Four local projects to better understand and commemorate Charleston’s role in the American Revolution received more than $330,000 in grant funding from the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission (SC250).
The S.C. General Assembly chartered the commission in 2018 to help organizations throughout the state celebrate the state’s Revolutionary War legacy in July 2026.
The commission approved $15,000 to St. Philip’s Church for a Charleston Revolutionary War Leaders Churchyard Marker Project. The grant will help the church create and enhance markers to better identify important Revolutionary War figures that are buried in its churchyard. Christopher Gadsden, Charles Pinckney, and Edward Rutledge are just some of the Revolutionary War leaders buried at the church on Church Street.
Joseph McGill Jr., founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, and Herb Frazier, the City Paper’s senior editor, will do research into the Charleston-area Black Loyalists and Black Patriots. A $50,500 grant will allow them to deepen the understanding of African Americans who joined the Loyalist ranks and Patriot forces during the war and present the stories of these underrepresented Charleston-area participants.
The Friends of the Charleston National Parks received a $118,000 matching grant for Revolutionary War interpretative panels at Fort Moultrie. The National Park Service plans to develop and deploy a series of interpretative panels covering the war’s history at Fort Moultrie on Fort Sullivan. The panels will educate visitors about the Battle of Sullivan’s Island, its diverse participants and the role of Fort Sullivan in defending Charleston from British attack.
The SC250 commissioners also approved $148,500 for a new video presentation that will highlight the Battle of Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776, for a new generation of Americans. In partnership with Wide Awake Films, an award-winning producer of similar battle presentations for the American Battlefield Trust and The Liberty Trail, a 12-minute film will be designed to be presented in a wide range of venues and channels.
The Battle of Sullivan’s Island Animated Presentation will incorporate cutting-edge animation, live-action segments, historical images and an audio track to appeal to today’s audiences.
With delivery in late 2025, the video is projected to be delivered in late 2025, months before the 250th anniversary of the June 28 celebration of what is now known as Carolina Day. The presentation is to be designed to increase public awareness and appreciation for this key battle in which patriots repelled a British fleet in what was the first major naval victory of the war.
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