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C+History
History · Port Royal

Port Royal’s post office opened in 1861, and 3 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns · #75 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

Most of Port Royal was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2008. Its Register listings are the F.W. Scheper Store, the Union Church of Port Royal and the Port Royal School. Its Register listings are the F.W. Scheper Store, the Union Church of Port Royal and the Port Royal School. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1944 on, and the census since 1880.

1861first post office
3on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Port Royal’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Port Royal began

When was Port Royal founded?

1861

The Port Royal post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Paris Island (1913), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 170 in 18802020 census: 14,220165 years

How historic is Port Royal?

C+

More historic than 37% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Port Royal post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Port Royal’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Royal is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #75 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Port Royal’s overall grade.
Founding era1861, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19405.3% of homes (±3.5) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register3 listings, 1.9 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 37%
NewerOlder
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 56%

South Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Carolina town has 3.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Port Royal’s 1.9 sits near the middle of its state (50% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Port Royal’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1900 and 1940, then grew more than tenfold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Port Royal, and 7 old place names are still on the map.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers, 1790–1917.
★ What stands out · People over time

Port Royal, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,00014,00018801900192019401960198020002020601 in 1900Low: 342

Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1940, then grew more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Port Royal’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Port Royal’s post office has been open since 1861. Another post office, Paris Island, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Port Royal
1861–today
Paris Island
1913–1943
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Battery Marina VillageGreen PondMariners WatchPort Royal LandingRiverwindSanta ElenaShell Point
Gone or out of use
CharlesfortlocaleFort San FelipemilitaryFort San Marcosmilitary
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Port Royal
JerichoOld FortPort RoyalShell Point

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

By decade

Port Royal, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1790s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1790s1 item
Old Port Royal - Project Gutenberg eText 193961790Old Port Royal - Project Gutenberg eText 19396Document
1860s5 items
Battery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Royal, S.C., captured 18611861Battery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Royal, S.C., captu…Contrabands Aboard U.S. Ship Vermont1861Contrabands Aboard U.S. Ship VermontMap of Country around Port Royal River1862Map of Country around Port Royal RiverMap"Emancipation Day in South Carolina" - the Color-Sergeant of the 1st South Carolina (Colored) addressing the regiment, …1863"Emancipation Day in South Carolina" - the Color-Serg…Hilton Head1866Hilton Head
1890s–1910s6 items
Port Royal Island South Carolina 1862 View of a farm house1892Port Royal Island South Carolina 1862 View of a farm …Port Royal - F. W. Scheper's Store1909Port Royal - F. W. Scheper's StorePort Royal - Officers and Officers Buildingc. 1910Port Royal - Officers and Officers BuildingLanding2PortRoyal18621911Landing2PortRoyal1862Beaufort - "Old Fort" 01c. 1915Beaufort - "Old Fort" 01Port Royal - Parade, U.S. Naval Disciplinary Barracks1917Port Royal - Parade, U.S. Naval Disciplinary Barracks
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
The story

How Port Royal came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Port Royal.

Read it all →

Port Royal takes its name from the adjacent Port Royal Sound, which was explored and named by Frenchman Jean Ribault in 1562. Ribault founded the short-lived settlement of Charlesfort on Parris Island. The area later became the site of a Spanish and still later Scottish colony during the 17th century.

Port Royal was the site of the Naval Battle of Port Royal during the Civil War. Later during the war, it was one of the sites of the Port Royal Experiment, which included most of the Sea Islands in Union hands. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was first read at Christmas under the Proclamation tree in Port Royal.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Port Royal, 1790 to 2020

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 18th century
  2. 1790In the archiveOld Port Royal - Project Gutenberg eText 19396
  3. 19th century
  4. 1861In the archiveBattery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Royal, S.C., captured 1861
  5. 1861Post officeThe Port Royal post office opens
  6. 1892In the archivePort Royal Island South Carolina 1862 View of a farm house
  7. 1898Born hereRandolph McCall Pate is born here
  8. 20th century
  9. 1909In the archivePort Royal - F. W. Scheper's Store
  10. 1910In the archivePort Royal - Officers and Officers Building
  11. 1913Post officeThe Paris Island post office opens
  12. 1943Post officeThe Paris Island post office closes
  13. 1944On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  14. 21st century
  15. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 14,220
On the map

Port Royal on the map, 1944 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Port Royal. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Port Royal on the 1944 USGS mapPort Royal on the 1958 USGS mapPort Royal on the 1979 USGS map1944Fort Fremont sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Port Royal.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Battery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Royal, S.C., captured 1861
Retake this viewBattery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Royal, S.C., captured 1861, 1861

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Port Royal’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

3 historic places in Port Royal

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
3
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
F.W. Scheper Store
F.W. Scheper StoreUnion Church of Port RoyalPort Royal School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian1
F.W. Scheper StoreBuilding
Union Church of Port RoyalLate Victorian
All 3 listings
Port Royal SchoolBuilding · listed 2014

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Port Royal’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBattery Beauregard, Bay Point Port Roya…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BurtonIts storyDShell PointIts storyD−Beaufort14 historic placesA

Questions about Port Royal’s history

What year was Port Royal founded?

The Port Royal post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Port Royal rank for history?

Port Royal is more historic than 37% of U.S. towns, #75 of 169 in South Carolina. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Port Royal?

Three places: the F.W. Scheper Store (listed 2004), the Union Church of Port Royal (2010) and the Port Royal School (2014).

How old are the homes in Port Royal?

5% of Port Royal’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 2008.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.