Charleston, SC
Charleston, though known the world over, and
occupying as conspicuous a place in history as the largest cities of the
Northern States in the great drama of the Revolutionary War, and noted for
its culture and refinement, cannot lay claim to being the first choice of
the adventurers who visited this Province in quest of fortunes and new
habitations in the last half of the sixteenth century. It is generally
admitted that the earliest permanent settlement at "Old Town" on the west
bank of the Ashley was the result of the sober second thought that it was
a more secure harbor against the foray of Indians and the attacks of
Spanish and French competitors for the possession of the new world than
the more imposing but exposed situation of Port Royal, where the first
Governor, William Savle, is believed to have sojourney with his company
from Barbadoes (before moving to Ashley River) for several years prior to
1070, which date is accepted as that of the founding of the city and so
declared by its seal. Beyond the knowledge of the site but little has
survived in the way of records or landmarks to afford any glimpse of that
brief experiment. Its short life seems to have consisted of
preparing to make still another move, which occurred in the administration
of Governor West in pursuance of orders from Lord Ashley, one of the Lords
Proprietors of the Province, in a series of minute directions as to the
dimensions of the streets, the laying out of squares and the erection of a
palisade on the land side of the New Town. Some time before this Sir John
Yeamans, the predecessor of Governor West, had brought with him negroes
from the West Indies, an example soon followed by subsequent immigrants,
thus introducing an element productive of great wealth in the reclamation
of swamps and tide-water lands by a race alone fitted for such work in a
semi-tropical climate, and who for nearly two hundred years proved their
efficiency by converting the low country, though unsuited to European
laborers, into a land of abundant and profitable harvests. The different
climate, soil and productions of the upper country being then an unknown
asset, the Province flourished thenceforward as a slave-holding colony of
the coast for many years, the commercial and social progress of the
interior not making itself felt until a later period in the surveying of
new tracts of land and in the accession of immigrants from other
Provinces, from the North generally, of smaller means and cultivating the
soil themselves, not large proprietors like those of the lower section on
the coast.
Besides its full share of danger growing out of
conflicts with the Indians experienced by all the colonies, the fact that
the Lords Proprietors were the legal owners of the two Carolinas led very
soon to conduct on their part tending to foster their personal interest to
the injury and neglect of the infant community, in consequence of which an
estrangement sprang up which resulted in an event of signal importance and
which may he regarded as a forerunner of the Revolution which occurred
some fifty years later, viz: a successful demand for the transfer of
authority from the Proprietors to the King. The opposition in the Colony
took practical effect in 1719, when Arthur Middleton, President of the
Convention of the people, announced their determination no longer to
recognize the Proprietary Government, whereupon Sir Francis Nicholson was
commissioned Provisional Governor who, soon returning home on account of
ill health, left the discordant elements as he found them, in the hands of
Arthur Middleton, who, as President of the Council, continued at the helm
for five years until the arrival of the first commissioned Royal Governor
in the person of Robert Johnson, in 1731. This point having been gained,
prosperity and comparative quiet reigned under the joint government of
Royally commissioned Governors and their Councils on the one hand, and
Assemblies elected by the people on the other, until the great expense of
the French and Indian War. ending in the conquest of Canada, induced the
Home Government to tax the Colonies in various ways out of proportion to
their interest in the policies that had created the debt. Mere then was
raised the cry, "no Taxation without Representation," which was the
keynote to the call for a general conference and culminated in the
separation and Independence of the Colonies. In the varying phases of the
struggle to establish self-government on the continent, Charleston bore a
conspicuous part, gaining the first signal victory at Fort Moultrie and
suffering siege and capture at a later stage of the war, remaining like
New York, at the mercy of the enemy until the successful termination of
hostilities by the surrender at Yorktown. Throughout the weary years and
often waning fortunes of that memorable period Charleston's hand still
continued plainly visible in the direction of affairs at the Council board
of the Continental Congress, in which two of her sons, Henry Middleton and
Henry Laurens, served in the capacity of President, besides having
supplied at the outset the entire delegation who signed the eventful
Declaration of Independence, viz: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward. Jr.,
Thomas Lynch. Jr., and Arthur Middleton. The year after the evacuation of
Charleston by the English witnessed also the city's starting point on a
higher plane of progress and development in its incorporation by the
Legislature and change of name to its present designation. Eight years
later President Washington sojourned here for several days and was
received with unbounded hospitality. The second war with England in 1812
necessitated defensive preparations along the coast during the
administration of Governor Henry Middleton. The next distinguished visitor
was the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824, who was hailed with an enthusiasm
second only to the greeting accorded Washington.
