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[Illustration: _St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Broad and Meeting
Streets: its Steeple and Chimes Famous_
Courtesy of South Carolina National Bank]
LANDMARKS of
CHARLESTON
INCLUDING DESCRIPTION OF
_An Incomparable Stroll_
BY
THOMAS PETIGRU LESESNE
AUTHOR OF
_History of Charleston County_
[Illustration: Publisher Logo]
RICHMOND
GARRETT & MASSIE, INCORPORATED
MCMXXXIX
COPYRIGHT, 1939, BY
GARRETT & MASSIE, INCORPORATED
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
[Illustration: Formal garden.]
_Foreword_
One's task in discussing Landmarks of Charleston is to describe the more
outstanding from the beginning of Charles Town to this present year. It
is an agreeable task, but it leaves undone some things one wishes he had
done.
An Incomparable Stroll will give the visitor information of people and
places of _Charles Town_ under the Lords Proprietors, _Charlestown_
under the Royal Government, and _Charleston_ under the Republic.
The gardens which bring thousands of visitors to Charleston each spring
are reached by excellent highways. Middleton Place and
Magnolia-on-the-Ashley are on the Ashley River Road; Cypress off the
Coastal Highway, United States 52. These gardens are so different that
they are not competitive, and the visitor questing for beauty that
baffles description should see all three, and, time permitting, journey
toward Georgetown and enjoy the famous Belle Isle Gardens, on Winyah
Bay.
In this work the index has been compiled with great care and should be
consulted freely. Charleston's points of interest are too scattered to
be grouped on a single route. Near Charleston are traces of
fortifications used in the Revolution and in the War for Southern
Independence. They are too numerous for individual enumeration. Books
have been written about them.
From the building of the Colonial Powder Magazine to the building of the
Cooper River Bridge, the third highest vehicular bridge in the world, is
a tremendous gap.
It is unnecessary to say that the author has consulted many authorities;
his quotations suffice to reveal this.
Thomas Petigru Lesesne.
Charleston,
South Carolina.
[Illustration: Ox-drawn cart.]
[Illustration: Shaded lane.]
_Contents_
PAGE
Foreword v
Historic Charleston 1
An Incomparable Stroll 6
Landmarks of Charleston (Guide Section) 13
Index 105
[Illustration: Park.]
_Illustrations_
PAGE
St. Michael's Episcopal Church _Frontispiece_
Fort Sumter from the Air 6
Looking North on Meeting Street 18
St. Philip's Episcopal Church 25
William Rhett House 31
The Izard Houses 31
Unitarian Church 36
St. John's Lutheran Church 36
Huguenot Church 36
First (Scotch) Presbyterian Church 43
Bethel Methodist Church 43
Alluring Views of Magnolia-on-Ashley 49
St. Mary's Catholic Church 56
Cathedral of St. John the Baptist 61
Trinity Methodist Church 61
Trumbull's Portrait of General George Washington 67
City Hall 71
College of Charleston 71
The Old Exchange 71
Middleton Place 76
Miles Brewton House 81
"Sword Gates" 81
Gateway, Home of Herbert Ravenel Sass 81
Lord William Campbell House 86
William Washington House 86
Monument to Defenders of Fort Moultrie 94
Colonial Powder Magazine 94
Strawberry, Chapel of Ease to Biggin 99
St. James Church, Goose Creek 99
LANDMARKS OF CHARLESTON
[Illustration: Waterfront view]
_Historic Charleston_
Why Charleston? Three European nations were claiming this southern
country--the Spaniards called it Florida, the French Carolina and the
English Southern Virginia. The Spanish claim was through Ponce de Leon,
1512; the French through Verazzano, a Florentine, 1524, and the English,
it is said, by virtue of a grant by the Pope of Rome, and through John
Cabot and his son, Sebastian, both of them in the service of the English
King Henry VII, 1497-98. To Edward, Earl of Clarendon, and his
associates Charles II of England gave a charter in 1663--"excited by a
laudable and pious zeal for the propagation of the Gospel."
The Proprietors planted colonists on the Albemarle and the Cape Fear,
North Carolina. Things did not go well and many of these people
subsequently found their way to old Charles Town, which was established,
not by English design, but through circumstances. Robert Sandford,
"Secretary and Chiefe Register for the Lords Proprietors of their County
of Clarendon," had explored this coast in the summer of 1666, and would
have seen the site of Charles Town, but his Indian pilot confused his
bearings "until it was too late." Sandford however, renamed the River
Kiawah the Ashley in honor of Ashley-Cooper, later the Earl of
Shaftesbury, one of the Proprietors.
