The events surrounding this historic occasion will include numerous America 250 South Carolina events that highlight our rich heritage.

Saturday, July 4, 2026 marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence — the United States semiquincentennial. Few states have more reason to mark it than South Carolina, the site of more Revolutionary War engagements than any other colony. From partisan ambushes in the Pee Dee swamps to the cavalry charge at Cowpens, the Southern Campaign that broke the British in the field was fought here.

Exciting America 250 South Carolina Events

Programming runs from late June through the holiday weekend across all four regions — Upstate, Midlands, Lowcountry, and Pee Dee/Grand Strand — coordinated through the **South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission**, branded **SC250**. The national observance, run by the United States Semiquincentennial Commission, publicly America250, anchors July 4 with a “Block Party” at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum headlined by Chris Stapleton and The Smashing Pumpkins. South Carolina will feature several America 250 South Carolina events during this festive weekend.

Most South Carolina events are free. A handful are ticketed.

How South Carolina Organized

SC250 was chartered by Act 289 of 2018 and restructured by Act 101 of 2019, which added a statutory duty to “include the role of persons of African-American descent in the Revolutionary War” and required at least one African-American appointee from each appointing authority. The 15-member commission has three ex officio members — Governor, Archives and History Commission Chair, and SCPRT Director — and 12 appointed, four each by the Governor, Senate President, and Speaker.

Major General **William E. “Will” Grimsley** (U.S. Army, retired) chairs the commission. Bill Davies is vice chair, SCPRT Director Duane Parrish is secretary by statute, and **Molly Fortune** is CEO. The commission’s portal is **southcarolina250.com**.

Per Governor McMaster’s FY2026-27 Executive Budget Book, released January 12, 2026, the General Assembly has appropriated **$20.5 million in nonrecurring funds** to SC250 since FY2021-22, with a current recurring budget of **$6.9 million**. The Governor’s executive budget recommends an additional **$2 million nonrecurring**. Charleston programming received a separate **$3 million private gift from Beemok**, and SC250 distributes $3,000 non-competitive grants to recognized County 250 Committees.

Upstate: Cowpens, Kings Mountain, Ninety Six, Brattonsville

The Upstate carries some of the heaviest Revolutionary weight in the country. Three National Park Service sites — Cowpens National Battlefield, Kings Mountain National Military Park, and Ninety Six National Historic Site — operate as part of the Southern Campaign Parks Group and have expanded interpretive programming for the 250th.

At **Cowpens National Battlefield**, where Daniel Morgan executed his celebrated double envelopment in January 1781, the park hosted *Legacy of the Cowpens* on June 20 and stages a ranger-led *Celebration of Freedom* event July 4. `[UNVERIFIED]` for exact times and program details — confirm at the park’s events page.

Kings Mountain National Military Park** is the Upstate’s marquee July 4 site. Programming includes costumed interpreters reading the Declaration of Independence, a quill-and-ink signing station, guided tours, and historic weapons demonstrations. Admission is free.

**Historic Brattonsville** in York County — a 775-acre living-history site — runs its annual reenactment of the **Battle of Huck’s Defeat** (July 1780) with 18th-century interpretation tied to the 250th. **Ninety Six National Historic Site** has expanded America 250 programming through the summer.

Midlands: SC State Museum, SCETV, Walter Edgar

Columbia anchors the Midlands slate. The **South Carolina State Museum** opens its signature 250th exhibit, **”American Battleground: South Carolina’s Revolution,”** on **Saturday, June 27** with free general admission, live music, and family programming.

SCETV and South Carolina Public Radio** run a daylong observance on **Wednesday, July 1**. From 10 a.m. to noon, *Walter Edgar’s Journal Live: Revolutionary Voices* convenes Dr. Walter Edgar, historian Alfred Turner, SC250 Chairman Will Grimsley, and CEO Molly Fortune for a panel on the Southern Campaign. From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., with a 5:30 reception, the network premieres its documentary *The Southern Campaign of the American Revolution* with clips from Ken Burns’s forthcoming *American Revolution* series and a panel moderated by Reagan Knight. Both events are free and require registration.

The documentary then airs statewide on **Thursday, July 2 at 8 p.m. on ETV**, two days before the holiday.

Lowcountry: Charleston, Fort Moultrie, Patriots Point

Charleston hosts the densest event calendar in the state — more than 70 programs under the **SC250 Charleston** banner, fueled by the **$3 million Beemok gift**.

The week opens with an American Revolution Symposium at the **Dock Street Theatre** on **June 24-25**, followed on **June 26** by a ticketed lecture from Pulitzer Prize-winning historian **Rick Atkinson**, *”The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777–1780.”* On **June 27**, SC250 Charleston hosts a black-tie gala at The Cooper Hotel (ticketed) and a free drone show over Charleston Harbor.

**Carolina Day** — the anniversary of the **Battle of Sullivan’s Island** on June 28, 1776, when Colonel William Moultrie’s palmetto-log fort repelled the Royal Navy — is observed at **Fort Moultrie** on **Sunday, June 28** with an NPS-led wreath-laying, military tribute, and living history. The event is free. From **June 28 through July 5**, *Heritage 250* fills Marion Square with arts, crafts, performances, and panels, also free.

On **July 4**, the city’s Waterfront Independence Day Celebration runs at The Cooper and Joseph P. Riley Jr. Waterfront Park, with peninsula-wide fireworks. Across the harbor in Mt. Pleasant, **Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum** stages its 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular aboard the **USS *Yorktown*** from 7 to 10 p.m., with live music, vendors, and a 20-plus-minute harbor fireworks display. Tickets are **$95**. The event doubles as Patriots Point’s **50th anniversary**.

