As America prepares to commemorate its 250th anniversary, communities across the country are planning ceremonies, festivals, and celebrations.
In South Carolina, we started with a different question:
How can this moment leave our state stronger than we found it?
That question has shaped an approach that is as much about the future as it is about the past.
Like many Americans, I grew up learning about Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, and Yorktown. Those stories remain essential to understanding our nation’s path to independence. But somewhere along the way, America largely forgot the critical role South Carolina played in securing that independence.
The American Revolution was not won in a single battle or a single colony. It was a long and complicated struggle that eventually shifted south. More battles and skirmishes were fought in South Carolina than in any other state during the Revolutionary War. From Cowpens and Ninety Six in the Upstate to Camden in the Midlands and Sullivan’s Island on the coast, the Revolution touched virtually every corner of our state.
More battles and skirmishes were fought in South Carolina than in any other state during the Revolutionary War.
Yet South Carolina’s Revolutionary story is about far more than military campaigns.
It is the story of Patriots and Loyalists. Of free and enslaved Africans. Of Native Americans caught between competing powers. Of women who held families and communities together. Of ordinary people making extraordinary decisions during extraordinary times.
Like America itself, it is a complicated story. And it deserves to be told in full.
That belief has shaped South Carolina’s approach to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Rather than concentrating resources in a handful of major cities, we made a deliberate decision to involve the entire state. Today, all 46 counties have a seat at the table. Local committees, historical societies, educators, preservation groups, veterans’ organizations, churches, museums, civic leaders, and volunteers are helping tell the stories that matter most to their communities.
The results have been remarkable.
Communities are uncovering stories they never knew existed. Historic sites are being preserved. New markers are being installed. Local museums are expanding exhibits. Students are learning that American history happened in their hometowns, not just in textbooks.
Most importantly, people are beginning to understand that their local story is part of a much larger American story.
That is where the real opportunity lies.
People are beginning to understand that their local story is part of a much larger American story. That is where the real opportunity lies.
Too often, commemorations become a series of events. We host a celebration, unveil a marker, fire a cannon, watch fireworks, and move on.
South Carolina chose to think differently.
What if commemoration could also create economic opportunity? What if preserving a battlefield helped a small town attract visitors? What if telling a local story encouraged someone to spend a weekend exploring a community they had never visited before?
That is exactly what is happening across our state.
History is not only something we preserve because it matters. It is also an asset. When communities invest in their stories, people come to experience them. Visitors stay in hotels, eat in local restaurants, shop in local stores, and support local attractions. Historic preservation becomes economic development.
The beauty of South Carolina’s Revolutionary story is that it belongs everywhere. From large cities to small rural communities, every county has something meaningful to contribute. Every community has a story worth telling and an opportunity to benefit from telling it.
After all, America’s story has always been a collection of local stories woven together across generations.
In many ways, that may be the most important lesson of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The Revolution was never about a handful of famous people. It was about ordinary people who believed they were part of something larger than themselves.
That same spirit is alive today.
You can hear it when bells ring to commemorate Carolina Day. You can see it when a community restores a cemetery, dedicates a marker, preserves a battlefield, or gathers to tell stories that have been forgotten for generations. You can see it when a child discovers that American history happened right down the road from where they live.
Those moments create something far more powerful than a spectacle.
A fireworks show lasts a few minutes. The concert lasts for an evening. But a shared sense of belonging can last for generations.
As South Carolina works to reclaim its rightful place in the Revolutionary story, we are discovering that the true legacy of the 250th will not be measured by the number of events we host. It will be measured by the places we preserve, the communities we strengthen, the economic opportunities we create, and the stories we leave behind.
At the end of the day, that is what we are really celebrating.
Not just where we have been.
But who we are.
And the powerful reminder that this story belongs to all of us.
Molly Fortune serves as Chief Executive Officer of the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission, the state’s official organization leading the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.