Charleston

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Charleston
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Lovely and gracious Charleston is located just south of the mid-point of the South Carolina coastline at the junction of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. The name is derived for Charles Towne named after King Charles II of England. In 1995 the city was recognized as the “best mannered” city in the US. Charleston is home to the first established Livability Court in the nation.

Charles II granted the chartered Carolina territory to eight of his loyal friends, known as the Lords Proprietor in 1663. It was seven years before they could arrange for settling the area. The first community they establish was named Charles Town, a community that was established by English settlers on the west bank of the Ashley River. Lord Proprietor Anthony Ashley-Cooper chose the town because he believed that it would become and great port town. The city has fulfilled that destiny. Charleston was the center for further expansion and the southernmost point of English settlement in the late 1600’s. The English were soon joined by those from Barbados, and Virginia.

The city was often attacked from sea and from land. Spain and France launched periodic assaults as they contested England’s claims to the region. These combined with resistance from Native Americans and pirate raids. The colonists erected a fortification wall around the small settlement to aid in defense. Today, there are two buildings remaining from the Walled city, the Powder Magazine, where the gunpowder was stored and the Pink House which is believed to be an old colonial tavern.

In 1680 the Grand Model plan was established to lay out “the model of an exact regular town”. Land surrounding the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets became the Civic Square. Charleston’s oldest church, St Michaels’s Episcopal Church was built on the southeast corner in 1752. The Capitol was erected the next year across the square. The Capitol building with its elegant architecture is a display of its importance in the British colonies. The Provincial court met on the ground floor and the common s House of Assembly and the Royal Governor’s council chamber on the second floor.

Colonial Charleston was home to a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. Boston, Massachusetts and Charleston were sister cities and the people of means spend summers in Boston and winters in Charleston. Some people came to live in Charleston from Bermuda and the Caribbean. French, Scottish, Irish, and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations. Roman Catholicism and Judaism also flourished. Sephardic Jews began to come to city in large numbers and formed the largest and wealthiest Jewish community in North America. Their Coming Street Cemetery was opened in 1762 and attests to their longevity in the region. The first Anglican Church was built in 1682. St Philip’s Episcopal Church was later destroyed by fire and relocated. Major portions of the population were slaves and they were active in the city’s religious community. Old Bethel United Methodist church was established in 1797 by free blacks and slaves. The Emanuel A.M.E. church stems form the African American community.

The first American museum opened in Charleston in 1773. Beginning in the mid 18th century waves of immigration were coming in to the upcountry of the Carolinas. Some immigration came from abroad through Charleston. Upcountry people were viewed by Charlestonians as being unpolished and having different interests. This attitude set the stage for several generations of conflicts between the Upcountry and the Charleston elite.

Charleston became a focal point the American Revolution and in protest of the Tea Act of 1773 Charlestonians confiscated tea and stored it in the Exchange and Custom House. Representatives came from all over the region to the Exchange and custom House to elect delegates to the Continental Congress who drafted the Declaration of Independence. South Carolina declared it’s independence from the steps of this building. On June 28, 1776 the British, assuming that a large body of loyalists would come to their assistance staged an action to seize Charleston. When the canons were fired the loyalists did attack the town but there were too few of them to make a difference. Many militias formed from those who escaped including those of Francis Marion, the “Swampfox” The British laid siege to the city. It was the greatest defeat the Americans suffered in the war.

At the end of the war, Carolinians were meeting at the Capitol building for the Constitutional Ratification convention. At that meeting there was division over the site of the new Capitol. A suspicious fire broke out in the building during the convention and the delegates removed to the Exchange and decreed that Columbia would be the State Capitol. When the Capitol was rebuilt Charlestown became the center of the antebellum south. The grandeur and number of buildings erected in the following century reflect the optimism, pride, and civic destiny of the people.

As Charleston grew so did social opportunities for the elite. There were theatres, luxury hotels, and horse racing. Benevolent societies formed first the South Carolina Society, founded by French Huguenots. The German Friendly society was followed by the Hibernian Society founded by Irish immigrants. The Charleston Library Society was founded by some wealthy Charlestonians who wished to keep up with the scientific and philosophical issues of the day.

The invention of the cotton gin revolutionized that industry and cotton rapidly became South Carolina’s chief export. While cotton plantations relied heavily on slave labor, slaves also served in the city as domestics, artisans, market workers or laborers. Many of them spoke Gullah, a language based upon the several languages prominent in the community.

In 1860 South Carolina was the first to secede from the union. The first shot of the War was fired by citadel cadets the Union laid siege and Charleston was battered. There was much destruction. The war shattered the prosperity of this antebellum city but industries recovered and brought a renewed vitality. As commerce improved community institutions were recovered.

An earthquake nearly destroyed the city in 1886. Through fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, several wars, and urban renewal in the 20th century many of Charleston’s historic buildings remain intact to this day.

Charleston, with streets lined with grand live oaks draped with Spanish moss, the Cabbage Palmetto and the beautiful historic pastel colored homes along the waterfront in an area known as Rainbow Row make Charleston a notable tourist destination. The city is also and important port with second largest container seaport on the East coast.

Visitors will experience a unique blend of cultures. The Spoleto Festival USA Fair is a 17 day art festival featuring over 100 performances by individual in a variety of disciplines. The “other” festival is the MOJA Arts Festival which is a major, two-week celebration of African-American and Caribbean arts, music, and culture.

There are a wide variety of museums and historical attractions. The Exchange and Customs building is considered to be one of the most important Colonial buildings in the nation. It features a dungeon which held various signers of the Declaration of Independence, and also hosted the ratification of the US constitution in 1788.

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie, both important sites in the great wars can be visited. There are also several former plantations in the area including Boone Hall Plantation, Drayton hall, Magnolia Plantation, and Middleton Place. The Charleston Tea Plantation is located just south of the city and is a true working tea farm. The Gibbes Museum of Art is one of the country’s oldest art organizations and houses over 10,000 works of fine art. Other attractions are the South Carolina Aquarium, the Audubon Swamp Garden, Cypress Gardens, and Charles Towne Landing.

Charleston is home to a number of minor league professional sports teams. Ryder cup matches and PGA Championships are scheduled there as well.

Several books have been written with Charleston as the setting and the Gullah opera “Porgy and Bess” is set in Charleston. The movie “The Notebook” was almost entirely filmed in and around Charleston as well as the mini series “North and south”.

Visiting Charleston is like stepping into the Old South.

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