Whenever we visit a town or city for the first time, we first go to the visitors center for an overview and then try to find a tour around the historical part of town/city. Charleston is no different. The visitors center was a wealth of information and staff to help us for getting around. The city doesn’t have a trolley tour that we could get off and on, but it does have bus and horse-drawn carriage tours. Charleston also has a great public bus system that provides the on-and-off option once the destination is known. First we’re going to look at the history of Charleston from the visitors center.
pre-Revolutionary War
King Charles II (1660-1685) was known as the Merry Monarch because he loved the arts and sports–and pursued life’s highest pleasures. King Charles II chose 8 of his closest friends and appointed them as Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas.
In May 1663, these 8 men were given title to a huge tract that became the Province of Carolina, named in honor of King Charles (his wife’s name was Catherine). Lord Cooper and his assistant John Locke (a well known name to those of us in the “colonies”) created a plan for the province known as the Grand Modell. It included the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina and a framework for settlement and development.
In 1670, settlers from Bermuda and Barbados navigated the Ashley River and established the first settlement on the Carolina colony on the marshy west bank. In honor of King Charles II of England, this new colony, which was really a colony of Barbados, was named Charles Towne.
Why did these settlers come here? Our tour guide on the boat to Fort Sumter said that in Barbados, first-born sons inherited their fathers’ property; other sons were only given money and had to find their own land for their plantations. With this financial backing, these men came to the colonies to start their own plantations, and as more sons came, they had to move further and further west.
As we’ve said, Lord Cooper (and John Locke) developed the urban development plan–the Grand Modell–that set up an orderly grid of streets and a central public square for this area known as Oyster Point where the Ashley and Cooper rivers came together.
The seat of government officially moved here in 1680, and construction of the walled fortifications surrounding the town began in 1694, giving it the name Walled City.
The Powder Magazine in the next picture is the oldest government building in South Carolina. Originally built in 1713, it’s the last standing structure of the original fortification.
This war was second in a series of wars fought between Great Britain and France in North America for control of the continent. What’s the big deal about this war here in South Carolina? It offered South Carolinians the opportunity to strike a preemptive blow against their Spanish neighbors in Florida. On our tour we were told that Georgia was made a colony so that South Carolina had a buffer with Florida.
pirates
During its early years, Charles Towne welcomed pirates into their harbor because they provided protection from Spanish ships intending to attack the colony. For the pirates, Charles Towne was a haven from which they could raid Spanish ships and then buy supplies with the gold and silver they had looted.
Merchant ships sailed in and out of the harbor carrying valuable trading commodities, as well as gold and silver that attracted the pirates who sailed along the South Carolina coast.
From Wikipedia, “As the capital of the Carolina colony, Charles Towne was a base for colonial expansion and was the southernmost point of settlement by English American settlers during the late 17th century. The settlement was often subject to attack from sea and from land.”
As a wealthy and thriving seaport, Charles Towne became Charlestown in 1719 with the beginning of royal rule with King George I. The city finally changed its name to Charleston in 1783 when the city was incorporated at the end of the Revolutionary War.
Charles Towne’s philosophy of religious tolerance brought French Huguenots, Baptists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians to the new colony. This religious diversity help Charleston became known as The Holy City with all of its churches.
post-Revolutionary War
In 1791, President George Washington visited Charleston for one week. He visited rice, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and tea plantations that flourished here along the riverbanks.
Washington’s visit continues to rank among the most important social and political events in Charleston’s history.
Charleston architecture – the single house style
The style of houses that was common in Barbados was called the single house style, and when Charleston was laid out, the plots of land followed the style that was well known to the inhabitants. Today this style is everywhere in the historic area and we even saw it outside of the downtown.
Here’s the description from a sign in the visitors center:
“Originating in Barbados, the single house style is a defining style of Charleston architecture since 1740. These houses represent the many sizes and variations of homes that emerged through the 19th century. Despite their unique elements, all homes in this style are characterized by the following: single-room width with the narrow side facing the street, front door placement in the middle on the non-street-facing side, one or more full-length size piazzas.
“The iconic Charleston single house is a prime example of “vernacular architecture,” a term for architecture that is characterized by local needs and construction materials, and reflect local traditions and culture. Single houses are part of the streetscape in nearly every downtown Charleston neighborhood.”
The 14′ x 40′ dwelling hugs the north property line and is one room wide by three rooms deep. A porch was added when the home was reconstructed.
pre-Civil War
Charleston grew tremendously during the time before the Civil Wary, the Antebellum Period. Agriculture and business flourished so much that elaborate hotel openings were common. Charleston’s City Market opened at its current location in 1804, making produce, seafood, and livestock available to the citizens.
Many in the system tried to resist, including Denmark Vesey (a self-educated freedman, skilled carpenter, and a leader among African Americans living in Charleston), who in 1822 planned the most extensive slave revolt in U.S. history. Up to 9000 slaves were ready to attack arsenals, kill those who enslaved them, and burn the city to the ground. Mayor Hamilton heard about the revolt and organized a militia to stop it. Vesey and 5 others were hanged.
The election of President Abraham Lincoln and the potential threat to its economic system caused South Carolina to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. (See the upcoming posts on Fort Sumter.)
baskets
Coiled basketry, beautiful and functional, was brought to Charleston by the enslaved people from Barbados and West Africa in the late 17th century. Generation after generation of basket-makers handed down their art after learning the craft as children.
Sweetgrass is commonly used because it is softer and finer than other materials and so easier to work with. These baskets were used in the harvesting of cash crops and now are works of art.
Sweetgrass baskets are most often associated with the Gullah Geechee people and can be purchased in many places around Charleston. If you don’t know about the Gullah Geechee people, you may want to research it on the internet. A fascinating group of people in our nation’s history.
I was told that a small basket would cost as much as $80 because it is so labor intensive to make. Maybe next time.
post-Civil War
On August 31, 1886, a huge earthquake (6.9 to 7.3 on the Richter scale) rocked Charleston and impacted the entire Southeast. The shock was felt along the entire Atlantic coast and as far as the Mississippi River. Speculation was that the Florida peninsula had broken away from North America.
When homes and offices were rebuilt, earthquake bolts were added. This reinforcing metal roads were inserted through the walls of buildings to help hold them together and as a protective measure against future earthquakes.
civil rights era
Charleston imposed laws like other cities that mandated separate facilities for whites and blacks. In 1969, a new high school was needed to relieve overcrowding at an exiting school. While it was open to all races, full desegregation of Charleston’s schools was still in the future.
today
Today schools are open to all and in this one bathroom at the visitors center, men and women can use the same bathroom that has a number of stalls.
Let’s take a look at historic Charleston today.
