What is Stono?
The Stono is a river in South Carolina's Lowcountry. It is named for the indigenous Stono people who once lived on and around present-day Johns Island.
My life and career are inextricably tied to the River, its tidal marshes, cypress-tupelo swamps, history, and people. For over twenty years I made the Stono riverscape my home. My personal links, which I have incrementally discovered over my life, stretch across centuries and is at the core of who I am. These connections are profound and continue to impact my work as a consultant and public historian.
Caw Caw County Park, 1999
When hired as the first public historian at Caw Caw Interpretive Center, I was told there was little more to learn about its history. However, within two years, I was able to document how this former rice plantation, carved from the primeval headwater swamps of the Stono River by enslaved Africans, was the site where the most paradoxical event of the Stono Rebellion unfolded.
Stono Rebellion, 1739
On September 9, 1739, a group of liberty seekers gathered at a store next to the Stono River Bridge, killed the shopkeeper, commandeered firearms and ammunition, and set out on a 250-mile journey to freedom in Spanish Florida. So began the largest uprising of enslaved people in British North America.
Battle of Stono Ferry, 1779
Forty years later, in 1779, another struggle for liberty erupted along the banks of the Stono River, at the same location as the Stono Rebellion. This time my 6th great grand uncle, Lieutenant Daniel Teachey of the North Carolina Duplin County Militia, fought and was wounded by the British in the Patriot defeat at the Battle of Stono Ferry.