By the time the English established Charles Town in 1670, the Native Americans living around Folly Beach had already experienced a century of interaction (and decimation) with Spanish and French explorers. The Bohicket tribe — a subgroup of the Cusabo, who also included the Kiawah and Stono tribes — are the most likely to have utilized Folly Beach as a summer hunting and fishing ground. These groups were rendered virtually extinct by disease and battle, including during the Escamucu War of 1576 to 1579 between the Cusabo and Spanish, wiping out many of the early villages surrounding Charleston. This 1591 engraving by Theodor de Bry is a reproduction of a drawing by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, depicting a French expedition and the Native encampment and wildlife encountered in the Port Royal area near Beaufort. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
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