Yemassee () is a town in Hampton and Beaufort counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 1,080 at the 2020 census. Located in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Yemassee is divided by the county line between Hampton and Beaufort counties along the roadbed of the CSX railroad. Most of the town's population lies within Hampton County.
Yemassee hosts one of the few commercial breeding facilities of non-human primates in the entire United States, Alpha Genesis, which serves as a major employer for the town. The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Auldbrass Plantation house and outbuildings lie just outside the town limits of Yemassee. The town is north of Savannah, Georgia, and west of Charleston, South Carolina.
History
The town takes its name from the Native American tribe of the same name, the Yamasee, which was the most important Indian ally of South Carolina until the Yamasee War of 1715. The first attack that began the Yamasee War occurred in the Yamasee town of Pocotaligo, today part of the town of Yemassee.
The site of the present town is surrounded by both Revolutionary and Civil War sites. The remains of Civil War field fortifications can be observed along U.S. 21 and 17A between Yemassee and Pocotaligo (that section of highway is now a part of Yemassee, as the town has now greatly expanded into Beaufort County. Within the town limits are three historical plantations including Bindon, Cotton Hall, and Tomotley, with the latter two annexed into the town in 2021.
William Gilmore Simms published the novel The Yemassee: A Romance of Carolina in the 19th century, and the University of South Carolina in Columbia publishes a literary journal titled Yemassee.
The Yemassee Train Depot was the final stop for Marine Corps Recruits to Parris Island for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
Climate
Demographics
2020 census
{| class="wikitable"
|+Yemassee racial composition
!Race
!Num.
!Perc.
|-
|White (non-Hispanic)
|385
|35.65%
|-
|Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
|630
|58.33%
|-
|Native American
|5
|0.46%
|-
|Asian
|1
|0.09%
|-
|Other/Mixed
|38
|3.52%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino
|21
|1.94%
|}
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,080 people, 390 households, and 230 families residing in the town.
2000 census
As of the census