Looking at South Carolina’s flag, one might imagine a band of pirates sneaking ashore at night. Beneath a crescent moon they bury a chest full of treasure near a palm. Then they scurry across the beach to their waiting boat, disturbing a nesting sea turtle.
It might have happened—who knows? Perhaps Captain Kidd’s legendary treasure rests under a South Carolina beach. A cruel pirate named Stede Bonnet was hanged in the port city of Charles Town, named for a British king. Later, American colonists grew tired of British rule and revolted. Today Charles Town is Charleston, one of South Carolina’s most beautiful cities.
South Carolina’s state flag is a reminder that this is a coastal state. The sabal palmetto on the flag recalls a fort made of palmetto logs on Sullivan’s Island. The fort withstood bombardment by the British during the Revolutionary War.
On the mainland is another symbol of sorts—Francis Marion National Forest. It is named for a Revolutionary War hero nicknamed the “Swamp Fox.” South Carolina’s Coastal Plain, or “low country,” certainly has plenty of swamps to hide in, including Congaree Swamp National Monument and Santee Swamp. It’s no wonder South Carolina’s nicknames include Swamp State.
Santee National Wildlife Refuge contains a mysterious “Carolina bay.” Many of these odd, egg-shaped depressions occur throughout the Carolinas and Georgia. Were they caused by ancient meteorites?
West of the Coastal Plain is the Piedmont, or “up country,” which is up to 100 miles wide. A belt of low Sand Hills as much as thirty miles wide stretches across South Carolina from Georgia through Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge almost to North Carolina. These sandhills are ancient beaches, a reminder that the sea was once much higher than it is today.
Along the Fall Line are numerous swift streams and waterfalls which were harnessed long ago to power mills. One of the first public hydroelectric plants in the United States used waterpower to make electricity near Anderson in 1897. Textile-mill products are still manufactured in Spartanburg, Greenville, and many smaller towns in this region.
South Carolina is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the south by Georgia. All three states meet at South Carolina’s western border, in the domain of the Appalachians. Only the easternmost portion of the Appalachian highlands, the Blue Ridge Mountains, occupy South Carolina. Rising near the North Carolina border, Mt. Sassafras is South Carolina’s highest peak at 3,560 feet.
The Appalachians were formed when North America collided with Europe and Africa long before dinosaurs evolved. The earth buckled, forming mountains. Over many millions of years, sediments eroded from the Appalachians have been deposited on the “low country” or washed out to sea. Some of these sediments have been swept up by the sea to form the sandy beaches where sea turtles nest.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - 