Sandford, off Edisto, near Charles Town, was sought by the Cassique, or
Chief, of the Kiawah Indians and importuned to plant an English colony
near the Kiawah village on the west bank of the Kiawah (Ashley) River.
The Cassique, Sandford related, was known to the Clarendon colonists.
Sandford agreed to investigate, but missed the entrance and chose to
lose no further time by putting back. The Sandford report so impressed
the Proprietors that they authorized the planting of a colony, not at
Charles Town, but at Port Royal, to the south. Colonel William Sayle,
soldier of fortune, was commissioned Governor when Sir John Yeamans,
already Governor of the more northern colony, left the adventurers.
Three ships were in the enterprise, but one of these was separated. The
other two made land at present-day Bull's Island in the spring of 1670.
The Cassique of Kiawah was there and Governor Sayle was importuned to
abandon Port Royal and bring his colonists to the Kiawah country.
Sayle, however, followed his instructions and proceeded to Port Royal,
arriving in mid-April of 1670. The Cassique of Kiawah had told the
colonists that the Indians were on the warpath and his story was
confirmed. Carteret, who was in the "friggott" _Carolina_, flagship,
says: "Wee weighed from Porte Royall and ran in between St. Hellena and
Combohe (Combahee)." Here the first English election in Carolina was
held, five men "to be of the Council."
The sloop which had come with the _Carolina_ was "despatched to Keyawah
to view that land soe much commended by the Casseeka," and soon returned
with "a report that ye land was much more fitt to plant than in St.
Hellena which begott a question.... The Governour adhearing for Keyawah
and most of us being of a temper to follow though we know noe reason for
it, imitating ye rule of ye inconsiderate multitude, cryed out for
Keyawah, yet some dissented from it being sure to make a new voyage, but
difident of a better convenience, those that inclyned for Porte Royall
were looked upon strangely, so thus wee came to Keyawah."
So, it was the Cassique, or chief, of the Kiawahs, that was responsible
for the choice of the site of old Charles Town. First the colonists
named their settlement Albemarle Point, but in the fall of 1670 they
renamed it Charles Town, in honor of their King, Charles II. Carolina
they named for him also, but the French had previously called it
Carolina for their King, Charles IX. However, there were no French in
Carolina when the English colonists arrived; the French effort at
colonization had ended in tragedy, a hundred years before.
No sooner were the colonists established at Albemarle Point (where the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad touches the west shore of the Ashley) than
they looked with favor on the peninsula between the Ashley and the
Cooper (the Indians called this river the Etiwan), as much the more
desirable for their town, and in 1680 the change was officially in
force. The new town was facilitated by the voluntary action of Henry
Hughes and of John Coming and "Affera, his Wife," in surrendering land
for the new town. John Culpeper was commissioned to plan it. "The Town
is regularly laid out into large and capacious streets," said "T.A.,
Gent.," clerk aboard H.M.S. _Richmond_, "in the year 1682."
Charles Town on the peninsula prospered as a port and as the capital of
the plantations. To ships in its commodious harbor came the things of
the fields, the woods and the streams. Constantly new people were
arriving and the outpost of civilization rapidly took on the appearance
of European manners and customs, notwithstanding the incongruity of
savages, red and black, and Indian traders in their bizarre garb. It was
_Charles Town_ under the Proprietors, _Charlestown_ under the Royal
Government, and _Charleston_ since its incorporation in 1783.
This Carolina metropolis has had part in Indian, Spanish and French
wars. It has had bold adventures with pirates. It was conspicuous in the
Revolution and in the War for Southern Independence. It furnished men
for the famous Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican War. The War of 1812
little affected it. Its men served in the Spanish-American War and the
World War. It is said that from the tops of the highest buildings come
under the eye more historic places than come under it from any other
place in the United States, explaining the slogan,
_Charleston--America's Most Historic City_. It is in order to remind
that William Allen White, in an address, said that "Charleston is the
most civilized town in America," and that William Howard Taft, then
President of the United States, pronounced it, "the most convenient port
to Panama."
