  POWDER MAGAZINE, 23 Cumberland Street: In the early days of Charles Town this storehouse for ammunition was built of brick covered with “tabby.” It is known to have been in use in 1703. It continued as a storing place of gunpowder years after the town limits had been pushed northward of Cumberland Street. When the British were besieging Charlestown in 1780, a shell exploded near the magazine and attention was thus directed to its danger. It was abandoned as a magazine. Nowadays this ancient building is the property of the Charleston Society of the Colonial Dames of America. In it are many interesting and valuable relics. How this magazine escaped through the years is one of the mysteries. NICHOLAS TROTT’S HOUSE, 25 Cumberland Street: Next door to the Powder Magazine is Charleston’s first brick house, standing in its old appearance until a few years ago when it was done over for business offices. It was the home of Nicholas Trott, one of the chief men of Charles Town. It is a large two-story building, its back to St. Philip’s western graveyard. Trott, born in England in 1663, came to Charles Town from the Bahamas about 1690. He was Attorney General in 1698, Speaker of the Assembly in 1700, WILLIAM RHETT’S HOUSE, 58 Hasell Street: Wade Hampton, South Carolina hero of the Reconstruction period after the War for Southern Independence, acclaimed as the savior of his state, was born in the house wherein lived William Rhett, captor of Stede Bonnet, notorious pirate, and his fellows, who were hanged, in 1718. William Rhett was a great man in the early Carolina and Wade Hampton in the later. Rhett’s large square house was in excellent condition in 1722, says Joseph Johnson, M.D., in his Traditions of the Revolution. It is in good condition in this year, 1939. It is entered through a broad piazza on the west side and contains four large rooms on each floor. Colonel Rhett is remembered chiefly for his capture of the pirates, but other marks in his record are lustrous. He commanded the little fleet that in 1706 put down the harbor against a hostile French fleet under Le Feboure: the Frenchman QUAKER GRAVEYARD, 138 King Street: Graves among the oldest in Carolina are in the yard of the old Quaker Meeting House property. The first Quaker house of worship was built on this site in 1694. John Archdale, Quaker, Proprietor and Governor, came to Charles Town in 1695, and attended services with his fellow Friends. The property is a parcel of the old Archdale Square, nowadays bounded by King, Queen, Meeting and Broad Streets. It was just outside the town in those early years. This building was blown up in July, 1837, to stop a fire. The rebuilt Meeting House was destroyed in the conflagration of 1861. Quakers came to Charles Town while it was across the Ashley River. A letter from Shaftesbury, dated June 9, 1675, said: “There come now in my dogger Jacob Waite and two or three other familys of those who are called Quakers. These are but the Harbingers of a greater number that intend to follow. ’Tis theire purpose to take up a whole colony for themselves and theire Friends here, they promised me to build a Town of 30 Houses. I have writ to the Gov’r and THE GATEWAY WALK, from Church to Archdale: No visitors to Charleston should forego the pleasure of using the Gateway Walk of the Garden Club. A bronze plate on a gate at the Charleston Library says: Through hand-wrought gates alluring paths Lead on to pleasant places, Where ghosts of long-forgotten things Have left elusive traces. This verse speaks eloquently for it. East to west, the walk is through St. Philip’s graveyard, through the yard of the Circular Congregational Church, thence across Meeting Street, through the yard of the Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, through that of the Charleston Library Society, across King Street, through the yards of the Unitarian and St. John’s Lutheran Churches. There are two graceful wrought-iron gateways between the Gallery and the Library which formerly had place at the home of William Aiken, King and Ann Streets, used nowadays by the Southern Railway System for offices. Mr. Aiken was president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company from 1828 to 1831. Aiken, near Augusta, popular winter resort, was named in his honor. The railroad company a hundred years ago built the world’s longest steam railroad. In the large yard behind the Gibbes ST. ANDREWS HALL SITE, 118 Broad Street: The St. Andrew’s Society of Charleston was organized by Scots in 1729. It is Charleston’s oldest benevolent society, active and flourishing into this season. Its hall was built in 1814 and here the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained in March, 1825. The distinguished Frenchman was the guest of the city and was showered with attentions. Here he met his friend, Colonel Francis K. Huger, who some years before had engaged in the frustrated scheme of aiding Lafayette to escape from an Austrian prison. Here on Tuesday, March 15, 1825, he “received the salutations of the reverend clergy, the officers of the militia, judges and gentlemen of the Bar, and many citizens, after which he visited Generals Charles C. and Thomas Pinckney, Mrs. Shaw, the daughter of General Greene, and Mrs. Washington, relict of the late General William Washington.” In this hall was passed the Ordinance of Secession December 20, 1860 (it was signed in the Institute Hall, however). It was among the many buildings razed by the flames in 1861. The St. Andrew’s Society is housed in these seasons with the South Carolina Society, certain of the chairs and tables used in the Secession convention being preserved. In the years before the War for Southern Independence St. Andrew’s Hall was the scene of many brilliant social entertainments, including balls of that eminent Charleston order, the Saint Cecilia Society, which had its beginning as a musical society, presenting concerts. Looking North on Meeting Street JOHN STUART’S HOUSE, 104 Tradd Street: John Stuart, born in England in 1700, came through Charlestown with General James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, in 1733. Thirty years later he was appointed the British general agent for Indian affairs in the South. Captured by the Cherokees, he was saved by Attakullakulla (the Little Carpenter). With the breaking of the Revolution he engaged to incite Cherokees, Chickasaws and Creeks (Muscogees) to war against the whites. The Indian outbreak was to coincide with Sir Peter Parker’s attack on Charlestown in the spring of 1776. It was foiled by alert Kentucky settlers. His plot being exposed Colonel Stuart fled to Florida, thence to England where he died in 1779. His property was confiscated by the independent government. To escape the British, it is related that General Francis Marion leaped from a window. His coattails caught and his liberty was in peril. (That’s the story, but the house from which Marion fled is at the northeast corner of Legare and Tradd.) Certain of the interior of this house has been reset up in Minneapolis which has broadcast its pride in the accession. SITE OF FORT JOHNSON, James Island: The first fortification erected for the defense of old Charles Town was at the northeast end of James Island, within the present-day Quarantine reservation. It was devised to meet the threatened invasion by the French under Le Feboure and was FORT MOULTRIE, Sullivan’s Island: A glorious day in the annals of South Carolina was the twenty-eighth of June, 1776. A partially built fort of palmetto logs repulsed the proud British fleet under Sir Peter Parker. Above this rude fort floated a South Carolina flag with a blue field in which was one crescent and the word LIBERTY. It was this flag that Sergeant Jasper rescued, his gallant deed commemorating his name. The first government of any of the thirteen American colonies was established at Charlestown, March, 1776, with John Rutledge as president, Henry Laurens as vice-president and William Henry Drayton as chief justice. Against Colonel William Moultrie’s rude fort on that June day in 1776 was pitted a trained fleet of eleven armed vessels carrying 270 guns. Moultrie’s garrison comprised 435 men. While Moultrie was engaged with Sir Peter Parker, Colonel William Thomson with 800 men and two cannons prevented Sir Henry Clinton from landing his soldiery. In the Battle of Fort Moultrie the defenders suffered only thirty-seven casualties while the fleet suffered more than 200, and the loss of a frigate. It was from Fort Moultrie that Major Robert Anderson on the night of December 26, 1860, removed his Union FORT SUMTER, at the Entrance to the Harbor: Facing the open sea stands gallant Fort Sumter. No fortress in all America awakens greater memories. It is a shining emblem of Secession, enduring monument to the incomparable defense of Charleston by the Confederates. The bravest of the brave served within this shell-torn fortress, withstanding the siege of Union land and sea forces. Sumter is not alone a proud fortress, but a landmark invested with a wealth of patriotic sentiment. It is stirring American drama. “In the annals of the Federal army and navy, there is no exploit comparable to the defense of Charleston harbor. It would not be easy to match it in the records of European warfare”—the Rev. John Johnson, D.D., quoted an English historian. In skeleton, Fort Sumter’s great story includes: April 7, 1863, it had part in the repulse of the United States armored squadron after a severe engagement. In August it “suffered its first great bombardment of sixteen days, ending in the demolition and silencing of the fort, chiefly by land SITE OF FIRST THEATER, 43 Queen Street: Plays were performed in Charles Town in 1703, according to Sonneck. However, the first regular theater was the Play House in Dock (now Queen) Street. Here in the winter of 1735, a company, “direct from England,” presented its repertory. Members of Solomon’s Lodge of the Ancient Free Masons, the oldest Masonic lodge in the United States, attended, in a body, the performance of “The Recruiting Officer” May 28, 1737. The Federal government has reproduced this theater; it was reopened officially November 26, 1937. ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, 144 Church Street: St. Philip’s is the oldest Protestant Episcopal congregation south of Virginia. The first edifice was built on the site now occupied by St. Michael’s (southeast corner of Meeting and Broad Streets). The second and third were built at the present site. The first St. Philip’s was erected in 1681-82. It was of wood, but little is known of it. Early maps designate it as the English Church. The second St. Philip’s was opened for divine worship Easter Sunday, 1723. It faced the west and its steeple was eighty feet high. