In 1697, Congregationalist settlers from Dorchester, Massachusetts, founded a town on the banks of the all-important Ashley River. For nearly 100 years, Dorchester prospered as an inland trade center for the region. Trade with the Native Americans, the development of rice and indigo as viable cash crops, and an infusion of people (slave, planter and merchant) brought Dorchester to an economic peak in the mid 1700s. However, with the frontier shifting further inland, an improved overland road system, and destruction at the hands of the British during the American Revolution, the town slowly disappeared and was all but abandoned at the close of the 1700s.

Francis Marion briefly commanded a garrison at the fort at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Today, the South Carolina State Park Service is charged with the care and preservation of this 325-acre historical and archaeological treasure.

Site Access: Public
Access Description: 9am-6pm, daily, during Daylight Saving Time. 9am-5pm, daily, the remainder of the year.
Admission: $2 adults, $1.25 SC seniors, Age 15 and younger free