Bill Riski is a retired USAF Officer and systems engineer. His hobbies include history, photography, writing, and travel. Maintaining this website is a labor of love for the Dataw Historic Foundation in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where he and his wife now live.
The theme this week is a SMALL WORLD. In the years leading up to our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, Beaufort was a thriving shipping port. One of the prominent merchants operating along the bay in Beaufort was Peter Lavien (1746 – 1781). He moved to the town in 1765 from Sankt Croix, then under Danish rule. (Today St. Croix is part of the US Virgin Islands.) The small world connection I discovered involves his younger half-brother. The brother eventually also moved to the Colonies from Sankt Croix but landed in Boston in 1772. Today, I’m going to tell you a bit more about the families of both brothers.
Christmas in the Lowcountry of South Carolina will be celebrated this week, as it has been for centuries. However, back in the antebellum days, the planters celebrated one way, and the enslaved in a much different way. Like the plantation system, which was imported from Britain, the Christmas traditions when the Reverend James Julius Sams (1826 – 1918) reflected on his childhood around 1835 – 1840 on Datha Island were probably more British-inspired than German. Julius begins his reflections about Christmas this way,
“Christmas was the merriest and saddest time. The merriest, because we were all together. The saddest, because the time was coming for us to part again.”
3 Images of History 1 – Siege of Ninety Six. The fortified village of Nintey Six saw military action several times during the American Revolution from 1775 to 1781. This…
3 Images of History 1 – Echoes of the Sams Plantation. Visiting descendants of Dr. Lewis Reeve Sams Jr, MD, were able to view the ruins of their GGGGrandfather’s plantation…
3 Images of History 1 – To help beat the heat during these sweltering summer days, check out the ruins from this past January 2025 [photo by Bill Riski] 2…
3 Images of History Henry Ford on his Quadricycle, 1896, Detroit, Michigan [public domain] Fanny Sams Bell is third from the driver, front row. Women’s Suffragettes in Florida, circa 1907.…
Life’s Surprising Links: The Conant Family’s Path from New England to the Lowcountry Does anyone on our island recognize the family name CONANT? Someone does; it’s her grandmother’s…
This issue features articles about Frederick Tudor and his ice empire, the Piedmont Wagon in our Cannery area, and Collin Brooker and his background in tabby structures. download
3 Images, 2 Moments, 1 Memory Three Images of History The Marquis de la Fayette, portrayed by the remarkable reenactor and interpreter Mr. Mark Schneider, delivered a speech at the…
Recently, tour requests have begun to pick up. So I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to the winter home of Dr. BB Sams (1787-1855) and his family. Their tripartite house is one of several tabby structures in the Sams Plantation Complex Tabby Ruins, accepted on the National Register of Historic Places on March 4, 2011. In the antebellum period, and the sea islands of Beaufort in particular, nearly all planters had a summer home and winter home. The summer home is where they lived in the hot months to get away from their plantation(s) and the diseases associated with heat, humidity, and bugs. In summer, they went to their homes in Beaufort or St Helenaville. Summer was also the prime time of the year for socializing and for children to be tutored. In winter, the planters lived in their plantation homes. So the ruins you see today on Dataw Island are of Dr. BB Sams winter home and yard.
Historians and archeologists depend on human-made artifacts as clues to understanding and interpreting previous cultures. These historical objects give insight and lend credence to the influence of prior cultures on…
This issue featured an article about the Yamasee tribe. Like many of Dataw’s current residents, the Yamasee Indians were migrants to Beaufort, South Carolina. download
