The Historical Marker Database proclaims itself as hosting “Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History.” It includes photographs, transcriptions, translations, and supplemental materials relating to each of the markers it lists from all 50 states and 14 foreign countries. One can search by ZIP code, street location, place, category, country, erector, etc. Just using the term "South Carolina" resulted in 2292 hits.
Let's say you (like me) enjoys learning about anthropology. Searching that category results in 51 hits from 3 countries (Ireland, the Czech Republic, and 18 US states). The Czech Republic honors Vojta Náprstek, "a champion of cultural and social progress." There's one in Georgia about Tabby, a subject mentioned fairly frequently in Connections.
Narrowing from the global and regional to the local, searching on Beaufort County, South Carolina, one gets 75 hits. A variety of markers are included: sites on the National Register; markers approved by various governmental agencies, such as the SC State Historical Preservation Office; markers sponsored by private groups or developers. For example, the one on "Barrel Landing Schoolhouse" was sponsored by Sun City Hilton Head and Beaufort County Council.
The neat thing about the HMDB is it is open to contributions from the general public. So if you see an historical marker that isn't already on the website, or one for which you can add information to improve the entry, the authors give you guidelines telling you how to make a contribution to the database.
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