Dorchester County Genealogy
Dorchester County was formed in 1897 from Berkeley and Colleton Counties. The county was named for Dorchester Massachusetts. As early as 1696 a group of Congregationalists from there relocated to South Carolina and founded the town of Dorchester. That town was abandoned in 1788, but the parish name of St. George Dorchester persisted. The county seat is St. George. One notable location in Dorchester county is Middleton Place Gardens, laid out in 1741, the oldest landscaped gardens in the country. This was a rice plantation. The Middleton family included a member of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence and a Governor and Ambassador.
Dorchester County SCGenweb site
Dorchester County Courthouse
201 Johnson Street
County Courthouse
Saint George, SC 29477
Dorchester County Records
Census
1790 Federal Census of the areas that would become Dorchester County
Cemeteries
USGS listing of cemeteries of Dorchester County (St. George Parish and Beech Hill)
Dorchester County Query Forums
Dorchester County, SC Forum for Queries
Latest South Carolina Genealogy Query posts for Dorchester County from the Forum:
Dorchester County, SC at genforum
Cities and towns of Dorchester County:
Charleston
Dorchester
Grover
Harleyville
Lincolnville
North Charleston
Reevesville
Ridgeville
Saint George (County Seat)
Summerville
News related to Dorchester County, SC
