In 1993,
the members of the Yemassee Community asked then mayor Jack
Moore if Yemassee could have a festival like the
other communities in the area. With the Yemassee community being
a key figure in the evolution of shrimp baiting and its members
refining it to become what it is today, it was only fitting that
Yemassee have a shrimp festival. Yemassee's Shrimp Festival is
evolving each year just as its shrimp baiting has. With both
endeavors, Yemassee's community has found new ways of refining
good ideas. If there is one thing that Yemassee knows about, its
shrimp. Visit our Shrimp Festival page for more information.
Yemassee
is a small town rich in local history. In the late
seventeenth century, when Englishmen began to settle coastal Carolina, a
number of tribes, mostly of Muskogean stock, inhabited the area. Of
those tribes, the Yemassee was the most extensive and powerful. Its
territory stretched along the coast from southern Georgia to the region
of the Edisto. Its two major centers of power lay between the Savannah
and Combahee rivers at Pocataligo and Coosawhatchie, villages which to
this day retain those names.
Towards the end of the Civil War, Sherman's army came through the area
on his infamous march to the ocean from Atlanta, Georgia. All of
the churches in the area were destroyed except for the Presbyterian
Church which was used as a hospital by the union army. You can
still see blood stains on the floor on the still standing church.
The house where Somerset Maugham wrote the Razor's Edge is located in
this area. There is also a house which was designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright, the famous architect. The house is unique in its design of
having no right angles. The house is located on Auld Brass
Plantation and has been refurbished.
Between
1914 and 1964, the Marine Corps utilized the railroad depot at
Yemassee, South Carolina as the gateway to Parris Island Recruit
Training Depot. Over nearly half a century, more than
500,000 recruits passed through the train station at Yemassee.
Half of those came through during World War II. In 1942,
the Marine Corps leased from the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, a
facility to house incoming recruits. This barracks still
stands today.
The Yemassee
Restoration Project needs donations! you can help restore the
barracks - click the brick for more info!
festival. Yemassee's Shrimp Festival is
evolving each year just as its shrimp baiting has. With both
endeavors, Yemassee's community has found new ways of refining
good ideas. If there is one thing that Yemassee knows about, its
shrimp. Visit our Shrimp Festival page for more information.