In Charleston survive buildings that were erected during the Proprietary
Government, many buildings that were erected during the Royal
Government. Survive scars of wars and storms and fires that raged in the
long ago. Survive street names that were bestowed when Charles Town was
in its swaddling clothes. It is a far cry from old Charles Town, bounded
on the south by Vanderhorst Creek (Water Street); on the west by
earthworks and a moat (Meeting Street); on the north by earthworks
(Cumberland Street), and on the east by the Cooper River. King, Queen
and Princess Streets are reminiscent of the Royal Régime. St. Philip's,
St. Michael's, St. Andrew's, Berkeley, and St. James, Goose Creek, were
of the Church of England, under the Bishop of London, albeit the present
St. Philip's was erected half a century after the Revolution, replacing
the Proprietary building that was burned in 1835.
But this work is concerned, not with the history of Charleston, but with
Landmarks of Charleston, and in the pages that follow are tales of
prominent landmarks, places and buildings that are storied. Eminent
Carolinian names pass in review. The greatness of the lustrous past is
linked with the more convenient present. The Charles Town that was and
the Charleston that is are brought before the reader. The author's
effort is to present the facts accurately.
Outstanding landmarks include Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, the Old
Exchange Building, the Powder Magazine, the Rhett and Trott Houses for
their antiquity, the Miles Brewton House as enemy headquarters in the
Revolution and the War for Southern Independence.
[Illustration: _Fort Sumter from the Air_]
_An Incomparable Stroll_
Would you, guest within the gates of Charleston, see things reminiscent
of _old_ Charles Town rubbing elbows with things of modern Charleston?
Take this stroll, a little more than a mile, and you will be abundantly
compensated.
Begin at the Mosque of Omar Temple of the Mystic Shrine, on the site of
the Granville Bastion, southeastern edge of Charles Town in 1680.
Proceed, southward, along East (or High) Battery, washed by the Cooper
River. You behold the harbor declared by Admiral Dickins capable of
accommodating the fleets of the world at one time. Seaward you see
gallant Fort Sumter. To its left, Sullivan's Island, on which is Fort
Moultrie of Revolutionary fame; to its right, by the Quarantine Station,
Charles Town's first fort, Johnson, named for a Proprietary Governor. On
the west side are some of Charleston's most desirable residences. You
reach South Battery.
Here you see the monument to the brave Confederate defenders of Fort
Sumter, to face that famous fortress. Continue on the promenade which
has inspired extravagant phrases. In the park you see the capstan from
the battleship _Maine_, blown up in Havana harbor in February, 1898;
monuments to the defenders of Fort Moultrie in 1776, and to William
Gilmore Simms, novelist, historian, editor. Across the park, at the foot
of Church Street, you see the home of Colonel William Washington,
Virginian, who achieved a lustrous record as a Revolutionary officer in
South Carolina; across Church Street is the Villa Margharita, built as
the home of Andrew Simonds, banker. At the foot of Meeting Street, you
see a memorial fountain to the gallant Confederates of the first
submarine.
Stay on the promenade and enjoy the sight of stately palmettos bordering
a beautiful park in which majestic oaks are many. At the foot of King
Street, you come to the Fort Sumter Hotel. This building includes the
site of the landing stage used by Queen Victoria's daughter, the
Princess Louise, in 1883; first member of the English royal family to
visit the capital of the former English colony and province. Go north in
King Street. At No. 27 is the celebrated Miles Brewton House, used by
the British as headquarters in the Revolution and by the Union
commanders in the War for Southern Independence. Note the picturesque
old coach house.
Turn east and proceed through Ladson Street. At the northwest corner of
Ladson and Meeting Streets is the home of the last Royal Lieutenant
Governor, William Bull, and across Meeting Street (No. 34) the home of
the last Royal Governor, Lord William Campbell, who escaped through
Vanderhorst Creek (now Water Street) to H.M.S. _Tamar_, carrying with
him the Great Seal of the Province. Next to the Bull House is the home
of the late General James Conner, distinguished Confederate officer, and
eminent for his work during Reconstruction. At Water Street you come to
a corner of old Charles Town.
Continue north in Meeting Street. At No. 51 is the home of Governor
Robert Francis Withers Allston, some time a convent of the Sisters of
Mercy, now the home of Francis J. Pelzer. At the southwest corner of
Meeting and Tradd Streets is the First (Scotch) Presbyterian Church,
organized in 1731, an offspring of the old White Meeting House. On the
northwest corner is the old Branford (also called Horry) home, the
portico over the street being less ancient. On the east side (No. 72) is
the hall of the South Carolina Society, which also houses the St.