The doctrine of
Nullification though intended as a "high and peaceful remedy" for
resisting encroachments on the rights of the States, came near
precipitating a collision in the matter of collecting duties under the
provisions of an exorbitant tariff law, and Charleston was the theatre of
great excitement between the extremists and conservatives. This difficulty
having been adjusted by a change in the law and reduction of the duties,
the more vital danger of interference with the internal and widespread
institution of slavery soon appeared on the horizon; the political Niagara
of Secession in 1860 to which the country was rapidly drifting,engrossed
more and more intensely the minds of all parties.
The National
Democratic Convention, held in Charleston in May, 1860, clearly revealed
the cleavage between North and South independently of party names, which
was confirmed in the fall of the same year by the election of the first
sectional President. Secession, not Nullification, was now the watchword,
and the famous Ordinance which made South Carolina the first member of a
new Confederacy, was signed in Charleston. The dispute about the
possession of Fort Sumter, culminating in its bombardment and capture,
placed Charleston in the van of the greatest conflict of modern times, nor
was it ever successfully assaulted through four long years of war and
siege and it was only surrendered when the armies elsewhere had ceased to
keep the field. The ten years' misrule of suffrage given the emancipated
slaves was no "feather in the cap" of those who inspired the saturnalia of
plunder following the ruin of war,but it raised in the person of Wade
Hampton a Deliverer who signalized the centennial of American Independence
by restoring self-government to his native State and city.
From the
earliest times Charleston has endured visitations of nature by storm and
tide, but in 1886 an earthquake of great severity shook its foundations
and inflicted serious damage to even its strongest buildings, but this
calamity was not without its blessing in the generous response of sympathy
and assistance which flowed in from the whole country; the restoration was
so complete as to amount to an improvement in many instances. The South
Carolina InterState and West Indian Exposition, held at Charleston in the
first year of the present century, marked the dawning of a new era of
industrial prosperity, and its beautiful site, since transformed into
"Hampton Park" has added thereby a very popular and attractive resort. The
attention of the National Government having been drawn to the increasing
depth of the channel resulting from the erection of the jetties, the
construction of a Navy Yard with all its modern accompaniments promises,
under the favorable auspices and generous appropriations with which it was
inaugurated, to become an important factor in the new life of Charleston
in demonstrating to the world the easy ingress and egress of warships as
well as vessels of all nationalities engaged in the more profitable and
peaceful vocation of trade.
THE BATTERY. The favorite pleasure
resort and promenade of Charleston popularly known as the Battery, is the
most delightful of all the parks the city possesses. This inviting spot,
bathed on three sides by the mingled waters of the Ashley, Cooper and
Atlantic Ocean, and occupying the extreme end of the peninsula on which
the city stands, is the first point to which all visitors are naturally
attracted. The name "White Point" probably originated from the shore line
which in this region is always of sand, and the existence of adjacent
oyster beds.
Only a small portion of the rectangle constituting the
park proper is native soil, being made up and filled out to meet the
requirements of the unbroken line of sea wall which forms a right angle at
its southeastern as well as its southwestern corner, whence it returns to
the original shore line or beach, a small section of which borders the
sidewalk of the street called South Bay, which is the southernmost street
of the city. This sole remaining piece of the original shore line or beach
is interesting as indicating how great a portion of the park has been
artificial and how little of it is to be credited to nature.
