The South Carolina we all know and love has a plethora of claims to fame we scarcely hear about. There’s an entire list of oddball facts and another highlighting things we were the first to do. But few things turn a head quite like food. While it may be common knowledge that Frogmore Stew was created in the St. Helena Island community of Frogmore, few people know that another seafood favorite, she-crab soup, was born in South Carolina. And the story behind it is equally as rich and delicious as the soup:
Rich and creamy and laden with a scoop of fresh hand-picked blue crab meat, the velvety goodness of a warm bowl of She-Crab Soup is undeniable.
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If only there were a way to utilize fresh blue crabs caught right on the coast, right?
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It turns out, in the early 1900s, someone else was wondering how to use up all that blue crab meat, freshly caught from the waters in the Lowcountry.
Library of Congress Control Number 2016817832 (Photo: Broad Street, Charleston, circa 1906)
It was here, on Broad Street, that Charleston’s then-mayor, Mayor Rhett (R. Goodwyn Rhett, 1862-1939) walked the two blocks from City Hall (pictured here) to his residence to discover his butler had made a deliciously creamy, warm soup that featured the meat from blue crabs.
Library of Congress Control Number 2016798519
Pictured: R. Goodwyn Rhett, Mayor of Charleston 1903-1911.
Wikipedia/James Calvin Hemphill (public domain)
At the time, according to a source, R. Goodwyn Rhett lived in this house, known today as the John Rutledge House Inn.
TripAdvisor/management One source reports that Rhett owned this house from 1900 until his death. He was Mayor of Charleston from 1903 to 1911. So not only was She-Crab Soup born in South Carolina, it stands to reason that it was born in this house!
The beloved and famous, rich and creamy She-Crab Soup…
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… was invented, created, or simply a happy accident right here on Broad Street sometime between 1903 and 1911, during the period when Mayor Rhett was in office.
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What other weird facts or happy accidents do you know of in South Carolina? How about these eight absurdly weird laws in South Carolina… ever hear of them?
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Flickr/Rhea C
Library of Congress Control Number 2016817832
(Photo: Broad Street, Charleston, circa 1906)
Library of Congress Control Number 2016798519
Wikipedia/James Calvin Hemphill (public domain)
TripAdvisor/management
One source reports that Rhett owned this house from 1900 until his death. He was Mayor of Charleston from 1903 to 1911. So not only was She-Crab Soup born in South Carolina, it stands to reason that it was born in this house!
hepjam / iStock /Getty Images Plus Collection via Getty Images
CSA Images / CSA Images Collection via Getty Iimage
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Address: Charleston, SC, USA
