Settlement Communities

It’s easy to get caught up in the front-page projects happening downtown—developments like Union Pier, or the Four Seasons are dramatic and dominate the headlines of local papers and news outlets. While advocacy targeting these projects is critically important, in many ways the tip of the preservation spear has shifted away from the peninsula of Charleston

Communities throughout Charleston County are facing an ever-growing threat of development pressure and displacement. Many of these are historic African American communities that are leading grassroots preservation efforts to gain the recognition they deserve and using the resources at hand as tools in the fight for survival. As of 2022, Charleston County recognizes three historic districts: Ten Mile, the Phillips and the Beefield. With this recognition, the communities are protected by the oversight of the Charleston County Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). The HPC provides a similar level of oversight for these historic districts as the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) does in the City of Charleston, ensuring that any proposed developments compliment the typical scale and style of architecture in the districts. Most importantly, the HPC has additional powers granted by the Charleston County Historic Preservation Ordinance to approve or deny applications that “must demonstrate consistency with the prevailing patterns of existing lots, densities, spacing of homes, lot sizes and shapes, and other characteristics of the Historic District that the Historic Preservation Commission deems applicable.”

Historic Charleston Foundation is proud to support these important communities and will continue to advocate at the county level for the establishment of more county historic districts like Phillips, Beefield, and Ten Mile, to ensure the protection of these critically endangered cultural resources.