Andrew's Society, founded in 1729; in this building are tables and
chairs used in the Secession convention. On the west side is the post
office park, including the site of the old Charleston Club, and of the
United States courthouse that collapsed in the earthquake of August 31,
1886. On the southwest corner of Meeting and Broad Streets is the United
States post office, completed in 1896; this houses the United States
court. On the northwest corner is the county Court House, on the site of
the old State House, burned in 1788. Behind the Court House is the
Daniel Blake double house, one of the first of its kind in the country.
On the southeast corner is St. Michael's Church, on the site of the
original English church, St. Philip's. In its yard sleep illustrious
Charlestonians, including James Louis Petigru, the epitaph on whose
grave is famous. On the northeast corner is the City Hall, with its
great municipal art gallery, including John Trumbull's renowned portrait
of General George Washington. This was the building of the United States
Bank, on the site of the early market place. Behind and beside the City
Hall, Washington Park, in the northwest corner of which is the country's
first fireproof building.
Proceed east in Broad Street. No. 73 is the site of Lee's Hotel, known
also as the Mansion House, "kept by a dignified and distinguished
looking mulatto, once the most fashionable hotel in the city and
probably the best kept and most expensive," said William G. Whilden in
his _Reminiscences_. Across the street (No. 62) is the Confederate Home
which before the War for Southern Independence was the Carolina Hotel, a
noted caravansary. At the northwest corner of Broad and Church Streets,
is the Chamber of Commerce, oldest in the country, organized in 1773;
this was the old South Carolina Bank building, later the home of the
Charleston Library Society, which moved into modern quarters, elsewhere
on this stroll. At the northeast corner is the Citizens and Southern
Bank, on the site of Shepheard's Tavern, birthplace of Ancient Free
Masonry in America, Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, having been chartered by the
Grand Lodge of England in 1735, and birthplace also of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry, 1801. A block to the eastward,
at the foot of Broad Street, is the Old Exchange, as historic a building
as there is in all America.
Northward on Church Street, at the southeast corner of Church and Queen,
the only Huguenot church in America! Opposite, on the southwest corner,
the restored Planters' Hotel (1803), including the reproduction of
Charleston's first regular theater (1735), the company of players coming
direct from England. North of Queen Street, on the west side, the
reputed Pirates' houses. St. Philip's graveyard is divided by Church
Street, running through the foundations of the building burned in 1835.
The first St. Philip's was on the site now occupied by St. Michael's and
the present St. Philip's is the third. In the graveyards sleep, Edward
Rutledge, Signer of the _Declaration of Independence_; William Rhett,
captor of the notorious pirate, Stede Bonnet, 1718; Christopher Gadsden,
Revolutionary patriot; John Caldwell Calhoun, eminent statesman.
Proceed through the western yard. You are paralleling the northern
boundary of old Charles Town, a matter of yards away. You are in the
Gateway Walk of the Garden Club. Midway of the yard, you are behind the
first brick house in Charles Town, that of Judge Nicholas Trott; it was
standing in 1719. Next to the Trott House is Charles Town's oldest
building, the Powder Magazine, 1703, owned and used by the Colonial
Dames of America. Into the yard of the Circular Church, cradle of
Presbyterianism in Carolina. Illustrious dead are buried here. The
newspaper building to the south is on the site of the South Carolina
Institute Hall, in which the _Ordinance of Secession_ was signed
December 20, 1860, and in which, several months before, the famous
Democratic convention of 1860 was held. You come to Meeting Street, the
Circular Church as the White Meeting House giving its name. Down Meeting
Street, at the southwestern corner of Queen, is the St. John Hotel, on
the site of the old St. Mary's Hotel, opened in 1801; General Robert E.
Lee and President Theodore Roosevelt were of the notables who have been
guests of this house.
At Meeting Street you are at the western edge of old Charles Town. Cross
the street and pass through the yard of the Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery,
a section of the old Schenking Square. Thence into the yard, of the
Charleston Library Society, dating to 1748, among the oldest in the
land. You come now to King Street. Down the street on the east side of
the next block is the Quaker burial ground and site of the meeting
houses that were burned. Cross King Street into the walk of the
Unitarian Church, its building used by the British during their
occupation in the Revolution for stables, and, to the north, the first
Lutheran church, St. John's. You come to Archdale Street, named for
pious John Archdale, Quaker, Proprietor and Governor. Go southward to
Queen Street, at the corner of Legare (it used to be Friend, reminiscent
of the early Quakers in the colony) is the convent of Our Lady of Mercy,
a community of consecrated Sisters, now more than a hundred years old.
Opposite the convent, in Legare Street, is the Crafts public school,
memorial to William Crafts.
