SC leaders discuss Civil War anniversary plans

– South Carolina lawmakers traveled to hallowed ground earlier this week and were told next year’s 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War will attract worldwide attention.

“There is a tidal wave of interest — a tidal wave of people who will visit here,” Blake Hallman told lawmakers gathered beneath the flag pole at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, where the first shots of the war sounded in 1861.

Hallman serves on the Charleston City Council and on the executive board of the Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Historical Trust that is organizing events for the anniversary along the South Carolina coast.

Seven state lawmakers from Charleston County held a meeting at the fort attended by about 70 other people. They were told the anniversary presents an economic opportunity in a state where tourism is an $18 billion business.