From: Thursday, May 27, 1999
Historic Charleston provides visitor with the joys, pains of history
by CHARNEICE FLAKE, special to The Charlotte Post
For five years, I had made a birthday pilgrimage to Charleston. But for whatever reason, my affection for traveling had been tamed for the last two years.
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Drayton Hall
First Floor Great Hall Fireplace |
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So after reaching the conclusion that my birthday would not pass me by, still lost within the restraints of my life here in Charlotte. I
decided to heed the call of the road and return to my beloved city of Charleston.Upon first reaching her city limits I felt like a lost child, who had finally found my way back home.
From Interstate 26 I connected with Highway 17, and Meeting Street welcomed me with a chorus of historical sites. Street after street, I drove looking at unique homes. Homes which I once
thought to be peculiar because of their stacked porches which glanced at you sideways. Who could even guess that such petite lots could contain the abundance of home, history, and heritage which lay upon them.
Charleston in her 400 year old beauty reminded me of having a conversation with an elderly relative. Each building with its self describing plaque was a long lost memory, inviting you to reminisce with its
brilliant pastel hues. At no other place in the city are those colors more vivid than those of the homes that are along the Battery, whose obvious alias is Rainbow Row. What started out as an over night
getaway, turned into a three day love affair with a city. The courtship started in my car,but culminated beneath my feet. There are so many ways to tour the city of Charleston. Some choose to drive
through, others choose to take the traditional means of a horse drawn carriage, or even by guided tour bus. But I honestly believe, that the one and only true way to meet Charleston is by foot.
It was the month of February and their was a chill in the air. A stiff breeze was riding its way in from the ocean, and as I walked the cobblestone streets my enthusiasm kept me warm.
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Boone Hall Plantation Slave Quarters |
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I approached the corner of Meeting and Broad St., a vision of heavenly white was my prize for having braved fifteen blocks alone. There stood St. Michael's Episcopal
Church with its gleaming steeple, my fascination. It had been heavily damaged back in 1989 when Hugo came to shore; and was still under repair. Built in 1761, St. Michael's had served as a place of worship to several
Constitutional signers, one being George Washington who attended in 1791. What was once broken and now stood as a testament of time, the resilience of man, and his consistent struggle with nature.
Meeting Street is also home to three other notable churches. One being the First Baptist Church established in 1682, it is known to be the first Baptist
church in the south. At 53 Meeting St. stands the Firsts Scots Presbyterian Church founded by Caledonian immigrants in 17 31. The first congregation was made up of twelve Scottish families who
left the Independent Church of Charles Towne which was founded in 1681. Located at 150 Meeting St. it is known as the Circular Congregational Church. This church is famous for starting Sunday
School services in South Carolina. It is so easy to get swept up within the scenic beauty of Charleston, that you can so innocently
overlook the other significant historical facts about Charleston. America's first public museum, the Charleston Museum was established in 1773. The South's oldest newspaper, the South Carolina
Gazette, was first published in 1732 and was a major voice in opposition to the British policies during the years prior to the Revolutionary War. One of the Unions worst losses during the Civil War to the
Confederate army happened at Fort Sumter. Also agricultural wise the first rice planted and the first cotton export in America, came from
Charleston. Valued at about $875 it left Charleston for England in 1748. Although these two crops became a very lucrative venture for the city, they enabled an institution of slavery whose legacy is still
prevalent today. The Market Place where many visitors go to buy souvenirs, is the same market place where two hundred years ago, Africans and Native Barbadoans were sold into a life of
destitution, affliction, and imprisonment. When you are walking through the city you can't help but see the cellars which let the slaves into their masters' homes and places of business.
Upon visiting Drayton Hall, the only pre-Revolutionary plantation remainng on the Ashley River and located in the heart of Charleston, it all really became evident to me. I toured this grand house now
devoid of furniture. There were no elaborate rugs lying about cascading the still handsome hardwood floors. It was such a beautiful old home, but when I stood on the third floor balcony and looked out
onto the grounds; I noticed the outline of two buildings that were no longer standing. I asked the tour guide what used to be there, and that was when the reality hit me again. One building was the cook
house where the kitchen slaves would prepare the meals. It was separate from the house because grease fires during those times would devastate an entire house. So the advantage was just losing that
little building and perhaps a slave or two. My second plantation visit on my last day in Charleston took me to the Island of the Palms, the home of Boone Hall Plantation. Boone Hall was a 17,000-acre cotton plantation.
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Boone Hall Plantation |
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It also hosted the world's largest pecan groves. The famous one-half avenue of massive Spanish moss-draped live oaks has been used for location filming in the ABC-TV miniseries
"North and South," parts 1 and 2. Historical records reveal that Boone Hall was one of the first plantations to provide education for its slaves. But after visiting the nine original slave
houses, I was overwhelmed by a flood of emotions that left me unable to even cry. The houses were not even that, but brick shells, with wooden shutters and dirt floors. It is one thing to have read about the plight of
my ancestors, but it was a face to face insight to be there on an actual plantation. The final sobering dose of reality came when I found out that the woman who weaves and sells her
baskets there at Boone Hall Plantation could actually trace her family roots there. Her grandmother was a slave there and her family didn't move off the plantation until the 1930s.
That chronicles my visit to my beloved city of Charleston. Aged, but sophisticated, beautiful and graceful and forever haunted by her past.
To go there is to discover a place of mystery, resilience and a city endlessly blessed with a history which rivals the depths of the ocean itself.
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