opinion that the party should
settle on the Pon Pon River, at New London. However, Joseph Lord
did obtain a land grant- the same that had lapsed John Smith's
ownership. The immigrant party settled the Boo-shoo-ee area, which
had been surveyed in advance, in late 1684, by one of the settlers,
William Norman. On February 2nd, the party celebrated mass for the
first time under a large oak tree.
A drawing of an old fort built at
Dorchester
The new settlers first built crude wooden lean-tos to live in, and
set to work on the more important task - building a church. They
named the church Old White Meeting House, after the Reverend John
White of England, who had supported their emigration. They also
recycled the name Dorchester for the new town, and intentionally
built it to resemble other Dorchesters they had come from. On
November 1st of that year, after the town had been established, the
church at Dorchester, Massachusetts approved the emigration of
dozens more to the new village.
Downfall
However, the town would be short-lived. After Reverend Lord moved
back to Massachusetts in 1720, the state of the town gradually
worsened. The residents were unaccustomed to the hot climate and
many fell ill to rampant disease. In addition, the resources near
the town were insufficient to support a large number of residents.
In 1751, the townspeople abandoned the village.
Most, including future
signer of the Declaration of
Independence Lyman Hall, resettled at
Midway,
Georgia
, though some moved to North Carolina
and other back to Massachusetts.
In 1781,
during the American Revolution,
the Old White Meeting House burned down, and although it was later
rebuilt, it was abandoned after the Civil War and destroyed during
an earthquake in
1886
.
Present
The ruins of the Old White Meeting House and its cemetery are owned
and maintained by its successor congregation, Summerville
Presbyterian Church.
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