Pee Dee and Grand Strand: Georgetown, Salute from the Shore, Horry County

The Pee Dee and Grand Strand carry the home-region slate, anchored by the partisan country of Francis Marion.

**Salute from the Shore**, the statewide flyover, launches **Saturday, July 4 at about 1 p.m.** with **F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base** crossing the coast southbound from **Cherry Grove Beach**, followed by vintage Warbirds.

**Georgetown’s Carolina Days** runs **June 27 through July 5**, with a Colonial Opening Ceremony at the Growers Market on June 27, a Carolina Day Procession from Francis Marion Park to Joseph Rainey Park on June 28, and youth programming on June 30. On **July 4 at 9:30 a.m.**, Georgetown County will open the **1976 time capsule** at the County Courthouse, 129 Screven St., and seal a new **2026 time capsule** the same morning. A community concert follows on the Kaminski House lawn at 6:30 p.m., with fireworks around 8:30 to 9 p.m.

**North Myrtle Beach** hosts an All City Choir Cantata at Living Water Baptist June 28-29 at 3:30 p.m., a Salute to America March from American Legion Post 186 at 11 a.m. on July 4, and *Music at the Horseshoe* at 1 p.m., timed to the flyover. Fireworks shoot from Cherry Grove Pier at 9:30 p.m. and Barefoot Landing at 10 p.m.

**Myrtle Beach** runs three July 4 fireworks shows — Boardwalk at 9 p.m. (Downtown Alliance), Second Avenue Pier at 9 p.m. (City), and Broadway at the Beach at 10 p.m. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans play a July 4 home game with post-game fireworks at TicketReturn.com Field.

**Murrells Inlet** stages a Boat Parade on the MarshWalk on July 4, timed to high tide. **Pawleys Island** holds its Fourth of July Parade at Old Town Hall (323 Myrtle Ave.) at 10 a.m., followed by a Golf Cart Parade on Ocean Boulevard at 11 a.m. The **Horry County Museum** in Conway (428 Main St.) runs a free Revolutionary War exhibit. **Hobcaw Barony** south of Pawleys Island offers 2-3 hour bus tours by reservation. `[UNVERIFIED]` for any Brookgreen Gardens America 250-specific programming; *Summer Light* runs Wednesdays and Saturdays through August 22.

South Carolina’s Revolutionary Figures

The names attached to these sites are not abstractions. **Francis Marion** — the “Swamp Fox” — ran the partisan campaign that pinned down British regulars across the Pee Dee, and gives Francis Marion Park in Georgetown its name. **Thomas Sumter**, the “Carolina Gamecock,” led the parallel Upstate effort. **William Moultrie** held Sullivan’s Island in June 1776 with a palmetto fort the Royal Navy could not break. **Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee** rode with the Southern Campaign cavalry.

Four South Carolinians signed the Declaration of Independence: **Edward Rutledge**, **Thomas Heyward Jr.**, **Thomas Lynch Jr.**, and **Arthur Middleton**. **John Rutledge** served as wartime governor. And **James Armistead Lafayette**, an enslaved Virginian who served as a Patriot spy under the Marquis de Lafayette, is the subject of the *A Spy Called James* story walk in downtown Newberry through July 31 — one of several library programs this summer, alongside Georgetown County Library’s traveling SC State Museum exhibit and Bishopville’s “March Through History” scavenger hunt.

How to Participate

Most of South Carolina’s 250th programming is **free** — Carolina Day at Fort Moultrie, Heritage 250 in Marion Square, Kings Mountain’s Independence Day living history, the SC State Museum’s June 27 opening, the SCETV events on July 1, Georgetown’s Carolina Days, the Salute from the Shore flyover, and every Grand Strand fireworks show.

The **ticketed events** are the Rick Atkinson lecture on June 26, the June 27 black-tie gala in Charleston, and the July 4 fireworks aboard the USS *Yorktown* at Patriots Point ($95). SCETV’s July 1 events are free but require registration.

For families, the strongest day-of options are Kings Mountain (Upstate), the SC State Museum (Midlands), Fort Moultrie’s Carolina Day (Lowcountry), and Georgetown’s time-capsule ceremony and Pawleys Island’s parades (Pee Dee/Grand Strand). The Horry County Museum’s free exhibit in Conway runs through the summer for anyone who wants the history without the holiday crowd.

July 4 falls on a Saturday in 2026. South Carolina’s calendar lets residents touch the Revolution in their own region — and the country will not see another semiquincentennial.

Further Reading

– South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission (SC250): https://southcarolina250.com

– SC250 Charleston: https://sc250charleston.org

– America250 (national commission): https://america250.org

– SCETV announcement, June 15, 2026: https://www.scetv.org/stories/2026/south-carolina-etv-and-public-radio-celebrates-americas-250th-birthday-two-special

– Post and Courier, Charleston SC250 events feature: https://www.postandcourier.com/business/tourism/charleston-sc250-revolutionary-war-events/article_31407deb-772a-4343-9455-883f0f485537.html

– NPS Cowpens National Battlefield: https://www.nps.gov/cowp/specialevents.htm

– NPS Kings Mountain National Military Park: https://www.nps.gov/kimo/specialevents.htm

– Patriots Point 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular: https://www.patriotspoint.org/events/4th-july-fireworks-spectacular

– South Carolina State Library SC250: https://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/sc250

– SC Statehouse — H.80 / Act 101 of 2019: https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess123_2019-2020/bills/80.htm

– Governor’s FY2026-27 Executive Budget Book: https://governor.sc.gov/sites/governor/files/Documents/Executive-Budget/FY27%20Executive%20Budget%20Book%20-%20FINAL%200112026.pdf

– North Myrtle Beach Vacations — Grand Strand America 250 guide: https://www.northmyrtlebeachvacations.com/america-250-events-grand-strand-2026/