In 1669, under
the leadership of Captain Joseph West, three vessels;
the Carolina, the Port Royal and the Albemarle set their
sites on the new land, America. A severe storm separated
the three ships, wrecked the Port Royal and forced the
Carolina to land in Bermuda. In the Spring of 1670, 150
English colonists, indentured servants and slaves sailed
into the Charleston harbor.
The first view of what would become the
new colony of Carolina came in March 1670 at Bull's Island.
The travelers landed on a promising location they christened
Albemarle Point in April 1670. The Proprietors soon flattered
their king, Charles II, by insisting the settlement be
named Charles Town in his honor. Enemies of the colony
included the French, the Spanish, hostile Indian tribes
and pirates. Disease was also rampant due to poor sanitation
and an inhospitable location.
Additional settlers arrived from Barbados
in February 1671. By 1672, the expanding settlement recognized
the advantages of relocating across the river on the peninsula
land called "Oyster Point" because of the mounds
of opened and discarded oyster shells left there by the
Kiawah Indians. This piece of land soon attracted settlers
because of its strategic location between the Cooper and
Ashley Rivers. By the late 1670s, Proprietors hoped to
avoid the narrow, twisting streets of European cities by
using the classical continental street plan. Charles Town
became the first American to use city planning where streets
were laid out in "broad and....straight lines." By
1680, the rest of the settlement was brought to peninsula
Charles Town and the population reached 1,000. To protect
the Carolina settlement from attack, a wall constructed
out of local materials (mainly brick, palmetto logs and
tabby) emerged in the late 1690s. By 1718, the coast had
been cleared of most enemies and the wall, no longer needed,
was destroyed.
With its many wharves along East Bay Street,
Charles Town became a busy seaport. Ships carrying raw
materials, deer skins, rice, indigo, and eventually cotton
were exported to England and commerce was born. Ships returned
heavy with staples and luxuries of Europe which lent a
cosmopolitan air to the growing community. Even in its
infancy, Charleston had the reputation of being a "Little
London" in the semi-tropic wilds of the New World.
By 1740, Charles Town was becoming the most critical port
in North America for exporting, and an economic boom surged
across the colony.
Colonists found out early that the New World had its share of troubles and
danger as the coastal town endured a small pox epidemic, a fire which destroyed
1/3 of the colony including 300 houses and a great number of stores in just
four hours, a plague among the cattle, and yellow fever and several major hurricanes.
Disasters continued to ravage the city with fires in 1740, 1796, 1838 and 1861.
The philosophy of early Charles Town was
based on religious tolerance and it was believed that with
this attitude the settlement would increase in numbers
and profitability. The second charter guaranteed religious
freedom. The openness towards religion brought French Huguenots,
Baptists (known then as Anabaptists), Congregationalists
and Presbyterians. Early in the next century, 12 Scottish
families withdrew to form the Scots Kirk, now the First
Scots Presbyterian Church. A Jewish congregation formed
in 1750, followed shortly by a Lutheran Church and Methodist
assembly. The first Roman Catholic mass was held in Charleston
in 1786. Because of its origins for religious diversity,
Charleston became known as "The Holy City."
The Revolutionary War brought to a close
Charleston's Golden Age. In 1776, a British fleet carrying
270 guns failed to take Colonel William Moultrie's palmetto
fort on Sullivan's Island. In 1778, the British attacked
again, coming by land from Savannah. The city held, but
much of the surrounding countryside was torched. The British
took control and Charles Town was occupied by England.
By 1783, Charles Town had been reborn as Charleston.
In the late 1700s, plantations harvested such crops as indigo (a blue dye)
and rice. Long staple cotton was grown on John's Island and James Island. Prosperity
from an agrarian society was mixed with great interest in cultural affairs.
In 1791, President George Washington toured the States and came to Charleston
where he slept in the Heyward Washington House on Church Street and entertained
at the Old Exchange Building.
>By 1860, Charleston lay divided concerning
States Rights. The Ordinance of Secession was signed in
December of that year making South Carolina a separate
entity from the United States. On April 12, 1861, Confederate
troops issued the first shots of the Civil War when they
fired upon Fort Sumter, successfully driving out the federal
forces. In June 1862, federal troops began their first
attempt to capture Charleston when they landed on James
Island just southeast of the city. The Battle of Secessionville
occurred when over 6,000 massed Union troops launched an
assault across a peninsula where 500 Confederate soldiers
with cannons waited. Federal troops suffered 700 casualties;
Confederates about 200. But Union forces remained determined
to seize Charleston. During the summer of 1863 in battles
around the city and at Gettysburg, Charlestonians were
killed or wounded by the hundreds. The Union bombardment
of Charleston was sporadic until January 1864 when some
1,500 shots were fired from Morris Island which caused
many fires. (St. Philip's Church was hit repeatedly and
its interior damaged extensively.) In early 1865, General
William Sherman crossed the Savannah River, but aimed at
Columbia not Charleston because he believed the port city
had lost its influence and was already, according to him, "a
mere desolated wreck...hardly worth the time to starve
it out."
Following the Civil War, Charlestonians
were too poor to remodel so the city simply adapted her
old buildings. Then, in 1886 a major earthquake rocked
Charleston damaging more than 2,000 buildings. More than
100 buildings were declared unsafe and pulled down. A total
of 110 people died as a result of this natural disaster.
Within a year of the 1886 earthquake, proud Charlestonians
boasted: "Strangers who visit the city have to hunt
up traces of the earthquake, very few of which remain.
Charleston has once more risen from her ashes." As
a result of the earthquake, iron rods were run through
the interiors of buildings and fastened to the exterior
walls to protect them from future quakes. Today, these
round and star-shaped bolts remain visible on many homes
and commercial buildings.
By the early 1900s, Charleston was once
again a cultural center. In 1901, the South Carolina Interstate
and West Indian Exposition was brought to Charleston. In
the 1920s, the Charleston Renaissance was formed with authors
Josephine Pinckney, Dubose Heyward and John Bennett expressing
their adoration for Charleston. Preservation efforts were
firmly in place by the 1940s, allowing Charleston to adapt
her old buildings to retain their charm, distinction and
tradition.
Then, during the evening of September 21,
1989, Hurricane Hugo with its 135- mph winds headed directly
for Charleston. Near midnight, a 12-to-17 foot wall of
water swept over Fort Sumter in the harbor and the storm
surge came ashore. A week after the storm, preservationists
surveyed the city and found that just 25 of the 3,500 historically
important buildings had been severely damaged. With now
more than 10 years behind it, Charleston has restored itself
with all its original charm and character.
With a rich 300 year history, Charleston
today is America's most beautifully preserved architectural
and historical treasure. The city's past is a testament
to the spirit and tenacity of its citizens. Its appeal
has been described as a "living museum." As Charleston
native Elizabeth O'Neill Verner once said, "It is
impossible for me to enter Charleston from any side, whether
by land or by sea, and not feel that here the land is precious;
here is a place worth keeping..."
