St. Philip's was said to be "large and stately" and to
have a neat palisade around it in Charleston. It shows the good feeling
between the sects that Mrs. Blake (sometimes, as the wife
of a Landgrave and Proprietor, called " Lady Blake "),
who was the daughter of Landgrave Axtell, should have
contributed liberally to the adornment and completion of
St. Philip's, although herself a Baptist. It was endowed
by the piety of that true daughter of the Church, Mr
Affra Coming, who in 1698 " for love and duty
" bestowed
upon it seventeen acres of land just outside the walls.
This land in Charleston , now covered by the "Middle Western" part of
the city, has, as Glebe land, been of great value. Glebe
Street and Coming Street in Charleston keep the memory of the gift and
the donor. A large old-fashioned brick house on the east
side of the former street was, until a comparatively recent
period, the Rectory of St. Philip's, and was always known
as the " Glebe House of the old town of Charleston."
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The building of Charleston in the early 1700s
In Charleston the work of building went on. It seems
extraordinary that the colony should have been founded
for fourteen years before any attempt was made to erect
a church in Charleston. The uncertainty of occupation of Albemarle
Point was probably the cause of this delay, or perhaps the
small number of churchmen among the original Charleston settlers.
Old Governor Sayle had indeed selected and laid out a
graveyard, adjoining the old town o Charleston , of eighty acres (surely
a liberal provision), in which we may presume that he
himself was interred, but not until 1682 was St. Philip's
begun.
It was placed where St. Michael's now stands, at the
corner of Broad and Meeting streets just opposite the half
moon and drawbridge, and was built of the black cypress
which Mr. Maurice Mathews, correspondent of Lord
Shaftesbury, had strongly commended ten years before.
" The black cypress is wonderful large and tall and
soother, of a delicate grain, and smells. It will hereafter
be a good commodity to ye prying planter who looks
abroad." Its value as a building material was now
known. The foundation was of brick, and this mode of
building, namely a cypress house on a brick foundation,
was long esteemed and continued in the colony. For lime
they burnt the old Indian heaps of oyster shells, which
Sandford had described as piled thick along the river
banks near the coast of Charleston , where are many still to be seen.
This lime makes the strongest possible mortar. Walls
and whole buildings were often made of a concrete,
called "
tappy," or "
pise," — composed of these shells
mixed with the lime which becomes hard as stone. The
only building now standing in Charleston known to have
been erected in the seventeenth century, the old Powder
Magazine in Cumberland Street, which was attached to the
small fort at Carteret Bastion at the northwest corner of
the old wall, is built of this "
tappy."
extraordinary that the colony should have been founded
for fourteen years before any attempt was made to erect
a church in Charleston. The uncertainty of occupation of Albemarle
Point was probably the cause of this delay, or perhaps the
small number of churchmen among the original Charleston settlers.
Old Governor Sayle had indeed selected and laid out a
graveyard, adjoining the old town o Charleston , of eighty acres (surely
a liberal provision), in which we may presume that he
himself was interred, but not until 1682 was St. Philip's
begun.
It was placed where St. Michael's now stands, at the
corner of Broad and Meeting streets just opposite the half
moon and drawbridge, and was built of the black cypress
which Mr. Maurice Mathews, correspondent of Lord
Shaftesbury, had strongly commended ten years before.
" The black cypress is wonderful large and tall and
soother, of a delicate grain, and smells. It will hereafter
be a good commodity to ye prying planter who looks
abroad." Its value as a building material was now
known. The foundation was of brick, and this mode of
building, namely a cypress house on a brick foundation,
was long esteemed and continued in the colony. For lime
they burnt the old Indian heaps of oyster shells, which
Sandford had described as piled thick along the river
banks near the coast of Charleston , where are many still to be seen.
This lime makes the strongest possible mortar. Walls
and whole buildings were often made of a concrete,
called "
tappy," or "
pise," — composed of these shells
mixed with the lime which becomes hard as stone. The
only building now standing in Charleston known to have
been erected in the seventeenth century, the old Powder
Magazine in Cumberland Street, which was attached to the
small fort at Carteret Bastion at the northwest corner of
the old wall, is built of this "
tappy."
History of Charleston south carolina indian trading between 1679 to 1700
Most of the chief planters in those early days
of Charleston were merchants as well ; the Indian trade in Charleston was long the
chief source of wealth. "Charles Town- Charleston trades for 1000
miles into the continent," one old writer says. The Proprietors
tried to restrict the fur trade in Charleston to within one hundred
miles of the town, reserving all beyond to themselves;
but although they appointed Indian agents to enforce
the laAV, it was continually eluded. In troubled times
some of these agents in Charleston became persons of great importance.
