Beaufort College

Front: 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: 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.