South Carolina Trivia
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This South Carolina trivia quiz has 146 free questions with answers and covers the Palmetto State from the Lowcountry to the Upstate: Charleston and Columbia, Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, the palmetto-log walls that bounced British cannonballs, the first state to secede, the Confederate submarine that sank a warship, and the Revolutionary War battle that turned the tide in the South. It also covers what makes the state itself: the Grand Strand and Myrtle Beach's 86 golf courses, Congaree's giant trees, Gullah sweetgrass baskets, the state dance, the state snack, the BMW plant that is America's biggest car exporter, and famous natives from James Brown to Stephen Colbert. Questions range from easy to hard, with the difficulty shown on each. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference and each question carries its citation.
30 of 146 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital of South Carolina?
Columbia
Columbia has been the capital since the legislature first met there in 1790; it was laid out as a planned city near the state's geographic centre to balance Lowcountry and Upstate interests.
Q 02South Carolina is named in honour of which English king?
Charles I
Carolina comes from Carolus, Latin for Charles: the 1663 royal charter named the province in honour of Charles I, the king executed in 1649, father of the monarch who granted it.
Q 03South Carolina was which number state to ratify the US Constitution, on May 23, 1788?
Eighth
South Carolina was the eighth state to ratify, on May 23, 1788, a month before New Hampshire's ninth ratification put the Constitution into effect.
Q 04What distinction does South Carolina hold in the run-up to the Civil War?
First state to vote to secede
South Carolina was the first state to vote to secede, on December 20, 1860, by a convention vote of 169 to 0; it was readmitted on July 9, 1868.
Q 05Which Charleston Harbor stronghold was shelled by Confederate batteries on April 12, 1861, opening the Civil War?
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter, on an artificial island at the harbour mouth, endured a 34-hour bombardment with no combat deaths; Private Daniel Hough became the war's first fatality when a cannon misfired during the surrender salute.
Q 06Which Union officer commanded the garrison that surrendered Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861?
Robert Anderson
Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort after a 34-hour bombardment; P. G. T. Beauregard, once his artillery student at West Point, commanded the Confederate guns.
Q 07What is South Carolina's official nickname?
The Palmetto State
The Palmetto State takes its nickname from the sabal palmetto, the state tree, which has stood on the state seal since 1776 and on the state flag since 1861.
Q 08Why did palmetto logs prove such a good building material for the fort on Sullivan's Island in June 1776?
The spongy wood absorbed cannonballs
British cannon fire simply sank into the walls, and the patriots held the harbour. The tree went on the state flag in 1861 in tribute.
Q 09Besides the palmetto tree, what other white symbol appears on South Carolina's blue flag?
A crescent
The white crescent came from the cap insignia of Colonel William Moultrie's 2nd South Carolina Regiment, whose blue 1775 flag carried only the crescent; the palmetto was added in 1861.
Q 10Roughly what share of all combat in the Revolutionary War took place in South Carolina?
About a third
About a third of the war's combat actions, more than 200 engagements, were fought in South Carolina, including Kings Mountain in 1780 and Cowpens in 1781.
Q 11Which American general beat Tarleton at Cowpens in 1781 with a textbook double envelopment?
Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan had his militia fire two volleys and fall back, then closed Continentals and cavalry around Tarleton's pursuing men on January 17, 1781, capturing most of the British force.
Q 12What is the highest point in South Carolina?
Sassafras Mountain
Sassafras Mountain, on the North Carolina line in Pickens County, rises about 3,560 feet and is the highest point in South Carolina.
Q 13How many counties does South Carolina have?
46
South Carolina has 46 counties, a number unchanged since 1919, when Allendale became the last county created.
Q 21What natural disaster struck Charleston on August 31, 1886?
An earthquake
The 1886 earthquake, estimated at magnitude 7.0, killed about 60 people and damaged most buildings in the city; tremors were felt as far away as Boston and Chicago.
Q 22Which two rivers meet at the state capital to form the Congaree?
The Broad and the Saluda
The Broad and the Saluda join at the capital to form the Congaree, which flows on to meet the Wateree and become the Santee.
Q 23Which Army post near the state capital is the US Army's largest basic combat training installation?
Fort Jackson
Q 14What is South Carolina's official state bird?
Carolina wren
The Carolina wren, a small rusty-brown bird with a loud 'teakettle, teakettle' song, was named the official state bird in 1948.
Q 15What is South Carolina's official state dance?
The shag
The Carolina shag grew up along the Grand Strand to the sound of beach music in the 1940s and 50s.
Q 16What is South Carolina's official state snack?
Boiled peanuts
Boiled peanuts, green peanuts simmered in salted water, were named the official state snack by the legislature and are sold from roadside pots across the state.
Q 17In what year did English settlers found the city now called Charleston?
1670
Charles Town was founded in 1670 at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River, named for the reigning king Charles II, and moved to its present peninsula site in 1680.
Q 18What is Charleston's best-known nickname?
The Holy City
The Holy City refers to the church steeples that dominate the low skyline, a legacy of the colony's early religious tolerance, which drew Huguenots, Jews and dissenters.
Q 19What was the H. L. Hunley the first vessel of its kind to do, on February 17, 1864?
Sink an enemy warship as a submarine
It sank the USS Housatonic off Charleston and then vanished with its crew. Twenty-one men died in its three sinkings, including its inventor. It was raised in 2000 and is displayed in North Charleston.
Q 20How was the H. L. Hunley submarine propelled?
A hand-cranked propeller
Seven men turned the crank while an eighth steered, managing about four knots flat out.
Fort Jackson, on the east side of the capital, is the Army's largest basic combat training post; roughly half of all Army recruits complete basic training there.
Q 24In what year was the University of South Carolina founded, as South Carolina College?
1801
South Carolina College was chartered in 1801 and opened to students in 1805, intended to knit together the state's feuding Lowcountry and Upstate elites.
Q 25Congaree National Park protects the largest remaining tract of what kind of forest in the United States?
Old-growth bottomland hardwood
Congaree protects about 11,000 acres of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest, with champion-size loblolly pines and bald cypresses; it became a national park in 2003, dropping 'Swamp' from its name.
Q 26How long is the Boardwalk Loop, the most popular trail through Congaree National Park?
2.4 miles
The Boardwalk Loop runs 2.4 miles on elevated and low boardwalk from the visitor center through the floodplain forest to Weston Lake and back.
Q 27Myrtle Beach sits at the centre of a continuous stretch of beach called the Grand Strand. How long is it?
60 miles
The city is named for the local wax-myrtle shrub, was incorporated in 1938 and now draws more than 20 million visitors a year.
Q 28Roughly how many golf courses does the Myrtle Beach area have?
About 86
Myrtle Beach calls itself the Golf Capital of the World: about 86 courses line the Grand Strand, down from a peak of more than 120 around the year 2000.
Q 29Gullah sweetgrass baskets are nearly identical to coiled baskets made by which West African people?
The Wolof of Senegal
Gullah sweetgrass baskets are nearly identical to the coiled baskets of the Wolof of Senegal, a craft carried from the Senegambia rice coast and kept alive by the Sea Islands' isolation.
Q 30What is Gullah, apart from the name of a people?
A creole language
Gullah is an English-based creole language with African vocabulary and grammar, spoken on the Sea Islands; a Gullah New Testament, De Nyew Testament, was published in 2005.