South Carolina Maps

The South Caroliniana Library has an excellent collection of maps. Part of the collection is a series of over 400 maps for 1884 to 1935, giving the location and construction details of buildings in 83 cities and towns in the state. The University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History also have extensive map collections.

South Carolina is geographically divided into three regions: the Lowcountry, the Upcountry, and the Midlands.


 * City ward maps of Charleston for the years 1844, 1855, 1869, and 1883, for use with census records, are on


 * Black, James. “The Counties and Districts of South Carolina,” in Genealogical Journal, Volume 5, Number 3, pp. 100-113. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Utah Genealogical Association, 1976.)


 * United States Census Bureau State and County Map. This map will allow you to zoom in on any state or county in the United States and read the names of all of the neighboring counties.


 * General Highway Maps. Columbia, South Carolina: State Highway Dept., 1971-3. Includes maps for all 46 counties.


 * Printable maps are also available from the National Atlas of the United States -- https://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/printable.html.


 * Carolana.com


 * "Rotating Formation South Carolina County Boundary Maps" (1682-1987) may be viewed for free at the My South Carolina Genealogy website. The maps rely on AniMap 3.0 software.


 * Mills, Robert. Mill's Atlas of the State of South Carolina. [N.p.: Legislature of South Carolina, 1825?]. These maps show the names of persons who owned land during the period 1810 to 1820. A complete set of Mill's Atlas maps is also available on-line through the Map Collections of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress.


 * Wilson's 1822 and Walker and Johnson's 1866 maps are great aids to genealogists. They identify creeks, which for a metes-and-bounds state, is essential to identifying the location of your ancestor's land. For more information, contact the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

Online Resources

 * Maps of South Carolina from MapofUS.org. Includes boundary changes map.
 * Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries