The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina was founded in 1893. We work to inspire all people to understand and honor our origins as a nation.
The headquarters of the South Carolina Society is in Charleston, with six Town Committees located throughout the state. We work to honor our origins, foster a love of country, and educate all citizens on the ideals of liberty. As the tenth Colonial State Society to join The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America, we are committed to its mission and understand it is our responsibility to make certain that the stories of the founding of our republic endure and inspire.
The NSCDA-SC’s 1903 purchase of The Powder Magazine saved the oldest public building in the state from destruction, as it became the first historic building in Charleston to be deliberately preserved and restored. In 2013, the South Carolina Society was awarded an inaugural Lamar Award for Excellence by the NSCDA for The Powder Magazine Tricentennial Project. In addition, the NSCDA-SC was honored with the Susan Pringle Frost Lifetime Achievement for Historic Preservation Award by the Preservation Society of Charleston, the oldest community-based historic preservation organization in America.
Museum Properties
The South Carolina Society seeks to create interest in our colonial history through historic sites and objects which provide tangible connections to our past.
Patriotic Service
Patriotic Service works primarily in the field of education to stimulate a spirit of true patriotism and a knowledge of the American heritage in citizens and others.
Education Programs
By learning more about the brave men and women from all backgrounds and stations of life who built this country, we become more unified and responsive to our civic responsibility.
Celebrate a special day:
Flag Day, June 14th
Fly a flag, wear red, white and blue, go to a parade, have a party!
But, wait. What is Flag Day and why should we celebrate?
A bit of history…
June 14 commemorates the adoption of the first official flag of the new nation on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. The “Betsy Ross Flag” had “13 stripes, alternate red and white; thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation”. In 1893, Elizabeth Duane Gillespie, descendant of
Benjamin Franklin and President of the Colonial Dames of Pennsylvania, advocated a resolution requiring the American flag to be displayed at all Philadelphia public schools.
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson released a proclamation designating June 14 as Flag Day. In 1949, an Act of Congress under President Harry S. Truman established National Flag Day. On July 4, 1960, the current American flag, the Stars and Stripes, was adopted as our official flag, following Hawaii's entry into the United States as the 50th state.
So, on June 14, celebrate that our flag does still wave, over the land of the free and the home of the brave!
The Birth of Old Glory from Painting by Percy Moran(1862–1935)
Image Credit: Percy Moran