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, preached in this church two hundred years ago. The first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina was the Right Reverend Robert Smith, rector of St. Philip’s. This edifice was known far and wide for its great beauty. It was burned February 15, 1835. The third St. Philip’s was used for service May 3, 1838. Its chimes, cast into Confederate cannon, have never been replaced. During twenty-two years an important mariners’ light glowed in the steeple, the other light of this range having been on historic Fort Sumter. The light above St. Philip’s was discontinued when the main channel was changed about twenty years ago. St. Philip’s is known as the Westminster of the South as so many distinguished men of early years are in its graveyards, including Edward Rutledge, Signer of the Declaration of Independence; John C. Calhoun, often appraised South Carolina’s greatest statesman; William Rhett, captor of Stede Bonnet and his associate pirates. During the War for Southern Independence Calhoun’s body was removed for safekeeping, but it was later reinterred. The story of St. Philip’s is coeval with the story of Charleston on this peninsula. Its communion plate is of uncommon interest and value, including pieces presented by William Rhett and a paten of unquestioned antiquity. The present edifice faces the east. The curve in Church Street passes through the site of the body of the edifice that was burned in 1835. President George Washington attended services in the second St. Philip’s May 8, 1791, and President James Monroe May 2, 1819. The present St. Philip’s is accounted one of the beautiful churches of America. St. Philip’s Episcopal Church CRADLE OF PRESBYTERIANISM, 138 Meeting Street: The congregation of the Circular Church dates to 1681. The small wooden building in the erection of which Landgrave Joseph Blake was influential was known as the White Meeting House and was replaced in 1804 by a brick edifice circular in form, that was burned in 1861. It was this church that gave name to Meeting Street. From this congregation sprang two other congregations, the First (Scotch) Presbyterian and the Unitarian. Some of the earliest graves in Charles Town are in the Circular Churchyard. David Ramsay, physician, statesman and historian, is buried in it. Some of the early Huguenots HUGUENOT CHURCH, 136 Church Street: The only Huguenot Church in America! This is the proud and unique distinction of the French Protestant Church in Charleston. Its congregation holds to the old Huguenot litany. It dates to 1681. The first recognized and regular pastor of the French Church was the Reverend Elias Prioleau, who came with the “great Huguenot immigration” about 1687; he died in 1699. Alluding to the Huguenots of Charles Town Bancroft said: “Their Church was in Charles Town and thither every Lord’s Day, gathering from their plantations upon the banks of the Cooper, and taking advantage of the ebb and flow of the tide, they might all regularly be seen, the parents with their children, whom no bigot could now wrest from them, making their way in light skiffs through scenes so tranquil, that silence was broken only by the rippling of oars and the hum of the flourishing village at the confluence of the rivers.” The first Huguenot Church was burned in 1740. The second church was also burned, in 1797. It was at once rebuilt and in 1845 it was remodeled to the form it now presents. “The church edifice is of great architectural beauty, being of pure Gothic, and its walls are adorned with mural tablets, commemorating the names and memories of the first Huguenot emigrants to Carolina.” It is the boast of this congregation that it has had a church on the same site for more years than has any other Charleston congregation. For more than one hundred and fifty years the services were in the French language. FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, 61 Church Street: When Charles Town on the peninsula was about three years old the first congregation of Baptists was formed. Some of these Baptists came from New England, with the Reverend William Screven, their pastor, and others came from England. Old records show that for several years the Baptists worshipped in the home of Mrs. William Chapman. Lady Blake, and her mother, Lady Axtell, were both Baptists and members of this congregation; their official rank lent strength to the church. William Elliott, a member, gave the site of the First Baptist Church in 1699. A wooden building was erected. The present building was on the site before 1826 and of it Mills says it showed “the best specimen of correct taste in architecture of the modern buildings in the city.” There are many old graves in its yard. SCOTCH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 53 Meeting Street: Sprung from the White Meeting House, the First (Scotch) Presbyterian Church dates to 1731. The Reverend Hugh Stewart, a native Scot, was its first pastor. The present edifice was dedicated in 1814. It was severely damaged in the earthquake of August 31, 1886, but fully restored. It has one of the finest auditoriums in the country. When the Marquis of Lorne (later the Duke of Argyle) and his wife, the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, were in Charleston in January, 1883, they visited the Scotch Church to inspect a memorial tablet to their cousin, Lady Anne Murray. The Duke of Sutherland also made a trip to Charleston expressly to see it. May 2, 1819, President James Monroe attended service in the Scotch Church, hearing a sermon by the Reverend Mr. Reid, the pastor. This TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH, 273 Meeting Street: As its congregation springs from the old Cumberland Church, the first Methodist group in Charleston (1786), Trinity may be called Charleston’s oldest Methodist congregation, but the building it now occupies was recently acquired from the Westminster Presbyterian Church (which combined the abandoned Third Presbyterian in Archdale Street and the Glebe Street Presbyterian Church). Through years Trinity Church was at 57 Hasell Street. Here the first church was erected before 1813. For a short time the church was used by an Episcopal congregation. The story goes that some of the congregation were not agreeable to occupancy by Episcopalians and sought legal counsel. They were informed that possession was “nine points in the law.” So, after an Episcopalian service, the Methodist brothers and sisters, when the congregation was dismissed, locked the doors from the inside, fastened the windows and mounted guard within the edifice, women assisting, until the case was returned in their favor. During this peaceful siege, a lad was born in the building; he years later became a bishop of the church. The Methodist church was planted in Charleston when Bishop Asbury and his associates came here in 1785. The first church building was erected in Cumberland Street in 1787, and within it the first Methodist Conference in South Carolina was held the ST. JOHN’S LUTHERAN CHURCH, 10 Archdale Street: The Lutheran congregation of St. John’s was organized in 1757 with the Reverend John George Fredichs as pastor. Lacking a building of their own the Lutherans used the French Huguenot Church. June 24, 1764, the first St. John’s was dedicated. The present brick building was dedicated January 18, 1818, the Reverend Dr. John Bachman, friend and associate of J. J. Audubon, the celebrated naturalist, being the pastor. This congregation was influential in the organization of Newberry College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary in South Carolina. Prominent persons of German origin or descent are buried in the yard. But the Lutheran story goes back to March, 1734. In his Sketch of St. John’s, the Reverend E. T. Horn says: “In March, 1734, while the ship containing the exiled Salzburgers lay off the harbor of Charleston, Governor Oglethorpe brought their Commissary, the Baron von Reck, and their pastor, the Reverend John Martin Bolzius, with him to the city. Here they found a few Germans, firm in their attachment to the Lutheran faith, and hungering and thirsting for the Holy Supper. In May, therefore, Bolzius was glad to accompany von Reck as far as Charleston, that he might minister to this little company, and on Sunday, May 26th, 1754, at five o’clock in the morning, most probably in the inn where Bolzius was stopping, he administered the Holy Communion to those whom on the day before he had examined and absolved according to the usages of the Lutheran Church.” William Rhett House, 58 Hasell Street The Izard Houses; Nearer, Home of Bishop of Charleston; Other is the Older—110 and 114 Brand Street UNITARIAN CHURCH, 6 Archdale Street: Just before the American Revolution, the Circular Church on Meeting Street, cradle of Presbyterianism in Charles Town, found it necessary to use an additional building. Thus another church with another pastor was established in Archdale Street. One of the pastors espoused Unitarianism and by amicable agreement the part of the congregation following his teachings took over the Archdale Street church. While the British occupied Charlestown during the Revolution, they stabled horses in this edifice. The present church building was dedicated in April of 1854, and is much praised for its architecture. The ceiling of the nave is peculiarly attractive. The pastor of this Unitarian congregation, the only one in Charleston, was the Reverend Samuel Gilman, author of the famous college song, “Fair Harvard,” and in his memory Harvard alumni arranged the Samuel Gilman Memorial Room in the church tower; the ceremony was performed April 16, 1916. ST. MARY’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, 79 Hasell Street: Mother parish of the Roman Catholic Church in North and South Carolina and Georgia, St. Mary’s congregation was organized in 1794, and in 1798 bought a frame building from a Protestant congregation. In 1836 this was burned and on the site the present fine brick edifice was erected being completed in 1838. In the late 1890’s the interior was ST. JAMES, GOOSE CREEK, off the Coastal Highway: The British Royal Arms still stand in South Carolina! The British yoke was thrown off one hundred and sixty years ago, but in St. James Church, Goose Creek, sixteen miles from ST. ANDREW’S, BERKELEY, on the Ashley River Road: The parish of St. Andrew’s, Berkeley (the district about Charles Town was Berkeley in olden times), was founded in 1706 and a simple brick building erected. Seventeen years later this was enlarged, taking the form of a cross. The gallery was intended for non-pewholders and was later set aside for negroes. Destroyed by fire it was rebuilt in 1764 and is one of the few rural churches that has survived the ASHLEY RIVER ROAD, Leading to Famous Gardens: St. Andrew’s Church is but one of many interesting and historic places on the Ashley River Road. Two miles from the Ashley River Bridge the road passes near the site of the original Charles Town in South Carolina and three miles farther is the Ashley Hall plantation of the Bull family, distinguished in provincial and colonial periods. It was on the Bull place that Attakullakulla, a chief of the Cherokee Indians, signed a treaty of peace in the 1760’s after his tribe had been severely humbled by the whites. Just across the highway were the lovely Magwood Gardens, now the property of a granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln. Here the highway passes through a grove of majestic live oaks festooned with Spanish moss. Seven miles from the bridge one passes St. Andrew’s Church and a short distance farther through old Fort Bull, the moat about which has been filled. Next, on the right, is the entrance to Drayton Hall, then Magnolia Gardens, Runnymede, home of John Julius Pringle, Speaker of the House of the Assembly in 1787, and later the property of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of the famous Pinckney family; Middleton Place (gardens) where is buried Arthur Middleton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence; the seat of the old Wragg barony; the Ashley River is crossed at Bacon’s Bridge near which stands an ancient oak beneath the spreading boughs of which General Francis Marion is alleged to have entertained a British officer (it is a pretty legend, but its site is severally located). Half a mile beyond the bridge is the road leading down to the ruins of old Dorchester, established in 1696 by colonists from Dorchester, Massachusetts, led by the Reverend Joseph Lord. In this year ruins of fort and churches are mute reminders of a brave village in a primeval wilderness infested with savage Indians. From Bacon’s Bridge the distance to Summerville is five miles. It is a drive every visitor to this