Every Lake
South Carolina
A wedge between two rivers, from the Blue Ridge corner down to the Grand Strand.
South Carolina in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of South Carolina.
About South Carolina
South Carolina is a triangle set on its side. The Savannah River draws the whole southwestern border, the Little Pee Dee and a surveyed line the northeast, and the 35th parallel clips the top until it steps down around the mountains. Inside it the land falls in three clean bands: the Blue Ridge corner with Sassafras Mountain, the rolling Piedmont, and the coastal plain below the fall line at Columbia, running out to the Lowcountry marsh, the Sea Islands and sixty miles of Grand Strand beach. Forty-six counties replaced the old district system.
South Carolina ratified on May 23, 1788, eighth of the thirteen. Columbia was laid out in 1786 on a grid as a deliberate compromise capital — the Lowcountry planters and the Upcountry farmers each refused the other's town, so the legislature built a new one near the center of the state on the Congaree. The map's crossroads are easy to read: I-26 runs from the mountains down to Charleston harbor, I-95 crosses it on the coastal plain, and I-85 carries the Upstate through Greenville and Spartanburg.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 12 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