From
this point to the East or High Battery the contour of the beach can only
be a matter of conjecture, but by the continual planting of trees and
noting when they have survived and where perished after repeated attempts
to fill the vacant areas, a very good idea of the natural outline can be
formed. The two open spaces adjoining the corners above mentioned testify
to the fact that this was not only made land but that it was not properly
filled up, stumps and all sorts of debris being used instead of solid
upland earth. In conscquence of this imperfect method of extension, all
efforts to continue the grove to the water edge have proved futile, the
salt water percolating through the decaying material underlying the thin
layer above, which itself is constantly settling. About midway between
Meeting .and Church streets, on the other hand, the grove has attained a
venerable age, a few of the trees even reaching the promenade along the
outer or south wall. Tradition has it that a private residence once stood
on land near the site of the Jasper monument.
This spot was
therefore evidently the backbone or mainland of the original "Oyster
Point," east and west thereof being more or less artificial. The wall of
the East or High Batter}', so called from being several feet higher than
that of the South or Low Battery, is not, like the latter, composed of
concrete, but consists of granite blocks on its outer face filled in to
the inner face or street wall with solid earth and broken rocks—the whole
surmounted by massive flagstones coinciding in size with the width of the
spacious promenade itself. The view from this elevated esplanade extending
several blocks at right angles to the park of which it is the eastern
boundary, is unobstructed on its seaside, comprising James and Morris
Islands, bounding the harbor on the south, and the mainland with
Sullivan's island to the north. Fort Sumter filling the gap between the
two and guarding the entrance from the sea. Across the street and
considerably lower, skirted by the evergreen palmetto bordering the
sidewalk, stately mansions of various styles of architecture afford a
nearer and hardly less pleasing contrast to the tides that ebb and flow
almost at their base.
But no account of the Battery would be
complete without some allusion to the part it has played in the stirring
drama of war. At the return of the Palmetto regiment from Mexico there was
a parade ending as usual on the Battery, where a sham battle concluded the
exercises, the Charleston Riflemen holding the bridge to the old bathing
house. In the Civil War serried rows of tents under the oaks sheltered for
a while a regiment from Georgia. Then, too, the roof of the old bathing
house, which stood opposite the south wall, was used as an observatory by
the Signal Service, and at night naming torches waving signals of light,
transmitted messages to the neighboring posts of Forts Johnson, Sumter and
Moultrie.
On the spot now occupied by the gun rescued form the
sunken monitor Keokuk, stood a lofty gun carriage surmounted by a fine
piece of ordnance, a present from England. On the evacuation of the city
this gun was destroyed by an accident, a fragment being lodged by the
explosion in the roof of the mansion at the corner. In the last few years
the policy of changing the park into a garden is evidenced by the setting
out and cultivation of smaller growth under the trees, and while this is
undoubtedly pleasing to the eye, it abridges the use of the park as a play
ground.
The recent erection of a substantial and costly music stand
adds greatly to the natural attractions of the place. The project of
extending the Battery to the western end of South Bay street has more than
once been broached, but that "consummation devoutly to be wished"—among
other considerations the summer breezes coming from that direction—seems
further off than ever.
MAGNOLIA CEMETERY. On the banks of
the Cooper River in the suburbs of Charleston, but quite distant from the
din and tumult of the city, is a quiet and retired spot devoted to a
solemn purpose. Set apart more than half a century ago as a cemetery and
called Magnolia, it elicits increasing interest and attention as the years
pass by. The general plan follows the irregular and curved
lines of nature, intersected as it is, by water introduced into the
natural depressions, which have been deepened and enlarged to the
proportions of lakes spanned by bridges, in some instances connecting
islands with the opposite shores, or stretching from shore to shore. The
first impression is therefore quite bewildering and it requires some time
to become familiar with its labyrinthian design. The soil varies in
character according to its elevation from dark mold to porous sand, so
that there is abundant choice in the variety of its composition. It has no
ancient or regularly laid out rows of oaks, like the adjacent grove of
Belvedere, since known as the Country Club, the growth being more recent
and promiscuous according to individual tastes and preferences. The
contrast of the white marble monuments with the foliage and flowers of
various colors presents vistas of artistic beauty from different
standpoints throughout the extensive grounds in bright weather, especially
when the leaves are glistening from recent showers, while the dearth of
weeping willows, which are the most natural expression of sorrow and
emblematic of grief, is more than supplemented by the overhanging gray
moss of the evergreen live oaks. The first choice of entries was on the
southeast or bluff side of the reservation, facing the wide expanse of
water which forms its eastern boundary, along which it has gradually
extended to the north, where its further progress is arrested by an inlet
which separates it from the Country Club and which forms the northern
boundary for a considerable distance.