On the left, at the corner of Broad Street, is the Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist, on the site of the Cathedral of St. Finbar and St. John,
burned in 1861; here Bishop John M. England built the first St. Finbar's
on the site of the Vauxhall gardens. Go east in Broad Street. No. 119
(south side) is the residence of Irving Keith Heyward with one of
Charleston's finest formal gardens. Next door, to the east, is a
property once occupied by Edward Rutledge.
On the north side of Broad Street, No. 118, is the site of St. Andrew's
Society hall in which President James Monroe and the Marquis de
Lafayette were guests of the city, Monroe in 1819 and Lafayette in 1825;
in which the _Ordinance of Secession_ was adopted December 20, 1860.
Next door, No. 116, is the former house of John Rutledge, "The
Dictator," later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States; here President William Howard Taft was the guest of Robert
Goodwyn Rhett. No. 114, once the home of Colonel Thomas Pinckney, is the
residence of the Bishop of Charleston, the Most Reverend Emmet Walsh.
No. 112 is the Ralph Izard house; the coach house in the yard is one of
the most picturesque in Charleston. This neighborhood was in Mr.
Hollybush's farm, just outside of old Charles Town. No. 100 Broad Street
was at one time the residence of James Louis Petigru.
You come again to the intersection of Broad and Meeting Streets and
remember that here in 1876 occurred violent Reconstruction riots; that
in the Revolution, years before, the statue of William Pitt was in the
center and that a British shell struck off an arm. You who have followed
me on this incomparable walk have seen things of Charles Town,
Charlestown and Charleston. You have seen things reminiscent of early
English and early French. You have seen the evolution of a British
outpost in a savage land into what William Allen White has called "the
most civilized town in America."
[Illustration: Antebellum street scene]
_Landmarks of Charleston_
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, Councillor in 1703 and the Chief Judge after that.
With the overthrow of the government of the Proprietors, Trott's star
waned. He revised and published _Laws of South Carolina_ (two volumes,
1736) and _Laws Relating to the Church and the Clergy_ (1721). He died
in Charlestown in 1740. Dr. Shecut says that the Trott House was
standing in 1719. "The great ability and legal attainments of Chief
Justice Trott, who acted as Chief Justice in all for some fifteen or
sixteen years," Henry A. M. Smith wrote, drew all the business and
litigation to it; his became practically the only court in the Province.
The Proprietors sustained Trott when the people complained "and the
response on the part of the people was to overthrow the Proprietary
Government," Judge Smith is quoted.
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 weighed his anchors and went to sea without offering a single
shot. A few days later Rhett's flotilla, a short distance up the coast,
captured a French vessel; among his prisoners was the chief land
officer, Arbouset. Rhett was born in London, September 4, 1666, and came
to Charles Town in November of 1694; he died here in June of 1722. On
his tomb in St. Philip's western graveyard, it is chiseled that "he was
a person that on all occasions promoted the public good of this colony
and several times generously and successfully ventured in defense of the
same.... A kind husband, a tender father, a faithful friend, a
charitable neighbour."
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 Council about them and directed them to set
them out 12,000 acres." The Society of Friends owns this property, but
there is now no meeting house in Charleston. The name of Governor
Archdale is preserved in the street of that name, on which are the
Unitarian and St. John's Lutheran Churches.
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 Gallery is an attractive pool with
growing water plants. To describe the Gateway Walk at length would
operate to rob a visitor of the tranquil pleasure of moving through it
leisurely. In the yards of St. Philip's and the Circular Church are
graves of early citizens of Charles Town. It is enough to say that the
Garden Club has achieved a unique and worthwhile project. Elsewhere in
this book is found information of the six properties traversed by the
walk.
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.
[Illustration: _Looking North on Meeting Street
Right Middleground, Portico of South Carolina Hall; Background, St.
Michael's Church_]
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
named Fort Johnson in honor of the then Governor, Sir Nathaniel Johnson.
In 1759 a second fort of tabby (or tapia) was built on the site and this
was the Fort Johnson of the Revolution--"in plan triangular, with
salients bastioned and priestcapped, the gorge closed, the gate
protected by an earthwork, a defensible sea wall of tapia extended the
fortification to the west and southwest." In 1765 stamped paper was
transferred from a British sloop-of-war and stored in Fort Johnson while
in Charlestown excitement prevailed, resulting in seizure of the stamped
paper by three companies of volunteers under Captains Marion, Pinckney
and Elliott. The British garrison was placed under guard and
preparations made to resist any attack from the sloop-of-war. At this
time was displayed the first form of the South Carolina State flag--a
blue field with three white crescents. The naval commander agreed to
carry the stamped paper from Charlestown and the incident passed off
without clash at arms. This was ten years before the Battle of Concord.
