Beaufort College

Front inscription

Beaufort College, a college preparatory academy founded in 1795, occupied this Greek Revival building from 1852 to 1861. The school opened in 1804 at Bay and Church Sts. but closed in 1817 after a yellow fever epidemic, reopening in 1820 at Newcastle and Craven Sts. This building, designed by John Gibbes Barnwell II featured two classrooms, two offices, and a library modeled after the one at S.C. College, now the South Caroliniana Library at the University of S.C.

Reverse inscription

Beaufort College closed its doors in the fall of 1861 when Beaufort was occupied by Federal troops. For the rest of the Civil War it was a school for former slaves and part of a hospital complex serving both freedmen and Federal soldiers. It also served as headquarters of the Freedmen's Bureau here during Reconstruction, then became a public elementary school in 1909. In 1959 the University of S.C. acquired this building for its new Beaufort campus.