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 on Bay Street, but closed in 1817 after a yellow fever epidemic, reopening in 1820 at Newcastle and Craven Sts. This building designed by John Gibbs 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. Carolina.

Reverse inscription

Beaufort College closed in the fall of 1861 when U.S. troops occupied the city. Its library was sent north and stored at the Smithsonian Institution but the books burned. During the Civil War it was a school for former slaves and a hospital for Federal troops. The college trustees regained control after the war. It was a private school for whites until it became a public elementary school in 1909. It became the Beaufort campus of the University of S.C. in 1959.