In 1775, the spirit of liberty gaining strength, Fort Johnson was again
seized by order of the Council of Safety, as a precaution against the
last of the Royal Governors, Lord William Campbell, British troops being
expected. In November of this year (1775) three shots were fired from
Fort Johnson on the British sloops-of-war _Tamar_ and _Cherokee_, which
were engaged in blocking Hog Island Channel. June 28, 1776, Fort Johnson
was commanded by Colonel Christopher Gadsden, but had no opportunity of
engaging Sir Peter Parker's fleet, which was repulsed by soldiers under
Colonel William Moultrie at Fort Sullivan, known afterward and now as
Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island. In 1780 Sir Henry Clinton reported
Fort Johnson "destroyed." In 1793 the third work at this site was built,
but in 1800 a tropical storm so damaged it that it was abandoned, being
restored in the War of 1812. At the site of Fort Johnson the Confederate
forces defending Charleston located a mortar battery from which to
bombard Fort Sumter. It now became "an extensive entrenched camp of
considerable strength and capacity." The Confederates evacuated this
fort February 17, 1865, and the works were allowed to fall into decay.
Latterly there has been an earnest effort at restoration.
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 garrison into Fort Sumter.
The Confederates used Fort Moultrie against the invading Union forces
until Fort Sumter was abandoned by the South's defenders. Before
Anderson left Moultrie, he had spiked the guns and burned their
carriages. Fort Moultrie helped make Morris Island an unhappy place for
Union troops under General Gilmore. At the entrance to the old fort is
the grave of Osceola, chief of the Seminoles, who was brought a captive
after the war in Florida a hundred years ago. In these years the fort
gives name to a reservation which is the headquarters of the Eighth
Infantry, a small detail of Coast Artillerymen being on duty with the
coast defense guns.
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 batteries of
Morris Island." Confederates effected immediate repairs. While these
were making, the defenders of Sumter beat off a night attack by small
boats. Then came the "second and third great bombardments, one of
forty-one days, and the other, and last, of sixty days and nights
continuously, both being borne without any thought of failure or
surrender." The quotations are from an article by Dr. Johnson in _The
News and Courier_. In all, the siege lasted until Charleston was
evacuated February 17-18, 1865, "after 567 days of continuous military
and naval operations." The famous fortress of Sumter, named for the
Revolutionary hero, General Thomas Sumter, the "Game Cock," was built
upon a shoal, the Secretary of War approving the plans in December,
1828. It is about a mile southwest of Fort Moultrie, Sullivan's Island,
and the same distance northeast of Fort Johnson, James Island. It was
nearing completion when on the night of December 26, 1860, Major Robert
Anderson removed the Union garrison of Fort Moultrie to it. On the
twelfth and thirteenth of April, 1861, it was bombarded by the
Confederates for about thirty hours, Major Anderson surrendering. He
evacuated the following day, embarking his men for the north. The
Confederates at once put the fortress in order for defense. There had
been no casualties on either side. Lieutenant Colonel R. S. Ripley was
the first Confederate commander of Fort Sumter and Major Thomas A.
Huguenin the last, the Confederate occupation extending from April 14,
1861, to February 17, 1865. Fort Sumter nowadays is without a garrison.
It is part of the defenses of Charleston. A military caretaker lives
within the battle-scarred walls. Modern coast defense guns are mounted.
As a grim sentinel, Sumter still faces the open seas.
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.
[Illustration: _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 (French Protestants) are also buried in it. The chapel in the
rear of the yard was built after the fire of 1861. The present edifice
is without a great portico over the street.
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 church
celebrated its bicentennial in March, 1931. During 100 years it has had
three pastors--the Reverend John Forrest, D.D., forty-seven years, the
Reverend W. Taliaferro Thompson, D.D., twenty years and the Reverend
Alexander Sprunt, D.D., thirty-three years. Prominent Charlestonians
sleep the sleep eternal in its yard.
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 same year.
This building was destroyed in the fire of 1861. John and Charles Wesley
had visited Charlestown in 1736. John Wesley preached in St. Philip's
Episcopal Church in 1737. The Wesleys came with General James
Oglethorpe's Georgia colonists. Charles Wesley was the general's
secretary and John Wesley was to be a missionary among the Indians.