My
Scribe| By: The Post and Courier Staff | |
| Originally Published on: 6/6/04 |
1666: The English exploratory ship Berkeley Bay explores Bohicket Creek and the sea islands. Its report says the lands are "choice," "faine," and "peereless." 1685: Fifteen years after Charles Town colony is established, Johns Island is populated by 20 men, women and child Quakers settling on the island's northwestern fringe.
1719: Johns Island Presbyterian Church built.
1730: About this time, Fenwick Hall is built. It remains the only intact example of high-style Georgian architecture on the island.
1739: The Stono Rebellion begins on Johns Island as slaves kill white settlers and attempt to flee to Florida, where the Spanish promised to welcome them. The group is caught.
1742: St. Johns Anglican Church opens on Johns Island.
1779: A British army led by Gen. Augustine Prevost planned to besiege Charles Town but retreated to Johns Island and built earthworks at Stono Ferry. A year later, a force under Sir Henry Clinton crosses Johns en route to take Charles Town.
1860: Johns Island has 61 plantations or farms on the eve of the Civil War.
1870: The Mt. Hebron Presbyterian Church on Bohicket Road is finished. It was built from lumber salvaged from a shipwreck and today is considered the oldest black-owned building on the island.
1885: About 10 percent of the island is owned by black residents.
1911: Johns Islander John F. Limehouse buys a car and ferries it over to the island. About four years later, a wooden bridge is built to the island.
1917: Moving Star Hall, a praise house off River Road, is built. It becomes a fixture in black history and spawned the nationally famous Moving Star Hall singers.
1952: A causeway and bridge is built from Johns Island to Kiawah Island.
1958: The new swing Limehouse Bridge opens.
1958: About 15 Johns Island residents ask for tighter zoning to prevent objectionable uses near their home. The island, an A-4 zone, has practically no restrictions.
1959: A rural fire district is proposed for Johns and Wadmalaw islands.
1965: The U.S. Corps of Engineers launches a yearlong study to try to improve drainage on the island, and work is expected to involve opening up existing drainage streams, straightening them out and cleaning them out, if needed. "We have been having a good deal of trouble in all these new subdivisions," a county official says.
1970: The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina sells all but 200 acres of the 1,300-acre Seabrook Island to a development company after plans to make the island into a state park fall through. Two years later, plans are announced for 1,200 single-family homes and almost 1,500 multi-family units.
1973: Kuwaitis buy a major portion of Kiawah Island, deny plans for offshore drilling.
1974: About 60 Johns Islanders question how developing Kiawah Island will affect their taxes or beach access, but none voice concrete opposition to plans for a new ocean-side resort. Two months later, the Kiawah Development Co. is expected to petition County Council to rezone Kiawah from agricultural to a planned-unit development.
1978: County Council refuses to rezone 4.4 acres for a 30-unit apartment building to serve workers on Kiawah and Seabrook islands. County planners recommended disapproval on the grounds that the area is remote farmland and shouldn't be converted to urban density use.
1979: The county holds a public comment session on proposed growth management guidelines but hears a lot of complaints. The guidelines are shelved for four years, except for guidelines for Maybank between Rivers and Bohicket roads.
1983: Charleston City Council approves annexing about 2,400 acres of Johns Island. Some express concern about the city's cost to serve the island, but Mayor Joe Riley says police and fire service can be provided using James Island facilities and that future Johns Island development would offset the cost of new fire and police service. Farmers drive tractors through downtown Charleston's streets to protest the city's move.
1984: A septic tank rule change opens up as much as 20-30 percent of undeveloped property on Johns Island for home sites. "It's going to end up not just being good for Charleston County, but will be applicable throughout the Lowcountry," a health official said. "It's going to put some more single-family homes up, and that's going to make some people happy."
1988: The city and county of Charleston pass a joint land-use plan for Johns Island, defining commercial and industrial areas.
1991: The Betsy Kerrison Parkway, a four-lane divided road between the entrance to Kiawah and Seabrook and the intersection of Rivers and Bohicket roads, opens.
1995: After many rezoning requests clashed with the 1988 plan, the city and county update their plans, partly to allow for more commercial development along Maybank Highway.
2002: Work begins on a new regional library for Johns Island that will be the second largest library in the county's system.
2003: The new Limehouse Bridge opens, as do two lanes of the new Stono River Bridge. Both are elevated, making waiting for drawbridges but a memory.
2004: Supporters and opponents of a proposed 30-inch water line for Johns Island continue to battle in court.
My
Scribe