The Goose Creek Men

The Goose Creek Men
     The “Goose Creek Men” were English planters, some who came to S.C. from Barbados early in colonial times (1670-1690) . These colonists settled a few miles west of Charleston near a stream called Goose Creek.
    
     They soon became wealthy through the Indian trade, since a major Indian trade path ran nearby.The colonists were active in the deerskin trade and also traded guns, ammunition, cloth, rum, and other goods for furs. They traded with a number of Indian tribes as the Catawbas, Coosas, Westos, and Yamasees in the lowcountry and the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws farther in the backcountry.
    
     They later became involved in the conduct of  illegal trade in Indian slaves slaves and with pirates. This trade was met with the disapproval of the Lord's Proprietors who wanted an upright and Christian colony paying honest returns to them.
    
     By the 1690s many held important offices in the colonial government.
 "The Goose Creek Men" formed a political faction opposing the Lords Proprietors between 1670 and 1720. Two of them, James Moore, Sr. (d. 1706) and his son James Moore.[5][6][7]. (d. 1724) served as governor of the colony.

     They became well known for their independent and contrary ways. It is sometimes speculated by South Carolina historians that perhaps the independent attitude of our citizens is a genetic contribution of these Barbadian transplants.

     Although the area's history dates back many centuries the the city of Goose Creek was not established until 1961.