section should follow. In the season, the Middleton Place and Magnolia Gardens are open to visitors. Foreground, Unitarian Church; Background, St. John’s Lutheran Church Huguenot Church. Only One in America CASTLE PINCKNEY, in Charleston Harbor: Stand on the incomparable Battery and look seaward. Fort Sumter is in plain view, of course, but nearer the gaze is Castle Pinckney, holding the status nowadays of a government monument. It is to be reached only by boat. The fort at the edge of the sand bank known as Shute’s Folly was built after the Revolution, in 1797-1804. Later, it was enlarged. In the War for Southern Independence, it lacked opportunity to contribute materially to the defense of Charleston. Really there is more legend than history about Castle Pinckney, but long it has been a well-known landmark. The government used it as a depot for aids for navigation until the depot was established at the foot of Tradd Street, on the Ashley River, site of the old Chisolm’s rice mill. An excuse for including it among Landmarks of Charleston is that many strangers ST. MICHAEL’S CHURCH, 78 Meeting Street: Five times have the bells of St. Michael’s crossed the Atlantic ocean. They came from England in 1764 and returned there after the British evacuated the town in 1784. Repurchased for Charleston, they came back to their steeple. During the War for Southern Independence they were taken for safekeeping to Columbia and in the burning of that town charged to General William Tecumseh Sherman (who had been a social favorite in Charleston before the war) they were so damaged that they were shipped to England. There they were recast in the original molds. Brought back they are still in the steeple, pealing on occasions. When Charles Town on the peninsula was laid out, a lot was designed for the English church, St. Philip’s. A wooden building was erected. This being outgrown a brick church was built on Church Street, on the present site of St. Philip’s. By act of the Assembly, June, 1751, Charlestown was divided into two parishes; the lower, St. Michael’s, and the upper, St. Philip’s. February 17, 1752, the corner stone was laid with much ceremony, the South Carolina Gazette carrying an account. The reputed successor of Sir Christopher Wrenn was the architect and the edifice is declared to resemble St. Martin’s-in-the-Field, London, near Trafalgar Square. From the pavement to the ball of the steeple is 182 feet. During the War for Southern Independence, the steeple, and that of St. Philip’s, offered shining marks for the Union artillerists. Cannon balls struck the church, but not with serious results. Heavy damage was done by the earthquake of August 31, 1886. The old clock in the CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, 122 Broad Street: John Morica England, first Bishop of Charleston, arrived in Charleston December 30, 1820, and the Cathedral of St. Finbar was dedicated by him a year later. It was a plain frame structure. Thirty years it stood. Then it was razed for the building of the St. John and St. Finbar Cathedral, burned in 1861; it was similar in design to the present Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on the same site, the northeast corner of Broad and Legare Streets. This handsome Gothic edifice of brown stone was begun late in 1888 by the Right Reverend Henry Pinckney Northrop, Bishop of Charleston. April 14, 1907, it was consecrated, Cardinal Gibbons being one of the celebrants. The site is that of the Vauxhall Gardens. Between December, 1861, and the occupancy of the new cathedral, the congregation worshipped in the pro-cathedral in Queen Street, built by the Right Reverend Patrick Nielsen Lynch, then Bishop of Charleston. St. John the Baptist’s is 200 feet TRUMBULL’S WASHINGTON, in Charleston City Hall: One of the most famous and valuable portraits of General George Washington hangs in the City Hall, northeast corner of Meeting and Broad Streets. It was done by John Trumbull on the order of the City Council in honor of President Washington’s visit in 1791. It is reputed to be worth a million dollars! Art connoisseurs have come long distances to inspect this great portrait. Washington is shown full length, with his horse near him. While this is Charleston’s most valuable painting, there are other fine paintings in the Municipal Gallery, including President James Monroe, commemorating his visit in 1819, by Samuel F. B. Morse (inventor of the telegraph); the damage done by a Union shell in the 1860’s does not show; President Andrew Jackson, in uniform after the Battle of New Orleans, by Vanderlyn, student under the celebrated Gilbert Stuart; General Zachary Taylor, with spyglass in hand in Mexico, by Beard; John Caldwell Calhoun, eminent statesman, addressing the United States senate, by Healy; General William Moultrie, defender of Fort Moultrie against Sir Peter Parker’s British fleet in 1776, by Fraser; Marquis de Lafayette, miniature, by Fraser, commemorating the Frenchman’s visit in 1825; General Francis Marion, the “Swamp Fox,” in Revolutionary uniform, THE OLD EXCHANGE, East End of Broad Street: From the standpoint of history, this building is incomparably the most interesting in South Carolina and one of the most interesting in America, the Rev. William Way, D.D., told the Rebecca Motte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose property it is by gift of the United States. When Charles Town was laid out in 1680 this site was the Court of Guards, the place of arms for the early colonists. Here were imprisoned Stede Bonnet and other pirates in 1718 when South Carolina was putting down piracy after its previous years of friendship and fraternizing. The Exchange First (Scotch) Presbyterian Church Bethel Methodist Church SITE OF INSTITUTE HALL, 134 Meeting Street: South Carolina declared itself free and independent, seceding from the United States, December 20, 1860. This bold act was taken in the hall of the South Carolina Institute. The Ordinance of Secession had been adopted in the hall of the St. Andrew’s Society, 118 Broad Street, but the delegates came to the Institute Hall because of its greater capacity; the wish was to accommodate as many as possible of the thousands who hoped to see the ordinance signed. With the great hall crowded to suffocation, after all the signatures had been affixed, President Jamison advanced to the front of the rostrum and announced, that South Carolina was an independent sovereignty, free of the United States. And the War for Southern Independence was nascent. In this hall several CONFEDERATE MUSEUM, at the Head of the Market: Valuable relics of the Confederacy are preserved in their hall at the head of Market Street, at Meeting Street, by the Charleston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. A gun on the porch was fashioned from Swedish wrought iron from one of the first locomotives operated by the South Carolina Railroad, the world’s oldest long-distance steam railroad. It was among the first rifled cannon made in the United States. This piece was in Columbia when General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union troops occupied that town, and Union soldiers tried to burst the cannon, cracking it near the muzzle. During riots in the period of Reconstruction the Washington Light Infantry manned the gun. The Confederate Museum is in a hall over the west end of the old City Market established between 1788 and 1804, extending from East Bay Street to Meeting Street. Through many years all household marketing was done in the stalls. Into recent years it was a common sight to see a gentleman doing the marketing, a negro with a large basket following him from stall to stall. There survive stalls in the Market, but the long low building is not congested as it was in other years. The telephone has contributed much toward the discontinuance MARION SQUARE, King, Meeting and Calhoun Streets: Named in honor of General Francis Marion, hero of the Revolution, affectionately called the “Swamp Fox,” this six-acre square in the very heart of Charleston was from 1882 to 1921 the parade ground of The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, giving rise to the nickname, Citadel Green. The Citadel is now at Hampton Park, on the Ashley River, but its main building and four wings stand as reminders. In Lowndes Street, from Calhoun to the Citadel sally port, is a statue of John Caldwell Calhoun, eminent South Carolina statesman, atop a tall granite shaft. On the Meeting Street side is a monument to General and Governor Wade Hampton, savior of his State in Reconstruction, and on the west side a section of “horn work,” part of the Revolutionary line of fortifications for the defense of Charlestown against the invading British. It was just outside the town, Boundary Street becoming Calhoun Street after the town limits were extended to their present line in 1849. Before the purchase by the now defunct Fourth Brigade, the square was solidly built. After the evacuation of Charleston until 1882 the United States army was in possession of the Citadel buildings. On the east side and on the west side are fountains fed by a great artesian well near King and Calhoun Streets, formerly in the waterworks system. THE OLDEST DRUG STORE, 125 King Street: America’s oldest drug store business is in Charleston. It has had a career antedating 1781 as in that year Dr. Andrew Turnbull CHARLESTON LIGHTHOUSE, on Morris Island: During Colonial years the only coastal light south of the Delaware capes was the Charleston Lighthouse on Morris Island, built in 1767. The present tower was built in 1876; it is of brick, 161 feet high. The earthquake of 1886 cracked the tower and threw the lens out of adjustment. From the first Charleston Light came a copper plate in the corner stone, reading: “The first stone of this Beacon was laid on the 30th of May 1767 in the seventh year of His Majesty’s reign, George the III,” and so on. December 18, 1860, the first incident of the War for Southern Independence affecting the lighthouse service occurred at the Charleston Light. The Secretary of the Treasury was told by the Secretary of the Lighthouse Board that he would not recommend that the coast of South Carolina “be lighted by the Federal Government against her will.” December 30, the lighthouse inspector reported that “the Governor of the State of South Carolina MIDDLETON PLACE, Gardens on the Ashley River: This was the seat of Arthur Middleton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence. Henry Middleton, of The Oaks, president of the Continental Congress, obtained the land through his wife. Two English landscape gardeners were brought oversea to fashion the show place, which was completed about 1740. The fine Tudor house was put to the torch late in the War for Southern Independence. Only the left wing stands, and in it the owner, J. J. Pringle Smith, descendant of the Signer, lives. The old steps to the main building are in place, and from them a commanding view of the broad formal terraces and the winding Ashley River is had. The first japonicas brought into this country were transplanted at Middleton Place about 1805 and one of the original plants was alive in 1939. Middleton Place is famous not only for its gorgeous azalea show in spring, but for the wide variety of plants. It has been praised with lavish enthusiasm by distinguished visitors. Annually thousands of people travel many miles to walk about these wonderful gardens, a living reminder of the beauty wrought before the Revolution. The grave of the Signer is at Middleton Place. The Gardens are on the Ashley River Road, about fourteen miles from the Ashley River Bridge. If one would see gardens, terraces and hedges substantially as they were in 1740; if one would see one of the world’s most beautiful