Jeff Fulgham

Rediscovering Dr. Henry Woodward's Carolina Frontier 1665-1686 Jeff Fulgham

Before Charles Town was established on the banks of the Ashley River in 1670, a reconnaissance expedition was sent by the Lords Proprietors to explore today's South Carolina Lowcountry. After meeting with the Natives and surveying the region from Edisto to Hilton Head, the two sailing vessels prepared for departure. Before setting sail, however, the English left one man behind to make preparations for the first wave of settlers at Port Royal. Dr. Henry Woodward, a young surgeon, was to live among and learn the language of the Cusabo Indians. Woodward would become Carolina's chief interpreter, explorer, and ambassador to the Natives. As agent to the Proprietors, he served at the epicenter of the Spanish-English struggle for the territory that is now Georgia. Woodward's contributions to the colony in its formative years would prove to be immeasurable, and now his expeditions enable posterity to rediscover the seventeenth-century Carolina frontier.