The Avenue of Oaks
Leading into the neighborhood is the historic Avenue of Oaks, consisting of 73 live oak trees believed to be over 100 years old. The avenue of oaks had been begun about 1910, and the developers completed the installation of the oaks during the landscaping of the neighborhood starting in 1925.
Fort Pemberton
The fort was designed to function as both a land and water battery. By October 1862, the fort's armament included 20 guns of various calibers. The fort's position was to deny Federal gun boat attack from the Stono River which ran along the western shores of James Island. Union gunboats continued to have dominance of portions of the Stono river out of range of Fort Pemberton's guns. In addition, the fort had complete control of the critical Wappoo Creek that meandered eastward into the Ashley River which borders Charleston to the west.
In addition to guarding against water access, the fort was also designed as a land battery. As an enclosed structure, many of Fort Pemberton's guns faced inland in the event of a land attack. Fort Pemberton served as the western anchor of James Island's shore defense.
The fort has remained essentially intact since its completion in 1863 and is presently covered with a substantial growth of live oak and other indigenous trees. Its setting gives the fort a park-like appearance.
The fort never saw any battles, and six decades after the war, development began approaching the site, as the Riverland Terrace neighborhood took shape. Even though a house was built on top of one of Fort Pemberton’s points around 1948, the earthwork is considered remarkably well preserved. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
In 2019 plans began to secure funding to open it as a park and a conservatorship was created.
Neighborhood History
Located where Wappoo Creek meets the Stono River on James Island, Riverland Terrace boasts large lots with homes brimming with architectural character. Like many of the Lowcountry’s suburban communities, Riverland Terrace began as a plantation and over the years it was known as Wappoo Hall and later as Riverland Plantation. The land would have been prime farm real estate, located on a high spot near several waterways.
In the eighteenth century, the colonial legislature created Elliott’s Cut and Wappoo Cut, which were hand-excavated channels dug and created by enslaved residents, to deepen Wappoo Creek and better connect it with the Stono River so that planters could send their goods to Charleston for export.
The land where Riverland Terrace lies has both rural and military heritage. Lord Cornwallis passed though with his British troops on his way to Charleston during the American Revolution, and in the 1930s a British cannon was discovered in the front yard of Dr. Pierre Jenkins’ Terrace house.