places, he should be sure of visiting Middleton Place. Alluring Views of Magnolia-on-the-Ashley Magnolia-on-the-Ashley MAGNOLIA GARDENS, on the Ashley River: Distinguished authors have heaped glowing compliments on the enchantment that is Magnolia-on-the-Ashley, “a sight unrivalled,” said a writer in the Chicago Tribune. The fame of these gardens has gone wide and far. Thomas P. Lesesne, of Charleston, was in the great Kew Gardens, London. Coming to the azalea section he was surprised to find a sign declaring to all who came that way that if one would see the azalea in the zenith of its beauty, he should visit Magnolia-on-the-Ashley, near Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America! In Kew! Think of that! John Galsworthy, Owen Wister and other notables have shed superlatives in describing the gardens. In this show place on the Ashley River, the Reverend John Grimke Drayton planted the first Azalea Indica. They had been imported from the East to Philadelphia in 1843, but, the Pennsylvania climate being too rigorous for them, Mr. Drayton was invited to see what he could do with them. And what he has done with them brings thousands of people from distant places each spring when the azaleas are in the full glory of their bloom! The gardens, about twenty-five acres in extent, have what is declared to be the most valuable collection of the Camellia Japonica; there are more than 250 varieties. They come into bloom in the winter, and the gardens are open for their inspection. Carlisle Norwood Hastie, present owner of Magnolia, is grandson of the Reverend Mr. Drayton, an Episcopalian minister. Two hundred years the property has been in possession of the Drayton family. ASHLEY RIVER BRIDGE, on the Coastal Highway (17): Until the first of July, 1921, the bridge over the Ashley River at the head of Spring Street was privately owned. At that time the county of Charleston acquired it by purchase and at once the toll was taken off. In the spring of 1926, the present handsome and commodious concrete bridge was formally opened. It is slightly down-stream from the rather ramshackle wooden bridge. It cost a million and a quarter dollars. It is wide enough for four vehicles abreast and on each side is a sidewalk for pedestrians. Its huge bascule leaves provide plenty of clearance for the greatest seagoing vessels. This bridge, a memorial to Charleston soldiers who lost their lives in the World War, is an essential link in the Coastal Highway between the provinces of eastern Canada and the keys of Florida, thence by “ferry” to Havana, Cuba. It connects the city of Charleston with all the trans-Ashley region. From the town it leads to James Island (on which are the Country Club and the Municipal Links, Riverland Terrace and Wappoo Hall) and the popular Folly Beach; by way of James Island to the Stono River bridge which is near the famous Fenwick Hall, a great estate in pre-Revolutionary years; it leads to Walterboro, Beaufort, Port Royal (site of the earliest French colony) and Savannah and Jacksonville; it leads to the Ashley COOPER RIVER BRIDGE, on the Old King’s Highway: Coming to Charleston President George Washington, President James Monroe and the Marquis de Lafayette traveled over the old King’s Highway. Washington was here in 1791, Monroe in 1819 and Lafayette in 1825. From the Mount Pleasant shore to the City of Charleston they crossed by primitive ferry. To August of 1929 ferries over the broad Cooper River were continued. In that month the great bridge over the Cooper River was opened to traffic. This is the world’s third highest vehicular bridge! Its span over Town Creek affords vertical clearance of 132 feet, as much as that of the famous Brooklyn Bridge, and the span over the Cooper River a vertical clearance of 152 feet at mean high water. From the crest of this engineering achievement are provided commanding views. In the distance to the right is Fort Sumter, looking for all the world like a toy fortress in a toy pool. From this coign of vantage one sees the many bold and little creeks that flow into the Cooper. To the middle left one sees THE CITADEL, the Military College of South Carolina: General Charles Pelot Summerall is now a Charlestonian and proud of it. He would add that his pride is the greater in that he is president of The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina, an institution whose illustrious record goes back to 1842, which furnished distinguished officers for the Confederacy, in the Spanish and World Wars. As the Cadet Battalion went into the Confederate service the college was closed in 1864. From the evacuation of Charleston to The Citadel’s reopening in 1882, it was occupied by Union soldiers. From its establishment in 1842 to the fall of 1922, The Citadel was on Marion Square. Because it needed more room, it went into new quarters at Hampton Park on the Ashley River where now it is. It was a cadet battery that fired the first gun of the War for Southern Independence; the PORTER MILITARY ACADEMY, Distinguished Military School: “Through the noble efforts” of the Reverend Anthony Toomer Porter, D.D., then Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion, the Porter Military Academy had its origin in 1867 as the Holy Communion Church Institute, in its genesis “a classical school for the children of parents in straitened circumstances,” due to the War for Southern Independence. In Dr. Porter’s absence his board of trustees named the institution for him. Among its distinguished alumni is General Charles Pelot Summerall, former Chief of Staff of the United States Army and now President of The Citadel. The Porter Military Academy occupies the grounds of the United States Arsenal; it is bounded by Ashley Avenue and Bee, President and Doughty Streets. It continues to earn a high place among Southern educational institutions, its boarding cadets coming from many States. It is a fully accredited preparatory school. COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, Oldest Municipal College: To claim the distinction of being America’s oldest municipal college is a large order, but the College of Charleston, on George Street between St. Philip and College Streets, earns it by the record. The institution was founded in 1770 and takes rank as fifteenth in the list of American colleges. Its roll of graduates sounds like a list of South Carolina’s St. Mary’s, 79 Hasell Street; Mother Parish of Catholics in Carolinas and Georgia ORIGINAL DEPARTMENT STORE, King Street at Market: “Ghosts rush out every time I pass,” said a friend. He was growing sentimental about the Academy of Music building, razed in 1937. In 1830 in this “whale of a building,” for its time, was opened the world’s first department store. With great stocks from all parts of the world the Kerrisons built up an enormous business, their customers coming from as far as the Mississippi River! It was a massive building of massive construction. Its masonry was notable and it may be that its great heart cypress timbers were more notable. To the coming of the War for Southern Independence, Charleston being capital of a far-flung slave empire, business in the building prospered. Kerrison’s of this time is descendant of the original Kerrison’s; it is across and higher up King Street, one of the leading department stores of the South. After Appomattox Charleston was without a theater. The Charleston Theater had been destroyed in the fire of 1861. John Chadwick, a school master, acquired the building and converted the rear portion into a theater, the Academy of Music, wherein have appeared famous actors, actresses and singers, great bands and orchestras. Georges Barrere, solo flautist and conductor of the Little Symphony Orchestra and the Barrere Ensemble, after playing his flute on the stage, remarked: “Here is a veritable ‘Strad.’ of a theater!” Barrere was justly complimenting the remarkable acoustics of the theater. It is well to bear in mind that Charleston had a great department store before the first of the steam railroads began operation in America! A century ago in a mezzanine gallery on the top floor were displayed laces, embroideries and other fine goods from the world’s finest makers. As a theater the Academy of Music was owned for some years by John A. Owens, nationally known for his portrayal of Solon Shingle. It may be permissible here to say that Joseph Jefferson used to manage a theater in Charleston, that his mother was born in Charleston. WASHINGTON SQUARE, Called also City Hall Park: In the northwest corner of this park is the first fireproof building built in America, for which salient reason Charleston knows it as The Fireproof Building. It was erected about 1826. Robert Mills was the architect. It is used for WILLIAM PITT STATUE, in Washington Park: “The gentleman (Benjamin Franklin) tells us that America is obstinate, America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted! Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest!” William Pitt was speaking in the House of Commons, London, denouncing the iniquitous stamp tax. Charlestown heard of the Pitt speech and Charlestown applauded. Charlestown ordered a statue of the great statesman in recognition of his noble position. The statue was received in Charlestown May 31, 1770, and was erected in the intersection of Broad and Meeting Streets, the most prominent position in the town at that time. During the Revolution a shell from a British gun on James Island struck off the right arm, explaining its absence into this LORD CAMPBELL’S HOUSE, 34 Meeting Street: Last of the Royal Governors, Lord William Campbell, precipitately left Charlestown September 16, 1775, taking refuge aboard H.M.S. Tamar. Lord Campbell by night went through his garden to a boat in Vanderhorst Creek (Water Street nowadays). He had come to Charlestown June 18, 1775, and was “received civilly, but without enthusiasm.” Fleeing, he carried with him the Great Seal of the Province. South Carolina was on the way to independence. The house was built about 1760 and was owned by Mrs. Blake, first cousin to Sarah Izard who married Lord Campbell. She belonged to one of the richest and most influential families in the Province. After the Revolution, about 1795, Colonel Lewis Morris, a Revolutionary officer, acquired the property. Colonel Francis Kinloch Huger, who had part in the frustrated plot to liberate the Marquis de Lafayette from the Austrian prison of Olmutz, was wounded on the steps of this house; a section of the bull’s-eye in the roof fell and fractured his skull. In the earthquake of 1886, a young Englishman was killed on the steps; a piece of the parapet fell on him. The house has been in the Huger family for years. The handsome piazzas on the south side were built for the late William E. Huger, whose son, Daniel Elliott Huger, is the present owner. WILLIAM BULL’S HOUSE, 35 Meeting Street: Across MILES BREWTON HOUSE, 27 King Street: History, romance, legend and tradition crowd upon this famous mansion, built by Miles Brewton about 1765. Brewton and his family perished at sea and the property descended to his sister, the famous Mrs. Rebecca Motte (whose name is perpetuated in the Rebecca Motte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution). This gallant and patriotic lady was living in the house when the British took possession of Charleston. Sir Henry Clinton commandeered it as his headquarters, and Lord Rawdon did the same thing. Lord Cornwallis was quartered in the house. Again, when the Union forces occupied Charleston in the War for Southern Independence, the general commanding set up his headquarters here. Later the house was the residence of the Pringle family, hence it is commonly known nowadays as the Pringle House. The visitor should observe the picturesque old coach