When Charleston was the frontier
By Robert Behre
More than three centuries ago, Charles Towne had a few hundred structures from the Cooper River back toward what today is Coming Street.
Today, despite Charleston's reputation as one of America's best-preserved cities, they're all gone.
The city's oldest surviving buildings, such as the Pink House at 17 Chalmers St., date from the early 18th century. There's no proof anything still stands from the 17th century, the period that's the focus of a new book by local historians Susan Bates and Cheves Leland.
Their work - "Proprietary Records of South Carolina Volume Three" -examined and reproduced hundreds of the earliest property records from Carolina.
Taken together, they make a point that most tourists don't hear, that most residents probably haven't thought much about : Before the oldest parts of Charleston became the historic city we know today, they were something quite different. Something rougher, simpler.
Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
STREETLAW (anonymous) says...
Rougher and simpler indeed. My grandfather use to race horses on Race street (did you ever wonder how it got that name?) It was in a rural area then. And that was in the 1890's.
Too bad we didn't have Steven Behre around then to document all that was that will never be again.
August 17, 2008 at 1:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full Terms and Conditions.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
Thank you for your interest in this story. The comment thread for this article has been closed.
- Most Commented
- Most Emailed
- Shared
- Upper King on rise: Hotels, apartments, restaurants changing face of downtown area
- Missing woman case gets murkier
- UPDATE: Missing woman's fiance seen leaving scene of burned SUV, carrying a shovel
- Magnolia Gardens offering free dream wedding to contest winner
- Body of missing woman's fiance was found near handgun
- Pinterest: Pinning hopes and dreams
- DAVID SLADE: S.C. offers hybrid car tax credit
- Black women today: Strong. Resilient. Ambitious.
- Ex-Boeing worker claims racism, retaliation in firing
- MCDERMOTT COLUMN: Golf business has risks, rewards
