Beaufort Arsenal Museum & Beaufort History Museum

The Beaufort Arsenal Museum was constructed in 1795 and the brick and tabby building was completed in 1799. The museum’s exhibits also feature various historic artifacts that “represent Native American settlements, the earliest 16th-century Spanish settlement, Union occupation during the Civil War and 20th-century phosphate mining, truck farming, fishing, shrimping and oystering industries” (“Discover”). Also housed in the arsenal building is the Beaufort History Museum celebrates and honors the history of Beaufort, South Carolina. In 1939, construction for the museum was approved and it was chartered as a museum that has been open to the public ever since.

During the Revolutionary War, the arsenal served a volunteer company and was involved in the Battle of Port Royal during the Civil War.  The museum is home to Civil War cannons, 2 British brass trophy guns that were captured by the Union in 1861 at Fort Walker, and several exhibits that feature WWI grenades, Confederate sabers, and a 1915 machine gun.  The arsenal was home to the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery, the 5th oldest military division in the United States, and was rebuilt in 1852 before being renovated and enlarged in 1934.

The city of Beaufort took ownership and responsibility of the Beaufort History Museum's collection in 1990, and again in 2008 after the museum was under the Historic Beaufort Foundation from 2001-2008.    

http://www.beaufort.com/discover-the-beaufort-arsenal-museum/ http://beauforthistorymuseum.com/about-us/ Photo: Beaufort Volunteer Artillery, 713 Craven Street, Beaufort, Beaufort County, SC. after 1933. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Library of Congress. Comp. Historic American Buildings Survey. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.