Ninety Six National Historic Site, National Historic Site in Ninety Six, South Carolina.
Ninety Six National Historic Site preserves the site of the colonial village of Ninety Six, including the earthworks of Star Fort, a star-shaped fortification built by British forces in 1780. A wooden stockade of upright pointed posts and squared timber rails stands along the grounds, and a one-mile interpretive trail from the visitor center leads to the fort remains and the original town site.
Ninety Six grew into a village of about 100 settlers by the American Revolutionary War. The first land battle in South Carolina, the siege of Savage's Old Fields, took place there on November 19–21, 1775, when Major Andrew Williamson's militia tried to recover ammunition and gunpowder seized by Loyalists. The British fortified the village in 1780, and from May 22 to June 18, 1781, Major General Nathanael Greene's 1,000 Continentals besieged 550 Loyalists in the earthen star fort without taking it.
The site preserves remnants of an 18th-century colonial settlement that developed at the intersection of Native American trading paths and European migration routes.
The site opens daily from sunrise to sunset for self-guided exploration along the paved path. The visitor center offers additional resources and information during regular daytime hours.
The Star Fort's outline survives as low earthen banks rather than masonry walls; the wooden stockade seen at the site is a reconstruction of the village fortification. The 28-day siege of May 22 to June 18, 1781 pitted Nathanael Greene's 1,000 Continentals against 550 Loyalists, who held out.
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