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 Streets, now the home of
the Citizens and Southern Bank, successor to the Germania Savings Bank.
The site is of interest also in that here was instituted the mother
council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry in
May, 1801, the significance of which is recognized by the Supreme
Council of the Scottish Rite, its headquarters in Washington.
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 Carolina. As
guest of the Rhetts President William Howard Taft was entertained in
this house.
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 House is one
of the oldest in the country. Generous gifts and legacies have greatly
assisted the Board of Commissioners, the chairman of whom at this time
is the Honorable John F. Ohlandt.
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.
[Illustration: _Lord William Campbell House, 34 Meeting Street_]
[Illustration: _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 Charles Wesley to Charleston in
1736 and 1737. John Wesley preached in St. Philip's Episcopal Church in
1737. It was in 1785 that Bishop Asbury and his associates came to
Charleston. Bethel, one of the strongholds of Methodism in South
Carolina, dates to 1850. The church building was dedicated in 1853. It
stands on the site where Wesley once preached and the pulpit from which
he preached is still in use. The Sunday school building was erected in
1912. The earlier Bethel, known as Old Bethel, moved from the site, is
used by a negro congregation at 222 Calhoun Street.
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 public. It is on
Goose Creek, some distance above its mouth. The late Walter Camp, in a
letter said: "The combination of golf and other sports, with fishing,
hunting and the close proximity of a large town for supplies renders the
situation particularly attractive." Golfers of wide experience have
pronounced the links at Yeamans Hall among the very best. It is
appropriate as Charleston boasted a golf club late in the eighteenth
century, on the Harleston Green.
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 is the oldest in the United States.
With the removal of the Charleston Library to its building in King
Street, the Chamber of Commerce acquired the building, formerly the home
of the old South Carolina Bank.
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 Colonial light
south of the Delaware capes. To the west is the desirable Island of
Kiawah, property of the late Major Arnoldus Vanderhorst.
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
How great a Life
This simple stone commemorates;
The tradition of his Eloquence,
His Wisdom, and his Wit may fade:
But he lived for Ends more durable than Fame.
His learning illuminated the principles of Law:
His Eloquence was the Protection of the Poor and Wronged.
In the Admiration of his Peers:
In the Respect of his People:
In the Affection of his Family,
His was the highest Place:
The just Mead
of his Kindness and Forbearance,
His Dignity and his Simplicity,
His brilliant Genius and his unwearied Industry.
Unawed by Opinion,
Unseduced by Flattery:
Undismayed by Disaster,
He confronted Life with antique Courage:
And Death with Christian Hope:
In the great Civil War
He withstood his People for his Country:
But his People did Homage to the Man
Who held his Conscience higher than their Praise:
And his Country
Heaped her Honours upon the Grave of the Patriot,
To whom, living,
His own righteous self-Respect sufficed
Alike for Motive and Reward.
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.
[Illustration: _Monument to Defenders of Fort Moultrie on The
Battery_]
[Illustration: _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.
With it merged the Glebe Street Presbyterian Church of which the eminent
Reverend Dr. J. L. Girardeau was pastor. The Central Church became
Westminster. The old yard in Archdale Street is not now used for
burials.
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 it was decided that another church was
necessary and thus the Second Church was organized in 1811. Its site is
the highest place within the City of Charleston, about fifteen feet
above mean low water. The tower behind the portico was intended to be
surmounted by a steeple, but this addition has yet to be erected. From
its first pastor, the church is often alluded to as Flinn's.
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 Atlanta. The late Anthony Toomer Porter, D.D., was
its rector for years and this gave the name of Holy Communion Church
Institute to what is now the Porter Military Academy. St. Timothy's
Chapel at Porter is more or less attached to the Holy Communion.
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.
[Illustration: _Strawberry, Chapel of Ease to Biggin_]
[Illustration: _St. James Church, Goose Creek_]