Besides the furs, they had for exports, as has been already
said, the products of the forest, lumber of all sorts, tar,
pitch, and turpentine. To these, in defiance of the objections
of the Proprietors of Charleston , there was added salt-beef and
bacon. What was a man whose estate numbered thousands
of acres to do but to graze it ? The cattle throve
and multiplied enormously in a climate where food was
plentiful all the year, and a bracken bush could keep the
cow in the severest weather. Wolves prevented the
increase of sheep as worthless dogs do now, but most
planters protected a small flock, to supply the family with
mutton and with wool for the ever whirling wheels.
Swine could take care of themselves; they fattened on the
acorns of the oak groves, and soon became an important
article of export, while as yet crops were small and
inadequate.
These sources of prosperity had so increased the wellbeing
of the little community in Charleston that when Thomas Ashe,
clerk of the ship Richmond, came out in 1680 with the first
Huguenot colony in Charleston , he declared in the " View of Carolina '
which he published on his return to England, that there
was no longer any suffering or want of food to be apprehended
; that the settlers in Charleston were well established, had all
sorts of European grains and fruits and "
twenty sorts of pulse not known in England, all of them good for food."
It would be interesting to learn what they were. Most
families in Charleston kept an Indian, who for a mere trifle would supply
a household of twenty people with an ample quantity
of game, venison, turkeys, ducks, etc. This custom lasted
down to the Revolution in Charleston , and in some cases still later.
of Charleston were merchants as well ; the Indian trade in Charleston was long the
chief source of wealth. "Charles Town- Charleston trades for 1000
miles into the continent," one old writer says. The Proprietors
tried to restrict the fur trade in Charleston to within one hundred
miles of the town, reserving all beyond to themselves;
but although they appointed Indian agents to enforce
the laAV, it was continually eluded. In troubled times
some of these agents in Charleston became persons of great importance.
Besides the furs, they had for exports, as has been already
said, the products of the forest, lumber of all sorts, tar,
pitch, and turpentine. To these, in defiance of the objections
of the Proprietors of Charleston , there was added salt-beef and
bacon. What was a man whose estate numbered thousands
of acres to do but to graze it ? The cattle throve
and multiplied enormously in a climate where food was
plentiful all the year, and a bracken bush could keep the
cow in the severest weather. Wolves prevented the
increase of sheep as worthless dogs do now, but most
planters protected a small flock, to supply the family with
mutton and with wool for the ever whirling wheels.
Swine could take care of themselves; they fattened on the
acorns of the oak groves, and soon became an important
article of export, while as yet crops were small and
inadequate.
These sources of prosperity had so increased the wellbeing
of the little community in Charleston that when Thomas Ashe,
clerk of the ship Richmond, came out in 1680 with the first
Huguenot colony in Charleston , he declared in the " View of Carolina '
which he published on his return to England, that there
was no longer any suffering or want of food to be apprehended
; that the settlers in Charleston were well established, had all
sorts of European grains and fruits and "
twenty sorts of pulse not known in England, all of them good for food."
It would be interesting to learn what they were. Most
families in Charleston kept an Indian, who for a mere trifle would supply
a household of twenty people with an ample quantity
of game, venison, turkeys, ducks, etc. This custom lasted
down to the Revolution in Charleston , and in some cases still later.
History of Charleston south carolina the Barbadians and other west indies settlers
The Barbadians and other West Indian Islands were arriving in Charleston in 1679.
Thomas Drayton, William and Arthur Middleton, and Robert
Daniel, all names of note in Carolina, came to Charleston in 1679.
Moore, Ladson, Grimball, Cantey, Boone, Thomas Smith,
Schenking, and Izard appear in Charleston soon after. All of these took
up lands in Charleston ; many of the original grants still remain, and
the Council Journals show the extent, as " Lands granted
on Goose Creek to Edward Middleton, Gent., one of the
honourable persons of this Province." This land became
afterward the beautiful plantation"
Crowfield," long considered
the handsomest landscape garden in the Province of Charleston.
Another grant of a thousand acres in Charleston to the same person
was the " Oaks," the stately avenue of which still remains.
Mr. Thomas Amy is to have twelve thousand acres
(a barony)
" In consideration of his great services
"
(in encouraging
emigration), and John Gibbs, Esq., kinsman of
the Duke of Albemarle, is to " have every attention paid to
him, and three thousand acres rent free." This last is a
very rare order; the quit-rent, which made much trouble,
was generally to be paid. But although the chief residences
of these gentlemen were on their plantations in Charleston , they
were likewise important citizens; in fact the country for a
radius of twenty miles around was but a greater Charleston.
Thomas Drayton, William and Arthur Middleton, and Robert
Daniel, all names of note in Carolina, came to Charleston in 1679.
Moore, Ladson, Grimball, Cantey, Boone, Thomas Smith,
Schenking, and Izard appear in Charleston soon after. All of these took
up lands in Charleston ; many of the original grants still remain, and
the Council Journals show the extent, as " Lands granted
on Goose Creek to Edward Middleton, Gent., one of the
honourable persons of this Province." This land became
afterward the beautiful plantation"
Crowfield," long considered
the handsomest landscape garden in the Province of Charleston.