house adjoining and to the north. The old garden is behind high brick walls, so typical of the old Charlestown. Her home in possession of the invading British, Rebecca Brewton Motte, widow of Jacob Motte, retired with his family to her plantation house in Orangeburg County on the Congaree River. The British, seizing the residence, built a parapet around it. Francis Marion and Henry Lee laid siege to it. Apprised that British reinforcements were approaching, the officers considered the burning of the fine property, but hesitated. Mrs. Motte, however, overcame their scruples. Bringing out an African bow and arrows for it, she deliberately sent flaming arrows to the roof which caught afire, causing the British garrison to surrender with alacrity. After independence Mrs. Motte undertook rice planting on scale and built up a considerable property. Her two eldest daughters, in succession, were wives of the great Thomas Pinckney. Cathedral of St. John the Baptist Trinity Methodist Church WILLIAM GIBBES HOUSE, 64 South Battery Street: William Gibbes came to Charlestown direct from England and was active in behalf of the colonies until the actual break with the Crown, when he fled to Bermuda, thence going back to England. The handsome house was built before 1776; the exact date is obscured. Gibbes was with others interested in reclaiming marshy areas in that section. Five years after his death the records show that Mrs. Sarah Smithe purchased the property, the consideration being twenty-five hundred pounds. An elegant ballroom occupies the width of the upper story. Within brick walls on three sides was, and is, a beautiful garden. For years the property belonged to the Drayton family and some years after the War for Southern Independence it was occupied by James Petigru Lesesne, son of the Chancellor Henry Deas Lesesne and a great-grandson of the Huguenot pastor, Jean Louis Gibert who came from the Channel Islands leading a French colony into upper South Carolina. It passed into the ownership of Colonel J. B. E. WILLIAM BLACKLOCK HOUSE, 18 Bull Street: This fine mansion, built about 1800, is considered one of the best examples of its type of architecture. It is a two-story brick dwelling, with a double set of steps leading to an entrance platform. The carriage gates are gracefully ornate. There is the peculiarity that the gates are of wood, rather than of the wrought-iron pieces that would be expected. THE WASHINGTON HOUSE, 87 Church Street: President George Washington, visiting Charleston in May, 1791, was “domiciled” in the residence of Thomas Heyward, Jr., one of the four South Carolina Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Edward Rutledge, also a Signer of the Declaration, was of the company that greeted the soldier-statesman across the Cooper River and escorted him to town. A complete equipment was organized by the City of Charleston for the President’s comfort. The house has undergone changes. For some years a baker did business on the ground floor. The property is now owned and maintained by the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings. Down the street and on the opposite side at No. 78, President Washington addressed citizens from the balcony, which is a graceful reminder of the French influence in Charleston. MYTHICAL OLD SLAVE MARKET, 6 Chalmers Street: Chalmers in this year is fairly famous for two things: It is Charleston’s surviving “cobble-stone” street, the stones coming CHARLESTON LIBRARY, 164 King Street: Organized in 1748 by seventeen young gentlemen of Charlestown, third oldest in this country, the Charleston Library Society, a private enterprise governed by a Board of Trustees, moved into a new fireproof building in recent years. In 1835 the society bought the building of the old South Carolina Bank, at the northwest corner of Broad and Church Streets, using this until the transfer to King Street. The society has more than 60,000 volumes. It owns the only surviving file of the South Carolina State Gazette and one of three files of The Courier (1803). Valuable books were lost in the fire of 1778. In the War for Southern Independence most of the volumes were taken to Columbia for safekeeping; those left in the society’s building were destroyed. In 1874 the old Apprentices’ Society was merged with the Charleston Library Society. In 1900, dissolving, the South Carolina Jockey Club transferred its property to the library; the club and the society were about of an age. Generous bequests have greatly assisted the society. CHARLESTON MUSEUM, 123 Rutledge Avenue: This, the oldest Museum in the country, is housed in the former Thomson Auditorium, built in 1899 for conventions, with money bequeathed by John Thomson. The Charlestown Museum was organized in 1773 and incorporated in 1915. Very fine collections of natural history and of the history of human culture are owned. Lately the Museum had the great good fortune to come into possession of the priceless collection of birds preserved by the distinguished South Carolina ornithologist, Arthur Trezevant Wayne. A skeleton of a large whale which found its way into Charleston harbor and was harpooned is one of the Museum’s unique specimens, unique in that the cetacean was caught in this harbor. THE BATTERY, White Point Gardens: It is no use to call the Battery by its proper name; even in Charleston, White Point Gardens is not recognized as the Battery. Nonetheless the name of this famous and beautiful park and promenade is White Point Gardens. Its sea walls are laved on the south by the Ashley River and on the east by the Cooper River; their confluence is at and off the southeast corner of the Battery. This pleasure ground has been favorably compared with the world’s most famous plazas and promenades. It is a source of never-ending delight to visitors. East, or High Battery begins at the old Granville Bastion, now Omar Temple of the Mystic Shrine. It is a great promenade, with a commanding view of the harbor seaward, with Fort Sumter in the middle-ground. South Battery, proper, is between the East Battery and the extension of King Street to the water. Somewhat more than eight acres constitute South Battery, which, to the westward, becomes the Murray Boulevard, lined, as East and Trumbull’s Portrait of General George Washington, in the City Hall THE COLONIAL COMMON, and Ashley River Embankment: In Charleston beautiful Colonial Lake is The Pond. It came into being in the 1880’s with the reclaiming of the area. The official designation is The Colonial Common and Ashley River Embankment. About this salt-water pond are garden areas, and west of it is the new Moultrie Playground which greatly improves the appearance of the neighborhood. Some of Charleston’s most desirable residences face the pond. Off its northwest corner is the Baker Sanatorium, one of the South’s largest and most completely equipped private hospitals, founded by Archibald E. Baker, surgeon. Less than fifty years ago there was a causeway at the head of Broad Street; nowadays the whole area is populated. Colonial Lake is bounded by Broad Street, Rutledge Avenue, Beaufain Street, and Ashley Avenue, paramount traffic arteries. Its water is from the Ashley River, regulated by a flood-gate. MEDICAL COLLEGE, 16 Lucas Street: While the Medical College of the State of South Carolina dates from 1823, it did not move to the present site until 1913. For years before that it was in Queen Street. The college maintains schools of medicine, pharmacy and nursing. The News and Courier is quoted: “The early faculty included men of national and international reputation, who gave the college a prestige which placed it at once amongst the foremost institutions of the kind, and among its graduates were not a few whose fame added further luster to their alma mater.... The sessions of the college were carried on without intermission until the THE ROPER HOSPITAL, 15 Lucas Street: On the site of the old City Hospital is the Roper Hospital; riverward is its auxiliary pavilion, the Riverside Infirmary, a high-class private hospital. The Roper is a general hospital operated by the Medical Society of South Carolina, the City of Charleston and the County of Charleston contributing to the care of “free” patients. The institution includes a special building for contagious diseases. The hospital owes its origin to the benevolence of Colonel Thomas Roper. In 1849 the Medical Society proceeded to arrange the building of a hospital, “prompted by the deficient and faulty hospital accommodations of the city at that time.” The City Council appropriated $20,000 and a lot was acquired at Queen and Mazyck Streets. Public spirited citizens swelled the building fund. The building was completed in 1852. Before it was completely furnished and equipped, it had to be opened because of the yellow fever epidemic that raged in 1852. In effect, the old Roper Hospital was leased to the City of Charleston, the arrangement between the Board of Trustees and the City Council beginning in 1856 and terminating in 1865. With the evacuation of Charleston by the Confederates, the Union invaders took it over; its trustees were impotent. Next to the Roper, the city improvised and operated its own hospital, and the Roper trustees closed their institution in 1871. The city hospital was virtually destroyed in the earthquake of ASHLEY HALL, 172 Rutledge Avenue: Originally one of the historic mansions of Charleston, Ashley Hall, a preparatory school for young ladies, draws its students from many states. In the language of Miss Mary Vardrine McBee, founder and principal: “It is but a little while since Ashley Hall was a venturous experiment. Begun in the conviction that South Carolina and her sister States were ready to welcome a school for girls of high intellectual standing, while cherishing still those amenities of feminine culture which give Southern life its distinctive charm, Ashley Hall was welcomed in its very inception. It had hardly been opened before the necessity of enlargement, alike of building and staff, became apparent.” The grounds about this fine mansion are among the most beautiful in the South. Annually a Shakespearean play is performed in the garden, the students portraying the rÔles. PRINCESS LOUISE, Site of the Landing Stage: Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria, was in Charleston January 19-24, 1883, first member of the English Royal family to come to the capital of the former Royal Province. She was accompanied by her husband, the Marquis of Lorne, then Governor General of Canada, later the Duke of Argyle. In residence at the Charleston Hotel she received “pleasantly a number of our citizens, both ladies and gentlemen.” For her convenience a landing stage was provided at the foot of King Street, on the Battery (the Fort Sumter Hotel is on this site). As the Princess was about to embark on H.M.S. Dido, the Battery was “densely crowded with people, including a number of ladies.” The German Artillery fired a salute and the Dido answered. “The pure splendor of the Japonicas,” said The News and Courier, “reminded the Princess of the old home at Osborne, where so much of her young life was spent.” City Hall College of Charleston The Old Exchange H. A. MIDDLETON’S HOUSE, 68 South Battery Street: Henry Augustus Middleton, of the illustrious Middleton family, died in Charleston in March, 1887, in his ninety-fifth year. He was at the time of his death, The News and Courier said, “the oldest living representative of a family which for more than two centuries has been closely and prominently identified with the history of South Carolina.... He was a school boy when Marengo was being fought and was a young man whose education was finished when the great Napoleon closed his career at Waterloo.” The same newspaper further said that