West Ashley

The area is flanked by the scenic waterfront vistas and marshes of the Ashley and Stono rivers and ancient moss-draped oak trees.

West Ashley's original neighborhoods line (U.S. Route 17 (US 17; Savannah Highway)) in an area closest to the historic Charleston peninsula.

It also is served by the West Ashley Greenway, a popular rail trail that parallels Savannah Highway[citation needed].

WCSC-TV Channel 5, the area's CBS affiliate and first television station to sign on the air in Charleston in 1953, moved to a newly constructed broadcast facility in West Ashley in 1997[citation needed].

West Ashley is noted as the birthplace of Charleston, where English colonists established the first permanent settlement in the Carolina colony at Albemarle Point in 1670.

[5] The 663-acre (2.68 km2) area of the original settlement's location has been preserved as a state historic site known as Charles Towne Landing.

[6] A few skirmishes took place there in the American Revolution during which time parts of the area faced occupation by British forces,[2] specifically at Rantowles Creek, where William Washington defeated cavalry forces under Banastre Tarleton, and at Old St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church during the 1780 Siege of Charleston conducted by the British.

[citation needed] For much of its history, West Ashley had a focus primarily on agriculture, hosting several slave plantations prior to the Civil War.

The area had several batteries, including those at Fort Bull (near present-day Bees Ferry Road), but no major battles occurred[citation needed].

The Charleston and Savannah Railway extended from downtown to West Ashley during the 19th century, and the Union had attempted to cut it off in 1864, but were beaten back at the Battle of Burden's Causeway on nearby Johns Island[citation needed].