Among the first objects on
entering the gate, which is near the southwest corner and flanked by fine
specimens of the magnolia and palmetto, is one of the enclosed water views
before mentioned, overarched by the evergreen oak in the foreground and in
the distance spanned by a rustic bridge, while nearby on rising ground to
the left where formerly stood a picturesque chapel, since displaced, and
the area occupied by monumental enclosures of various description,
specially noticeable is a marble temple of Grecian design, the columns and
roof thereof protecting a sarcophagus of exquisite sculpture and an
adjacent shaft of imposing proportions but of a more sombre
hue. Northeast from this point on the outer road
encircling the grounds, is a unique monument conspicuous from its outline
and workmanship; it is pyramidal, pierced by colored glass lights, with
entrance surmounted by a marble statue; the interior is a miniature
chapel, the receptacles having the appearance of ordinary drawers of
enduring material; the floor is tesselated and furnished with a centre
table garnished continually with fresh flowers overcast by the dim light
of stained glass. Continuing on the same road along the river edge near
the southeastern point in a lot several feet above the causeway, is a fine
specimen of Italian art, consisting of an oval or oblong piece of marble,
dish-shaped, resting on a block of the same material and bearing on
alternate sides' the inscription and Coat of Arms of the family.
Among the monuments of earlier date may be mentioned the ornate
shaft erected to the memory of that brilliant scholar and jurist, Hugh
Swinton Legarc. Emblematic of the Lost Cause, where the road branches to
the right after entering the cemetery, on an elevated square pedestal,
stands a monument to the Confederate dead in the shape of a bronze figure
representing a private soldier in heroic pose guarding as it were his
comrades sleeping peacefully in severed ranks on the slope below. In this
connection perhaps it is to be regretted that the remains of Calhoun,
South Carolina's greatest statesman, do not rest in Magnolia rather than
in a crowded church-yard within the confines of the city.
ST. JAMES, GOOSE CREEK. Prominent
among old landmarks in the vicinity of Charleston, about seventeen miles
distant, stands the Church of St. James, Goose Creek, situated on a gentle
declivity overlooking a fresh water stream of the same name, formed by
innumerable rivulets of swamp water and emptying finally into the Cooper
River. Erected in the infancy of the Colony when all of its inhabitants
were loyal subjects of the Crown, it proudly retains to this day the Royal
Arms of England as a conspicuous centre-piece, surmounting the pulpit and
chancel wall. In addition to some very ancient
tablets it possesses probably the only specimen of a framed escutcheon
known in heraldry as a hatchment, representing- the Arms of the Izard
family who took a prominent part in the affairs of the Province from the
beginning as well as in its subsequent history.
The marble tablets
of the Decalogue, Apostles' Creed and Lord's Prayer were presented in 1758
by William Middleton, a zealous patron of the Church who had been a member
of His Majesty's Council in the Province until his return to England in
1754. The structure is not majestic, having rather the appearance of a
large mausoleum, the only exterior ornament being cherub heads at
intervals along the cornice of the walls. There is no projection or porch
for an entrance, nor is the chancel provided for by any addition to the
rear wall—the pulpit standing directly in front of the arched window. Like
all the permanent church buildings that succeeded the first wooden
tenements in South Carolina, the walls are massive and rendered still more
lasting by oyster-shell lime. The same unfortunately cannot be said of the
brick enclosure which originally protected the churchyard, as not a
vestige of it remains. Besides the few memorials visible above the ground,
tablets on the inner wall indicate the existence and location of family
vaults under the ground by such phrases as "Beneath this window, near the
outer wall, etc.;" "Near the chancel, etc."