Mr. Middleton “was a conspicuous representative of a society and class which are fast passing into tradition.” He was owner and operator of many great plantations, and before the War for Southern Independence among the leading owners of slaves. He married Harriott, daughter of Cleland Kinloch, of Wee Haw, in Georgetown County. The fine old property is now owned by Dr. W. J. Pettus. Through Mr. Middleton’s life and for twenty-five years thereafter the sea wall on the west side of the yard was washed by the Ashley River at high tide. The marsh expanse to the west is in the Boulevard area. ST. FRANCIS XAVIER INFIRMARY, 264 Calhoun Street: The principal building of the St. Francis Xavier Infirmary was built in the bishopric of the Right Reverend William Thomas Russell, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, but the wing on Ashley Avenue is much older. Sisters of Mercy have supervision over the Xavier in all its departments, including the school for nurses. The hospital enjoys high rating by the national hospital authorities. The building is commodious, convenient and fireproof. LIBERTY TREE SITE, 22 North Alexander Street: The Liberty Tree in old Mazyckboro under which Christopher Gadsden, William Johnson and others impatient with English treatment of the colonies met and debated has gone, but a tablet marks the site. The inscription reads: “Near this spot once stood the Liberty Tree where Colonial independence was first advocated by Christopher Gadsden, A.D. 1766, and where ten years later the Declaration of Independence was first heard and applauded by South Carolinians.” This tablet was erected by the Sons of the Revolution in 1905. It was under the tree in a pasture that patriots nurtured high treason against the English Crown. WILLIAM WASHINGTON HOUSE, 8 South Battery Street: Here lived Colonel William Washington, a Virginian, who achieved distinction in the Revolution, mainly in South Carolina. The fine old house was built by Thomas Savage about 1769 and was purchased by Colonel Washington after independence had been recognized. His fiancÉe, member of a proud South Carolina family, presented him with a flag when she learned he had none. It was a piece taken from a handsome HAMPTON PARK, Head of Cleveland Street: Notwithstanding its comparative youth Hampton Park, named for General Wade Hampton, is a distinguished pleasure ground, its gardens developed to a high state of loveliness. Some time after the South Carolina, Inter-State and West Indian Exposition (1901-02) the city took over the property and developed it into a modern park. Its sunken garden, with ducks and geese and swans playing in the water, is appealing, and about it on all sides are flower beds, profusely beautiful in their seasons. Large canebreaks are growing near the sunken garden. An attractive driveway goes about the property, but vehicles are not permitted within the garden area. A section of the tract, bordering the Ashley River, was ceded to The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, after the World War. A stroll through Hampton Park’s flowers in spring and summer is thoroughly worth while. Features include a zoo and an aviary. COUNTY COURT HOUSE, Broad and Meeting Streets: In years when Charleston was Charles Town, when Indians were roaming these coastal woods, the State House stood at the northwest corner of Broad and Meeting Streets. It was burned in 1788, after Columbia, on the Congaree, had become the capital of the State. Not long after the fire the county UNITED STATES POST OFFICE, Broad and Meeting Streets: Since 1896 the United States post office has been in the granite building at the southwest corner of Broad and Meeting Streets, on the site of the old (police) Guard House which suffered heavy damage in the earthquake of 1886. Southward of the building is an attractive park which is not open to the public. The United States court and its officials and attachÉs have quarters in the building. Previously the post office was in the old Exchange, at the foot of Broad Street. On the four corners of Broad and Meeting Streets are: Southwest, post office; southeast, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, on the site of the first English church; northeast, City Hall, the building erected for the United States Bank; on the site of an early market place; northwest, County Court House, on the site of the old State House. (Consult the Index.) UNITED STATES CUSTOMS HOUSE, East Bay Street, at Market: Work on this, one of the handsomest government buildings, was begun in 1850 and was proceeding when the War for Southern Independence interrupted. After Appomattox it was completed, but it is much smaller than the original plans prescribed, explaining the fine esplanade effect in front. It is a Roman-Corinthian building of white marble, and its steps, both front and back, have elicited warm admiration from appreciative visitors. Piles, grillage and concrete were used in the foundations. The building houses the customs service, the army engineer offices, the weather bureau, the public health surgeon, the immigration service, the internal revenue offices and the bureau of steamboat inspection. In the basement from time to time are stored quantities of “contraband” confiscated by the Coast Guard and other federal prohibition agents. Prior to 1850 the old Fitzsimmons wharf was on the site of the Customs House quay. Middleton Place Middleton Place SOUTH CAROLINA HALL, 72 Meeting Street: This is the property of the South Carolina Society, built in 1804 as a free school and meeting place, but the society dates to 1736 when it was formed by French Protestants for charitable purposes. In the beginning it was known as the Two-Bit Club. Through years it has done noble work in assisting the families of deceased members and in educating their children. The porch over Meeting Street is notably attractive; it was added when the building was improved and enlarged. Members have made liberal donations to this society, as mural tablets in the hall attest. The St. Andrew’s Society, organized by Scots in 1729, is quartered in this building, accounting for the presence of tables and chairs used in the Secession convention in St. Andrew’s Hall, Broad Street, burned in the fire of 1861. THE SWORD GATES, 32 Legare Street: Years and years ago, a famous school for girls was on this property under the principalship of Madame Talvande, survivor of the Domingo massacres. It is one of the most desirable residential properties BETH ELOHIM SYNAGOGUE, 74 Hasell Street: Charleston has had a Jewish congregation since 1750. The tabernacle of Beth Elohim was dedicated in March, 1843, and was among the first synagogues in which an organ was installed. To this congregation is attributed the Jewish Reform movement in the United States, which had its beginning in 1824. The Beth Elohim congregation had a tabernacle on this site just after the Revolution; it was destroyed in the fire of 1838. The incorporation of the congregation dates to 1781. The present tabernacle is a fine example of the Athenian style in architecture. Certain changes in the interior were made about 1880. YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 26 George Street: While this handsome and commodious building YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, 76 Society Street: This Charleston branch of a great association had its beginning in 1903. Its first quarters were in an old residence at 21 George Street, the modern building coming with the growth of membership and the increase of community calls. GRACE CHURCH, 100 Wentworth Street: Its congregation founded in 1840, its corner stone laid in July, 1847, Grace Episcopal Church was consecrated November 9, 1848. The Reverend Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, D.D., was its rector from 1850 to his death in 1898, nearly a half century. The Reverend William Way, D.D., has been rector more than a quarter of a century. Grace has one of the largest and most prosperous Episcopalian congregations in the South. ST. PAUL’S CHURCH, 126 Coming Street: This is frequently called St. Paul’s, Radcliffeboro, as its site was outside the town when the edifice was consecrated in March, 1816; the congregation was founded in 1811. Its first rector was the Reverend Dr. Percy, an Englishman, who in 1772 took charge ST. PETER’S P.E. CHURCH, Rutledge and Sumter Streets: On this site of Christ Church is St. Peter’s, so named from the old church at No. 8 Logan Street. Through arrangement of the two vestries, the new St. Peter’s came into the old St. Peter’s properties. The Logan Street church was burned in the fire of 1861. Its graveyard is maintained. Possibly it was on this site that Hessian soldiers were drilled during the Revolution, as Charles Fraser says they went through their military exercises in Logan Street. CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF MERCY, Legare and Queen Streets: This large brick building is of quite recent construction, but the Sisters of Mercy have been in Charleston more than a hundred years. Misses Mary Joseph and Honora O’Gorman, their niece, Mary Teresa Barry, fourteen years and six months old, and Miss Mary Burke arrived in Charleston November 23, 1829, coming on the invitation of Bishop John M. England. The Misses O’Gorman were natives of Cork, living in Baltimore, Maryland. December 10 they accepted the habit of religion, with Sister Mary Joseph as superioress of the new Community. In a small house on Friend (now Legare) Street the Sisters established the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy in December, 1830. Two years later the Bishop established a seminary and appointed Sister Mary Martha (Miss Honora O’Gorman) to its supervision. The Orphanage, Queen and Logan Streets, was established in 1840, under the care of the Sisters. The St. Francis Xavier Infirmary, Ashley Avenue and Calhoun Street, dates to 1882; it began in the McHugh residence, Magazine Street. In 1870 the Sisters acquired the old Nathaniel Russell house, 51 Meeting Street, relinquishing it on the completion of the new Convent. From the Charleston Community of Sisters of Mercy have gone other communities into both Carolinas and Georgia. Nor yellow fever nor war nor earthquake has swerved these consecrated women. They were angels of mercy in the yellow fever epidemics of 1835 and 1852. They nursed friend and foe alike in the War for Southern Independence. Notwithstanding the alarm and excitement in the time of the earthquake (1886) they ministered calmly, sweetly, efficiently to the sick and the injured. Miles Brewton House, 27 King Street “Sword Gates,” 32 Legare Street Gateway, Home of Herbert Ravenel Sass, Author, 23 Legare Street BISHOP ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL, 203 Calhoun Street: Long have the Catholics of Charleston had their parochial schools and the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy for girls. In 1914, in the pro-Cathedral, next to the Convent, Bishop Northrop established the Bishop England High School. Outgrowing these accommodations, it was transferred to the former home of the Cenacle Nuns in Calhoun Street, and on this site later the present large building was erected. Under the principalship of the Reverend Joseph L. O’Brien, the school has acquired a shining progress. BIRTHPLACE OF MASONRY, Broad and Church Streets: Charleston has the oldest lodge of Ancient Free Masons in this country. Chartered by the Grand Lodge in England in 1735, Solomon’s Lodge, No. 1, was organized in October, 1736. Its communications were held above the old Shepheard’s Tavern, northeast corner of Broad and Church THE IZARD HOUSES, 110-114 Broad Street: Some time before 1757 the Izard House in Charlestown was built. It remained in the Izard family a hundred years and