Along the eastern bank of the Blackwater River, the community of South Quay, also called South Key, Old Quay, or Old South Quay, was founded by 1657 and by 1701 had become the site of a landing and trading post. By 1776 a customs house for international trade stood there, and during the Revolutionary War overseas supplies arrived for the colonial army while at least two ships were built there. On 16 July 1781 British troops destroyed South Quay by fire. The port was rebuilt, but by the end of the 18th century its prominence had diminished, and the community eventually disappeared.