Under the fostering
care of the Church of England whose jurisdiction was interwoven with the
Government of the Province insomuch that the Episcopal Church was the
ruling power for many years, it naturally possessed great advantages over
the other religious bodies. To the faith and form of worship of their
fathers the English gentry, who had been granted large tracts in the
fertile neighborhood of Goose Creek, were ardently attached, and the first
missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts was sent out to minister here. The fact that prosperous estates and
hospitable homes, graced with the comforts and accompaniments of
refinement, have beyond the memory of man, been exchanged for the solitude
of a wilderness, can be explained only by the unhealthiness caused by the
stagnant water of undrained swamps conjoined with the more alluring
profits of rice agriculture in the tide-water region nearer the coast. An
interesting object not many paces from the church, at right angles to the
turnpike where it reaches the crest of the hill above the bridge, is a
stately avenue of oaks planted as far back as 1680, by Edward Middleton.
considerably antedating the building of the church (1713) and of as great
antiquity as the City of Charleston itself.
OLD ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH. The
ancient Parish of Saint Andrew's on Ashley River, laid out over two
centuries ago, claims the distinction of possessing the oldest church
building in South Carolina. This parish, which was famous for the wealth
and social prominence of its members, among whom the following-estates
were the most noted: Accabee. Ashley Hall, Schievelin, Drayton Hall,
Magnolia, Ashley Hill, and Middleton Place, has now been for many years a
dormant parish. The old church of Saint Andrew's, built in 1706. stands
about six miles below Drayton Hall—the only mansion that escaped
destruction at the close of the civil war— and between six and seven miles
from Charleston on the Ashley River road, hidden by a copse or thicket
from the open stretch of river marsh which covers so large a part of
Ashley River in its lower windings. On its interior walls are tablets
bearing kindred names to those on its contemporary at Goose Creek. Over
the western entrance is a gallery, which was appropriated to the use of
the slave tenantry. This quaint little church, built of brick, differs
from its Goose Creek neighbor, being' of cruciform design, and above the
southern entrance was very plainly visible the date of 1706. The pews
stood several inches above the tile floor of the aisles. The pulpit and
reading desk, like the pews, were very substantial, but were replaced by
modern ones of mahogany just before the Civil War. There are many broken
vaults and tombstones of great antiquity scattered around the unprotected
area and on both sides of the approach to the church from the river road.
The congregation consisted of planters from along
the Ashley and Stono Rivers as far as Rantowles creek, and of the
intervening region traversed by the Bear Swamp road.
The services
were confined to the winter season, as it was unhealthy in summer, when
most families resided in the city. Between the years 1814 and the fifties
there was a ferry as in Colonial times over the Ashley River where the New
Bridge now stands, and after the advent of steam the genial ferry-man
would detain his craft, quite independently of schedules, waiting for any
missing passenger whom he had conveyed to his destination in the morning,
rather than let him pass a single night in that malarial atmosphere. (This
was, of course, during the summer season.) This venerable colonial relic,
surviving the Revolution and Civil War, seems never to have elicited the
interest that it richly deserves, though so near the original settlement
of Charleston at Old Town Plantation, a few miles below. The plantations
of this parish produced a variety of cereals besides cotton, such as
inland rice (by means of swamp water reserves), corn, peas, potatoes and
sugar cane. Quite recently a new departure has been made in extending to
the whole parish the important work of drainage (hitherto confined to the
efforts of private individuals on their own estates), by means of the
Charleston Drainage Commission, which is attracting widespread interest
and bids fair to enlist national attention and aid, and which will not
only reclaim large tracts of fertile soil, hitherto unavailable, but also
add to the other charming local conditions, the essential feature of
health fulness. The projected resuscitation of the Jockey Club, too,
promises to revive the best days of the turf, for which this section of
the low country was justly famous in antebellum times from an early
period, as well as for its apparently unlimited resources of game.