since then has been in the possession of the family of Judge Mitchell King. Next door to the west, Ralph Izard, in 1827, began the erection of a house for his daughter, who sold it in 1829 to her brother-in-law, Colonel Thomas Pinckney. It was later acquired for the Bishop of Charleston. The Most Reverend Emmet Walsh, sixth Bishop of Charleston, has residence here. It is but three doors from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. JOHN RUTLEDGE’S HOUSE, 116 Broad Street: The war in which the Cherokee Indians were humbled had not been decided when this house was built in Charlestown. It became the home of John Rutledge, known as the Dictator, second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President of the independent Republic of South Carolina as the Revolution was breaking, he was clothed by the Assembly in 1780-82 with dictatorial powers; he was then Governor. The house, built in 1760, was the residence of Robert Goodwyn Rhett, former Mayor of Charleston, former president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, chairman of the board of the People’s State Bank of South CYPRESS GARDENS, On the Coastal Highway: Twenty-three miles north of Charleston, on the Coastal Highway (United States No. 52) Benjamin R. Kittredge has developed the Cypress Gardens. A cypress swamp, dark, mysterious, witching, has been shaped into an attraction of great power. To enjoy the Cypress Gardens to the full the visitor should use a boat. In their seasons the azaleas on this property are gorgeous, and in late spring the show of lotus is exquisite. Mr. Kittredge more than twenty years ago acquired the Dean Hall property, an old-time plantation on the Cooper River, from James Petigru Carson, grandson of the eminent lawyer and Unionist, James Louis Petigru. CHARLESTON ORPHAN HOUSE, 160 Calhoun Street: When the City of Charleston was incorporated in 1783, it was provided that poor orphan children should be cared for by the town. At first boys and girls were boarded in private homes and educated at Charleston’s expense. In November, 1792, the corner stone of the orphanage on the present site was laid, and in October, 1794, it was occupied. At that time the roll of orphans numbered more than a hundred. In 1855, the building was greatly improved and enlarged. In the belfry is one of Charleston’s fire-alarm bells and above the belfry the figure of Charity. Clergymen of Charleston take turns in officiating in the orphans’ chapel, on the Vanderhorst Street side. Distinguished visitors to Charleston have inspected the Orphan House, among them Grover Cleveland when he was here, with Mrs. Cleveland, in 1888. The Charleston Orphan FIRST WHITE CHILD, Born at East Bay and Tradd: The site of the Tradd home is at the northwest corner of East Bay and Tradd Streets. Here was born the first white child of the colony, a boy, Robert Tradd. The Tradd family has perished in Charleston. It is perpetuated in the street so named. JOHN EDWARDS’ HOUSE, 15 Meeting Street: John Edwards came from England and prospered as a merchant in Charlestown. In 1770 he built the fine mansion at what is now 15 Meeting Street. Edwards cast his lot with the patriots and contributed of his fortune to the cause of independence. “I would rather lose my all, than retain it subject to British authority,” he is reported to have said. During the British occupation in the Revolution, this house was quarters for Admiral Arbuthnot (Sir Henry Clinton was in the Miles Brewton house, 27 King Street). When in 1793 the French fled from San Domingo, the illustrious Compte de Grasse was entertained in this house. (Members of his family are interred in old St. Mary’s Churchyard, Charleston). The Edwards home is the property of the family of George W. Williams, banker. GIBBES ART GALLERY, 131 Meeting Street: “For the erection or purchase of a suitable building to be used as a hall or halls for the exhibition of painting and for necessary rooms for students in the fine arts,” James S. Gibbes bequeathed about $125,000. The memorial building was erected on the site of the old Grand Opera House, opposite the site of the South Carolina Institute Hall in which the Ordinance of Secession was signed December 20, 1860. It is under supervision of the Mayor and the Carolina Art Association, chartered in December, 1858. Lord William Campbell House, 34 Meeting Street William Washington House, 8 South Battery HIBERNIAN HALL, 105 Meeting Street: Says the bronze tablet at the gateway: “Founded March 17, 1801. Met in Corbett’s Tavern until construction of this hall. Dedicated 1841. Long a center of civic life in disasters as in prosperity. Its presidents alternate Catholic and Protestant. Hibernian Society.” Prominent among its founders was Judge Aedanus Burke, of whom many merry stories survive. Through many years the St. Cecilia Society gave its balls in this hall. At the St. Patrick’s Day banquets of the Hibernian Society men of lustrous national and international reputation have spoken. THE ENSTON HOME, 720 King Street: “To make old age comfortable,” William Enston, native of Canterbury, England, left his estate, after life tenures, for an institution for old and infirm persons. In 1882, in the life-time of the widow, arrangements for constructing the Enston Home were begun and in February, 1899, the memorial hall, a chapel and meeting place was formally dedicated. Cottages occupy about a half of the property. The Board of Trustees is watchful of the conditions warranting further growth. The Enston Home is an exemplary practical charity. BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH, Calhoun and Pitt Streets: Elsewhere is reference made to the visits of John and ST. LUKE’S CHURCH, 20 Elizabeth Street: For the convenience of Episcopalians in the northeastern section of Charleston, St. Luke’s Church was founded in December, 1857. The corner stone of the present building was laid in 1859 and the church, though partly completed, used in February, 1862. During the War for Southern Independence Union soldiers sacked the building and a negro female school was held in it. In the fall of 1865 it was repossessed by the vestry. In 1880 the congregation of St. Stephen’s chapel, Anson Street, united with St. Luke’s. For a time after 1900 the church was closed, but reopened by a section of the congregation of St. Paul’s. YEAMANS HALL, Club on Goose Creek: On property taking its name from Sir John Yeamans, second Governor at Charles Town, is the Yeamans Hall Club, an exclusive organization, the members of which are mainly from the East. A number of the members have their own cottages on the property. Most of them are interested in hunting preserves in coastal South Carolina. The club property is not open to the UNITED STATES NAVY YARD, on the Cooper River: The development of this naval base and station grew out of a recommendation by a special board in 1901. Of particular interest to the visitor is the old frigate Hartford, flagship of Commodore Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay—“Damn the torpedoes; go ahead.” For some years the cruiser Olympia, flagship of Commodore Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay, was a receiving ship at the Charleston yard, but it was recommissioned in the World War. The destroyer Tillman, the gunboat Asheville and other naval craft have been built at this yard, which is equipped with a dry dock large enough to accommodate modern battleships, and with marine railways of considerable capacity. One of the navy’s most powerful radio-telegraph stations is at the yard. Charleston’s is the only navy yard on the Atlantic Coast south of Norfolk, of peculiar strategic value in relation to the Panama Canal. During the World War thousands of bluejackets were trained here, and the navy maintained a clothing factory with two thousand operatives. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, Broad and Church Streets: Having begun in 1773 the Charleston Chamber of Commerce THE COUNTRY CLUB, on James Island: On picturesque property on James Island, on one side washed by Wappoo Creek, the Charleston Country Club has a handsome and comfortable house and an excellent golf course. The club had its beginning in the Belvedere property on the Cooper River, northward of Magnolia Cemetery. Charleston, according to advertisements in the Charleston City Gazette in the late 1790’s, had the country’s first golf club. The Country Club is accessible by yacht as well as by motor, as it is on the inland waterway. A mile from this club are the municipal links, near the Stono River bridge, open to the public. CHARLESTON’S BANKS: Oldest banking house in the South, dating to 1834, the main office of the South Carolina National Bank is at the northeast corner of Broad and State Streets. The old Bank of Charleston was the parent of the banking system with offices in Columbia, Greenville, Sumter and other South Carolina towns. The Carolina Savings Bank’s main offices are at the southwest corner of Broad and East Bay Streets. The Citizens and Southern Bank of South Carolina is in a new home at the northeast corner of Broad and Church Streets, site of the first Masonic lodge in this country. The Miners and Merchants’ Bank is at 23 Broad Street. Branch Offices of the banks are at convenient places in King Street, the principal retail area. THE FIRE OF 1861: This conflagration is given prominence because of the great number of important buildings that were destroyed. The Charleston City Year Book of 1880 says that this fire began in a large sash and blind factory near the foot of Hasell Street on the night of Wednesday, December 11, 1861. A gale blowing from the north-northeast the flames swept through the town to the then west end of Tradd Street, laying waste an area of 540 acres and inflicting property damage of about seven millions of dollars. The fire was not due to the war. Among the buildings burned were the Cumberland Methodist Church, the Circular Church, the building of the South Carolina Institute, the Charleston Theater, the building of the St. Andrew’s Society, the Catholic Cathedral of St. Finbar and St. John, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, the Quaker Meeting House. CHARLESTON’S BEACHES: Charleston is fortunate in possession of resort beaches which are easily accessible. Sullivan’s Island, on which is old Fort Moultrie, has been a popular summering place for many many years. Beyond it is the Isle of Palms, with its nine-mile strand. A notable pavilion has been a feature since 1899. Both of these islands are reached by way of the Cooper River Bridge and the bridge over Cove Inlet, between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island. The latter and the Isle of Palms are separated by Breach Inlet, over which is a modern bridge. By way of the Ashley River Bridge, thence through James Island, is the route to Folly Beach, with its seven-mile strand. An entertainment pier was built in time for the season of 1931; this is over the water at high tide. To the east of Folly Beach is Morris Island where stands the Charleston Light, the first and only PETIGRU’S GRAVE, in St. Michael’s Yard: When Woodrow Wilson was attending the peace conference at Paris, a message came to Charleston that the president wished the inscription from the grave of James Louis Petigru in St. Michael’s Churchyard. It was furnished at once by Joseph M. Poulnot, then postmaster at Charleston. Mr. Petigru was an eminent South Carolinian. Notwithstanding that he opposed Nullification and Secession he held the high opinion of the community, and commanded its respect. Mr. Petigru, through his mother, was a grandson of the French Protestant Pastor Jean Louis Gibert, who led French settlers to the Abbeville section in the late 1760’s. The inscription on his tomb which