This engraving of Native Americans hollowing out logs for canoes illustrates how the Sewee tribe likely constructed its vessels.
Shipbuilding, of tall-masted sloops began in earnest in the 1700s.
For centuries, plantations bordered both sides of the creek, as shown in this 1863 Map of Charleston and Its Defences
The Magwood family has been synonymous with Shem Creek since Captain W.C. Magwood brought the Skipper, a freight boat converted for shrimping there in 1930.
The Magwoods have touted the “buy local” slogan for decades, as evidenced by the sign at C A Magwood Jr & Sons seafood and dock.
Third-generation shrimper Wayne Magwood continues the tradition on his trawler, Winds of Fortune.
Shrimp boats several deep on the docks in the 1970s
The Mount Pleasant Boat Building Company existed on the former E.O. Hall Boatyard for some 60 years.
A list of boats delivering to the Toler family’s Mount Pleasant Seafood in 1979
Working the lines off an outrigger to bring up the nets
Captain Walter Toler of Mount Pleasant Seafood poses with his wife, Lillian, and daughter, Peggy.
Englishman Jonathan Lucas
Lucas purchased the Greenwich Mill property in 1793 and rebuilt it as a water-powered facility that could process lumber and rice.
Hay Oil Company, circa 1950, provided fuel and ice for boats.
The Lorelei Seafood Restaurant
Captain Thomas Chandler built his 60-foot trawler, the Mary Elliott, himself.
Refrigerated trucks once lined up to haul the catch across the country.
Magwood boys sewing shrimp nets circa 1940
Lady Essie was owned and operated by revered shrimper and Coast Guard Captain Barry Wilson.
Many schooners were built in local 18th-century shipyards. By the 1760s, approximately 80 percent of registered local vessels were schooners, according to Mount Pleasant: The Victorian Village (Arcadia, 1997).
Heading shrimp in a Shem Creek seafood house in the 1970s
