Charleston County Chapter

Charleston County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2010 census, its population was 350,209. Its county seat is Charleston. It is the third-most populous county in the state (behind Greenville and Richland counties). Charleston County was created in 1901 by an act of the South Carolina State Legislature. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and used by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only, Charleston County is included within the Charleston-North Charleston-Summerville metropolitan area. The city of Charleston is situated on the Bay of Charleston. Its natural location on the best harbor on the South Atlantic coast has made it a notable port of commerce for three centuries. It is one of the most historic cities in the United States and preserves all the flavor of its early heritage.

Writing of Charleston in 1773, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts said that "in grandeur, splendor of buildings, decorations, equipages, numbers of commerce, shipping, and indeed in almost everything" it far surpassed all he had ever seen or ever expected to see in America, and, in 1926, William Allen White of Kansas declared, in a public speech, that Charleston was "the most civilized town in America." It does a large import and export business, manufactures fertilizer, and contains many small industries. It is beautifully situated, is notable for its architecture, has fine hotels, is served by excellent Interstate access, and has the most gorgeous suspension bridge on the Atlantic coast. Its climate is balmy in winter and tempered in summer with sea breezes. Charleston has many parks and fountains.

Charleston County stretches from the mouth of the south Santee River to the mouth of the south Edisto River, 91 miles of coast on the Atlantic ocean, and has a total area of 888 square miles. The coast line is made up of a chain of islands, forming a natural barrier to the mainland, into which reach fingers of the sea, forming numerous small inlets and including, almost in the geographical center of the county, the beautiful bay of Charleston, into which the Ashley and the Cooper, two large tidal rivers, empty.