Another grant of a thousand acres in Charleston to the same person
was the " Oaks," the stately avenue of which still remains.
Mr. Thomas Amy is to have twelve thousand acres
(a barony)
" In consideration of his great services
"
(in encouraging
emigration), and John Gibbs, Esq., kinsman of
the Duke of Albemarle, is to " have every attention paid to
him, and three thousand acres rent free." This last is a
very rare order; the quit-rent, which made much trouble,
was generally to be paid. But although the chief residences
of these gentlemen were on their plantations in Charleston , they
were likewise important citizens; in fact the country for a
radius of twenty miles around was but a greater Charleston.
The Huguenot emigrants 1680 History of Charleston the french Church
The Huguenot emigrants, who only arrived in Charleston 1680 to
1686, began their "French Church" in Charleston about 1687 in the
upper part of Charlestons Church Street on land conveyed by Ralph
Izard and Mary his wife (a Miss Middleton) for that pur-
pose. Isaac Mazyck, one of Charlestons earliest and wealthiest
emigrants of their race, gave generously to Charleston. At the other end of Church Street were the
Baptists, on land in Charleston given by William Elliott, and the Quak-
ers had a " Friends' Meeting House ' outside the walls,
near to the present King Street in Charleston.
Thus in ten years from the founding of Charleston or
CharlesTown there was no lack of places of worship; it is remarkable
that although no one of the original buildings in Charleston remains
churches still stand upon each of these sites, belong-
ing to the same organizations and denominations. The
" Friends' is the only exception to this. The building
was destroyed by fire, and there being no Quakers now in
Charleston it was never rebuilt ; but the lot is kept sacred,
and is still owned by the society.
So far the people of all these various denominations
were, with the exception of a few Dutch, from Nova-Belgia,
descendants of Great Britain, subjects of the King ; but now
from 1680 to 1688 came the French Huguenots, strangers
and aliens, into this English community.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
History of Charleston South Carolina Sir Henry seige 1780
Charleston had not seen the last of Sir Henry.
He came back to charleston with an army in February, 1780,
and advancing this time by way of John's and James Islands,
crossed the Ashley River above the city of charleston and laid
siege to it from the rear on the main land. About the same time,
the fleet, mindful of its former drubbing, ran past Fort Moultrie,
under a heavy fire, without attempting to engage it, and, in
conjunction
with batteries erected on James Island, threatened the city of
charleston
from the south and west. A shot from one of these batteries, that
stood near
the conspicu- ous point called the " Hundred Pines," left a mark
in Charleston
which may still be seen. At the intersection of Broad and Meeting
streets there was then placed a statue of William Pitt, raised by
the
grateful colonists in recognition of that statesman's fearless
espousal
of their cause in the British Parliament, in resisting the Stamp
Act
and other oppressive measures. A cannon shot from James Island,
unmindful
of the distinguished statesman at home, and of the fact that he
was then
upholding his government manfully in the pending struggle, struck
the statue.
carrying away its arm, and otherwise mutilating it. It now stands
in Washington Square, hard by its former location, with its beauty
still sadly marred by what was a home bullet if not a ** home
thrust."
General Lincoln, who commanded the American forces, should
not have attempted to stand a siege the city of Charleston,
but should have saved his little army — sadly needed elsewhere
while yet there was time. He was in a cul-de-sac, without hope
of relief, was largely outnumbered, and his capitulation was only
a question of time.
History of Charleston 1677 - 1783
It is old as cities go in America,
its settlement in its present location
dating back to 1677, but it was not
incorporated under the name of Charleston
until 1783. Previously to that it had been called
Charles Town,
named in honor of the very virtuous king of Great
Britain, Charles IL, who, by
charter
in 1663, ''was graciously pleased to grant " to certain "
Lords Proprietors " a vast region, larger than his own "
tight little island,"
comprising both the Carolinas and a great deal more
besides, of whose real extent
either he or they knew very little. The trifling
circumstance that the land was not
his to give was of small consequence. Charles was
" hard up," if it be proper to
apply that expression to royalty, and there, as
elsewhere in America, it was
expected
of the colonists to quiet both the question of
title and the real owners at
the same time, if need be. The names or titles
of these Lords Proprietors of Charleston are
preserved in the two Carolinas in the names of
counties,south Carolina; the towns
Charleston and counties of Beaufort in both States;
Albemarle Sound and the counties of Carteret,
Craven and Granville,
in North Carolina, and others their names
remain, but their authority in
Charleston south carolina was of short duration,
the government of the Province
of Carolina having been transferred to the Crown
in 1719 — so far as it concerned
Charleston and South Carolina.
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