THE ISLE OF PALMS. Rising from the
waters of the blue Atlantic along the low and sandy shore of South
Carolina not far from Charleston, and forming one of the chain of sea
islands for which that region is peculiar, there has remained unnoticed
until within the last few years a certain island whose beach is
unrivalled on the South Atlantic coast, and whose history may be of
interest to the many people who visit it during the summer season. Its
formation is similar to that of the rest of these islands that abound
along this coast; that is, they consist of sand and other materials washed
up by the sea. and may be regarded as encroachments of the land upon the
water. It has a luxuriant growth of pines, palms and oaks, but of no great
altitude on account of the ocean breezes to which they are constantly
subjected. It differs from Sullivan's Island in not being a mere sand
bank, cast up by the waves at the mouth of the harbor, its undulations
being of a more fixed and permanent nature, and not a succession of sand
drifts and dunes at the mercy of winds and waves, much more resembling the
neighboring main, from which it is separated by a stretch of curving
creeks and marshes. The beach, coextensive with the island, is fully
twelve miles long, affording a driveway unequalled by the best roadway in
the world. This island, formly known as Long Island, first comes into
notice as having been the scene of the landing of the British troops
during the American Revolution, at the time of the expedition against
Charleston, in 1776, by Sir Peter Parker. The deep inlet at the southern
end separating it from Sullivan's Island is the especial point of
interest, as it was impossible to make the passage in the face of hostile
batteries, in order to attack Fort Moultrie from the land side, while the
fleet attempted to run the gauntlet of the fort itself.
How
famously this attack on Charleston was repulsed by the complete defeat of
the British, and how the vanquished squadron sailed away to New York is an
oft-told tale. For more than a century after this military visitation this
island lay quietly on the bosom of the restless sea, undisturbed save by
occasional storms and the friendly visits of hunters in search of game and
adventure. It has in times past been used by farmers for raising products
more or less, as some portions of the soil are somewhat fertile, and
toward the centre is a swamp or lagoon which gives to the eye from an
elevation a picturesque contrast to the surrounding scene. It is, however,
in the last decade that it has come prominently into public notice as a
pleasure resort, for which it is indebted to the advent of the trolley.
During the summer months crowds throng the spacious pavilion erected there
to enjoy the music of the United States Army Post Band, and to indulge in
the luxury of salt water bathing. The broad beach presents an animated
spectacle at that time with its moving panorama of bicycles and vehicles
of all sorts. Fronting the ocean and in full view of the end of the
jetties, there are vessels' almost always in sight, passing" in and out
and adding to the variety of the scene. In addition to the attractions of
the pavilion a fine hotel affords ample accommodations for the guests that
frequent it in yearly increasing" numbers, not only from the city, but
from the interior of the State and from the neighboring States as well.
The trip from the city is one of peculiar and varied
interest.
Emerging from the ferry boat the rustic village of Mount
Pleasant with its cosey homes and shady lanes is quickly traversed and the
long bridge is soon reached, which is the third that has been erected at
this point, the first in the Revolutionary and the second in the Civil
War. The trolley then threads gardens blooming with oleander and other
flowers amid the white sands of Sullivan's Island, grazes an angle of
historic Fort Moultrie, near whose portal lies the grave of Osceola, the
Indian patriot and warrior, while apparently within a stone's throw lies
the other historic fort, Sumter, surrounded by its moat of boundless blue
water. Approaching the eastern end of the island, the odor of the myrtle
groves, from whose wax excellent candles were made during the Civil War,
is very perceptible. The changed aspect on entering the Isle of Palms is
very striking; one observes little peaks of sand surmounted by palmettoes
and is soon whirling through a variety of foliage, which becomes more
dense, till, on nearing the terminus at the pavilion, a grove of live oaks
sheds its perpetual shade down a sandy slope to a near creek on the rear
of the Island. Thus has this now favorite resort—in obscurity for more
than two centuries—become an integral part of the social life of the city
and State, monopolizing as it does so large a part of the pastime and
pleasure seeking people of different and distant parts of the
country. |
