The state of South Carolina was one of the original thirteen colonies that declared independence from England in 1776. South Carolina was also the first state to secede from the Union and the site of the first shots of the Civil War at Fort Sumter. The state's rich history attracts visitors to the more than 1200 historic sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Tourists can visit the United States' first settlement, Charles Towne Landing, established in 1670 or any of historic Charleston's many pre-Revolutionary buildings or plantations.