is widely quoted says in part: Future Times will hardly know Mr. Petigru’s funeral took place March 10, 1863. To a Unionist who went with his people into Secession, highest honors were paid even while the forces of the United States were battering away at Charleston! A HOUSE OF TRAGEDIES, the Hanging of Lavinia Fisher: In 1820 lawlessness on the “Neck” northward of Charleston was regnant. “Gangs of white desperadoes occupied certain houses and infested the roads leading to the city. To such an extent did these outlaws carry their excesses that wagoners and others coming to the City were under the necessity of carrying rifles in their hands for their defense. Travelers passed these houses with fear and trembling. More dreaded than others of these haunts was that known as the Six-Mile (?) house, occupied by John Fisher and Lavinia, his wife,” says King’s Newspaper Press of Charleston. Fisher and his wife were taken into custody and high crimes and misdemeanors charged against them. In the cellar of their roadhouse were found the bones of guests they had murdered. Their motive was robbery. Their house was on the Meeting Street Road, a section of the Old State Road, Charleston to Columbia. The Fishers were tried and convicted in Charleston. According to King they were hanged February 18, 1820, “at 2 o’clock, just within the lines, on a hill east of the Meeting Street Road, about eight hundred yards north of the street known as Line Street continued.” Mrs. Fisher was unnerved and “called upon the immense throng assembled to rescue her and implored pity with outstretched and trembling hands.” King is mistaken about the Six-Mile house, as authorities say that it was the Four-Mile house, the site of which is readily located; it is four miles from the Charleston Court House on the Meeting Street Road, about a mile north of Magnolia Crossing, and visible from the King Street Extension which is the Charleston approach by the Coastal Highway, United States 52. Monument to Defenders of Fort Moultrie on The Battery Colonial Powder Magazine, 23 Cumberland Street WESTMINSTER CHURCH, Rutledge Avenue and Maverick Street: This Presbyterian congregation sold its building at 273-75 Meeting Street to the Trinity Methodist Episcopal congregation and erected a new church about two miles from the other site. The congregation derives from St. Andrew’s, or the Third Presbyterian, Church in Archdale Street, built in 1814. It was due to a separation from the First (Scotch) Presbyterian Church. The Reverend Dr. Buchan was the first pastor. About 1850 this church was razed, the congregation building anew on the west side of Meeting Street; the new church was called the Central and for more than twenty years was under the pastoral charge of the Reverend W. C. Dana. OLD THEATER SITE, Joseph Jefferson, Manager: In 1793 the Charleston Theater was built in a corner of Savage’s Green and about the same time New Street was built. Years afterward Joseph Jefferson, famous and beloved American comedian, managed a theater in Charleston. He told the writer that it was at New and Broad Streets, but authorities say that Mr. Jefferson was mistaken; that he meant another old theater at Friend (Legare) and Broad Streets. The late Reverend Dr. Robert Wilson told the writer that this was another mistake, as Mr. Jefferson managed Placides Theater in Queen Street! Mr. Jefferson’s mother was born in Charleston. SUGAR FACTORY SITE, Later a Home of Correction: According to The Courier (May 16, 1868) at the west end of Broad Street was Savage’s Green on which, before the Revolution was built a manufactory for loaf sugar. For this reason it was known as the Sugar House. It became a Work House or House of Correction. “The lot, together with the building,” says The Courier, “was afterwards owned by Dr. Le Seignieur, who, in 1807, contemplated the establishment of a cotton manufactory. The plan was abandoned in consequence of the machinery having been lost on its passage from Europe.” SECOND (FLINN’S) CHURCH, Meeting and Charlotte Streets: Presbyterians in Charleston growing in number ST. MATTHEW’S CHURCH, 403 King Street: At Christmas, 1867, the corner stone for St. Matthew’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church was laid. The church building was dedicated in March, 1872. The tallest spire in Charleston surmounts the church. An impressive representation of the Crucifixion is in a stained glass window. CITADEL SQUARE CHURCH, 328 Meeting Street: Offspring of the old First Baptist Church in lower Church Street, the Citadel Square was founded in 1854 and the building dedicated in November, 1856. Members of the Wentworth Street Baptist Church joined with the Citadel Square. In the cyclone of 1885 the steeple fell in such manner as to carry away the front walls of the residence at the northeast corner of Meeting and Henrietta Streets. Several years ago the church building was renovated, the already large auditorium made larger. The Citadel Square, deriving its name from the nickname of the Marion Square which it faces, has one of the largest Baptist congregations in the South. CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION, Cannon Street and Ashley Avenue: From this church went its rector, the Reverend H. J. Mikell to become Episcopal Bishop of ST. ANDREWS LUTHERAN, 37 Wentworth Street: This church building was severely damaged by Union shells in the War for Southern Independence. It was then a Methodist property. After Appomattox this congregation joined with a Morris Street Lutheran congregation under the pastorate of the Reverend Dr. W. S. Bowman. It has had a succession of able, eloquent Lutheran ministers, including the Reverend James A. B. Scherer and the Reverend M. G. G. Scherer. ST. JOHANNES CHURCH, 48 Harrell Street: This building was first used by the St. Matthew’s congregation which later built on King Street opposite Marion Square. As St. Johannes, it was organized in 1878, though the earlier Lutheran congregation was there in 1841. SHAW MEMORIAL SCHOOL, 22 Mary Street: Charleston’s tolerance as a community may be illustrated in the Shaw school for negroes. Since 1874 this institution has been in the Charleston city school system. It is a memorial to Colonel Robert G. Shaw, Union officer, who fell at the head of his regiment of negro troops in the assault on Battery Wagner, Morris Island, in the War for Southern Independence. His family provided the “spacious school house” for negroes, the land having been bought in 1868. The Shaw Monument Fund was supported entirely from the North until 1874. Strawberry, Chapel of Ease to Biggin St. James Church, Goose Creek POINSETTIA PULCHERRIMA, Named for Joel Roberts Poinsett: The Poinsettia is commonly known as Charleston’s flower. It was brought from Mexico by Joel Roberts Poinsett, about 1828. “There is some difference of opinion,” says Dr. Gabriel Manigault, “as to whether Mr. Poinsett discovered it himself or simply introduced it to this country.” After his retirement from a busy and distinguished public service, Mr. Poinsett’s home “had always been in the City of Charleston.” His residence was “situated upon what is now Rutledge Avenue, on the east side, a few squares above Calhoun Street. The house ... was recessed some distance from the street, and stood in the midst of a grove of live oaks; it was generally known as Poinsett’s Grove.” Mr. Poinsett was representative in congress, minister to Mexico in an eventful period, Secretary of War under President Van Buren, a rice planter who contributed much to the improvement of the grain. CHARLESTON’S HOTELS: The Francis Marion, at King and Calhoun Streets, in the heart of the retail shopping district, facing Marion Square, was opened in the spring of 1924. Its building was a community enterprise. The Fort Sumter, facing the Battery, at the foot of King Street, on the Ashley River, was opened in 1924. It maintains a dock for yachts. It is in the exclusive residential section. The St. John Hotel, built by Otis Mills, a caravansary with a long and a distinguished record, is at the southwest corner of Meeting and Queen Streets. President Theodore Roosevelt stayed here in the winter of 1902. The Timrod Hotel, opposite Washington Square, is a comfortable and convenient place in the building formerly occupied by the Commercial Club. The Charleston Hotel, Meeting between Hayne and Pinckney, has housed many notable guests, including the Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria. The Argyle, northwest corner of Meeting and Hasell Streets, was renovated and newly outfitted some years ago. It was formerly the St. Charles. Villa Margharita, South Battery and Church Street, was the former home of Andrew Simonds, banker. CABBAGE ROW, Supposed Home of “Porgy”: Everybody coming to Charleston inquires about “Porgy,” the deformed negro of whom DuBose Heyward wrote a best seller, which was translated into a successful play. Cabbage Row, on Church Street, near Tradd, west side, is the supposed Catfish Row. Cabbage Row has been renovated and restored. “Porgy” was a well-known Charleston character whose home was in the former Village of Cool Blow, on upper Meeting Street. His last days were tragedy. It would spoil a reading of “Porgy” to discuss him at length. WASHINGTON RACE COURSE, August Belmont Moved the Pillars: Memories of the old Washington race course survive, but the Jockey Club has been out of existence these forty years. Decades have elapsed since races were run on the course. The track was on property entered from Rutledge Avenue near present-day Hampton Park. In 1901 the old pillars in the ornate gateway were purchased by August Belmont and reËrected at his Belmont Park, near New York City. There are now no traces of the famous race course to which in the season the South Carolina aristocracy went in force and regalia. Notable races were run. OLD ’BORO BOUNDARIES: Should a visitor stay in Charleston long enough to ramble out of the beaten paths, these boundaries to old divisions may be of interest: Savage’s Green, west of Logan and Broad Streets. Harleston’s, bounded by Beaufain, Coming and Calhoun Streets, and the Ashley River. Mazyck’s Lands, bounded by Archdale, Beaufain, Broad, Smith and Trapman Streets. Cannonboro’, bounded by Smith, Bull, and Spring Streets and Ashley Avenue. Gadsden’s Green, bounded by Cannon and President Streets, the old public cemetery (the Stadium) and the Ashley River. Gadsden’s Square, bounded by Congress, Payne, Mount and Line Streets. Elliottboro’, within Spring, Line, and Coming Streets and Rutledge Avenue. Radcliffeboro’, within Radcliffe, Vanderhorst, Smith and King Streets. Wraggboro’, eastern part of the Wragg Lands about the old Northeastern Railroad station. Mazyckboro’, bounded by Chapel, Elizabeth and Calhoun Streets and the Cooper River, running into Wraggboro’ as a wedge. Ansonboro’, south of Wraggboro’, bounded by Calhoun Street, a line between Society and Wentworth, King Street on the west, Anson Street on the east. Glebe Lands, extending from Beaufain to George Streets, between St. Philip and Coming Streets. Hewatt Square, bounded by Friend (now Legare), Broad Mazyck (now upper Logan), and Queen Streets. Archdale Square, bounded by Meeting, Broad, King, and Queen Streets. Schenking’s Square, north of Queen, between King and Meeting Streets, half-way to Horlbeck Alley. “City Mudpond,” East Battery, South Battery, Church, half-way to Atlantic Street (nowadays a most fashionable residential area). Village of Hampstead, between South, Blake, Meeting and Bay Streets; owned by Henry Laurens and the Bampfield family. Village of New Market, north of Hampstead. “There are other smaller divisions of land which are too numerous to mention here.”—Wilmot G. de Saussure. |
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