MCAS Beaufort, SC Museums

The Lowcountry is famous for its scenic beauty, local charm, and food. The area has a lot of history, as one of the oldest settled regions of the US, and this includes the growth of the American Revolution, battle sites of the War for Independence and the Civil War, and of course the basic training center for the USMC. Local military history sites include the Battle of Beaufort, the Battle of Combahee River, and other harassing battles against the British. In the Civil War the Battle of Honey Hill occurred nearby, and Fort Howell was created to protect freedmen in the Civil War.

The Parris Island Museum is in Building 111 at nearby MCRD Parris Island, and showcases the service of Marines since the late 19th Century.

The other major museum in Beaufort is the Kazoo Museum, dedicated to the difficult to master musical instrument and its many forms. This museum was moved to Beaufort in 2010.

The Coastal Discovery Museum is a museum about local culture, local history, and local natural history, with a great variety of educational programs, including art and fishing.

Bluffton has no single large museum; it has lots of little ones, mostly historic houses. The Bluffton Historic Museums include pre- and post-Civil War houses, some open for touring with appointment.

Charleston is another old American city, famous for its French Quarter, museums, especially history museums, including the Charleston Museum, the Exchange and Provost (where prisoners in the American Revolution were held by the British), the Powder Magazine Museum, and many others. Other local museums include North Charleston's LaFrance Fire Museum, and the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, which in addition to the shore museum has three museum ships, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, the destroyer USS Laffey, and the submarine USS Clamagore. The South Carolina Aquarium is also in Charleston, featuring hundreds of species, the Great Ocean Tank, and a Touch Tank, for patrons to handle sea life.

Savannah is an hour away, and has fewer museums, but a great deal of its own history, including the famous Savannah City Squares, and nearby Fort James Jackson, a restored 19th Century fort.