In 1670, the English ship Carolina brought colonists to the west bank of the Ashley River. These settlers and their descendants built a flourishing plantation life in what became St. Andrew's Parish. The Civil War devastated the plantation society, and the glory years of St. Andrew's Parish waned until 1889, when construction of a new toll bridge improved access to West Ashley. A suburban boom that began in the 1920s expanded and revitalized the community. Many of the original families who built homes, churches, schools, and businesses still live in the community today--a testament to the continued vitality and livability of St. Andrew's Parish, West Ashley.