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- Angel Oak on John’s Island is thought to be the oldest living thing east of the Mississippi River. It’s believed to be more than 1,500 years old.
- South Carolina produces more peaches than anywhere in the country, except California.
- The world’s smallest police station is in Ridgeway. It’s about as big as a toll booth and was in full use from 1940-1990.
- South Carolina is the birthplace of barbecue. This can be debated, but the Indians were pit-cooking hogs centuries ago off the coast – or so the story goes.
- South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, and after striking out on its own, the state actually printed its own money and created its own postage stamps.
- All of these South Carolina town names are 100% real: Coward, South of the Border, Due West, Ninety Six, North, and Welcome.
- There’s a UFO Welcome Center in Bowman. It was built by a local man to welcome aliens whenever they finally decide to land.
- Sweetgrass basket making not only originated in the Charleston and Mt. Pleasant communities, but today Mt. Pleasant is the only modern suburb where this type of basketry is still practiced.
- It’s illegal to fish with a yo-yo or dynamite in the state of South Carolina.
- Morgan Island, aka Monkey Island, is an uninhabited island that is home to the only free-ranging colony of rhesus macaque monkeys in the United States. There are around 3,500 monkeys on the island.
- South Carolina wasn’t always known as the Palmetto State. It used to be known as the Iodine State, and even said so on the license plates in the 1930’s.
- Captain Joseph D. Allen donated a sundial to Barnwell, SC in 1858. It is the only one in the country like it and has kept perfect time for more than 150 years!
- Found at the top of the 18th story Capstone Building in Columbia, The Top restaurant is the only revolving restaurant found in South Carolina! It offers 360-degree views of the Columbia landscape.