Parris Island, South Carolina

Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island (often abbreviated as MCRD PI) is an 8,095-acre (32.76 km2) military installation located within Port Royal, South Carolina, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Beaufort, the community that is typically associated with the installation. MCRD Parris Island is used for United States Marine Corps Recruit Training of enlisted United States Marines. Recruits living east of the Mississippi River report there to receive initial training. Recruits living west of the Mississippi River receive training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California, but may train at MCRD Parris Island by special request.

The Parris Island Museum is located at Building 111, Panama Street, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. The museum consists of a 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) facility and includes exhibits of the history of the United States Marine Corps as well as the history of the Port Royal region. Exhibits cover the span of time and occupancy of the island, from Native American civilization and French and Spanish colonies to modern day. Other exhibits display artifacts from the early 19th century to the present day.

The Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site is an important early colonial archaeological site on Parris Island, South Carolina, United States. It contains the archaeological remains of a French settlement called Charlesfort, settled in 1562 and abandoned the following year, and the later 16th-century Spanish settlement known as Santa Elena. The Spanish remains include a fort built directly on top of the abandoned Charlesfort remains. The fort and other nearby structures have been called, at various times, Fort San Marcos or Fort San Felipe, and have the designated archaeological site identifiers 38BU51 and 38BU162. Because of their remarkable state of preservation, and their importance in understanding early French and Spanish colonial practices, the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001. The site is accessible through the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Port Royal, South Carolina.

Santa Elena, a Spanish settlement on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina, was the capital of Spanish Florida from 1566 to 1587. It was established under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the first governor of Spanish Florida. There had been a number of earlier attempts to establish colonies in the area by both the Spanish and the French, who had been inspired by the earlier accounts by Chicora and Hernando de Soto of rich territories in the interior. Menéndez's Santa Elena settlement was intended as the new capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida, shifting the focus of Spanish colonial efforts north from St. Augustine, which had been established in 1565 to oust the French from their colony of Fort Caroline. Santa Elena was ultimately built at the site of the abandoned French outpost of Charlesfort, founded in 1562 by Jean Ribault. In 1565 Menéndez destroyed the French Fort Caroline and then founded Santa Elena. This colony had a sizeable population, including missionaries and soldiers. The settlement became the base of operations for the Jesuits and military working in the northern zone of Spanish Florida. From this base the Spanish founded six other forts during the Captain Juan Pardo expedition into the interior and the Appalachian Mountains. But local Native American tribes resisted, killing the garrisons and destroying all the forts in 1568. Spain abandoned thoughts of colonizing this area.In 1586 Francis Drake led an English force in a raid on St. Augustine. The Spanish abandoned Santa Elena the following year, and its remaining settlers were relocated to St. Augustine to strengthen it. The Spanish never pressed their colonial claims to the area again, focusing on other areas of the American continent.

Beaufort County ( BEW-fərt) is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 187,117. Its county seat is Beaufort and its largest community is Hilton Head Island.Beaufort County is part of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is one of the South's fastest-growing counties, primarily because of development south of the Broad River clustered along the U.S. Highway 278 corridor. The county's northern portions have also grown steadily, due in part to the strong federal military presence around the city of Beaufort. The county's two portions are connected by the Broad River Bridge, which carries South Carolina Highway 170. Beaufort County has been identified as the most at-risk county in the contiguous United States for combined damage from climate change in the medium term, largely due to high wet-bulb temperatures, economic and farm crop damages, and sea level rise.

Parris Island Drydock and Commanding Generals House is a historic home and drydock and national historic district located at Parris Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The district encompasses one contributing building and two contributing structures at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. The drydock was constructed in the early 1890s and was one of the few wooden graving-type drydocks in the United States. It was also the largest naval drydock at the time of its construction. It fell into disrepair in the 1920s as ships began to outgrow the drydock. Quarters One, or the Commanding General's home, was constructed between 1891 and 1895, and has been the traditional home of the depot Commanding General. The two-story house has 27 rooms and features a full-width porch that also partially down both sides of the house. Associated with the home is a contributing octagonal gazebo (c. 1900).It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

The Broad River is a tidal channel in Beaufort and Jasper counties, South Carolina. The channel flows between the mainland on the west and Port Royal and Parris islands on the east. The Coosawhatchie River flows into the Broad River at the head. It joins Coosaw River channel Northeast and continues Southeast to the Atlantic Ocean as Port Royal Sound.S.C. Highway 170 crosses the Broad River on a 1.7-mile bridge, connecting Beaufort and Port Royal with southern Beaufort and Jasper counties.

F.W. Scheper Store is a historic general store located at Port Royal, Beaufort County, South Carolina. The store is one of the last remaining 19th century commercial buildings in Port Royal. It was built in 1885, and is a large two-story frame commercial building, with a one-story addition constructed between 1905 and 1912. It is the largest historic commercial building remaining in Port Royal. The store served the community from its construction by German immigrant F.W. Scheper until it closed for business in 1950.It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Union Church of Port Royal, also known as Port Royal White Union Church, 11th Street Tabernacle, and Free Church of Port Royal, is a historic church located at Port Royal, Beaufort County, South Carolina. It was completed in 1878, and consists of a one-story, wood frame, brick-piered building with a central entry and portico. It has a cupola containing the church's belfry. It was built with donated lumber by local citizens in 1877–1878 to provide the Port Royal community its only white house of worship at that time.It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

The Port Royal School is a historic South Carolina school building. It is located at 1214 Paris Avenue in the town of Port Royal. Its original main block is a two-story Colonial Revival structure designed by Wilson and Sompayrac and built in 1911. In 1954 a single-story brick Modern addition was added to the north of this building; it was designed by William Harleston of Halsey & Cummings. A second addition was made in 2002, further extending the 1954 building to the north. The building is believed to be the second-oldest active elementary school building in the state. It also contributed to the area's checkered history of the provision of so-called "separate but equal" educational facilities for whites and African Americans: the 1954 addition occurred at a time when the last elementary school for African Americans in Port Royal was closed, requiring the transportation of those students to Beaufort. The Port Royal School remained whites-only until 1964.The school was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.