Charleston,SC
Description of the City taken from the...
1866 Directory
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Contributed to site by...
Maggee Smith
MOConqrr@aol.com

(Taken from the 1866 Charleston Directory)

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, the Metropolis of  South Carolina, is picturesquely situated at the confluence of Ashley and Cooper  rivers, which combine to form its harbor. This harbor is deep and spacious, drawing eighteen feet of water. The coup d’ocil  is noble, broad, imposing and highly picturesque. Though the grounds are low, hardly more than twelve feet above high water, the effect is good; and the city, like Venice, seems, at a little distance, to be absolutely rising out of the sea.  The Bay is almost completely land-locked, making the harborage and roadstead as secure as they are ample. The adjuncts contribute to form a tout ensemble of much beauty. Directly at the entrance of the city stands Castle Pinckney, a fortress which covers an ancient shoal. On the sea line rises Fort Moultrie, famous as Fort Sullivan, in beating off and nearly destroying the British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker, in 1776. On the eastern extremity of the same Island (Sullivan’s), on which Fort Moultrie stands, you may trace the outline of the fortress, which under Col. Thompson, with 700 Carolina rifles, defeated Sir Henry Clinton at the very moment when Moultrie drove Sir Peter Parker away from the South. Within the harbor you are arrested by the noble ruins of the once imposing battlements of Fortress Sumter, an object of special interest, having for the past four years successfully withstood the repeated attacks of the combined forces of the Army and Navy of the United States. This Fort,  with that of Moultrie, constitute the chief defences of the city. On James Island you are shown the ruins of old Fort Johnson. On the opposite headlands of the Haddrill, you may trace the old lines which helped in the defence of the city, eighty years ago, but which are now mostly covered by the village of Mount Pleasant. These points, north, east and south, with the city lying west of them, bound the harbor, leaving an ample circuit of bay, coursing over which, from south to north, the eye gladly pursues the long stretch of Cooper River, along the banks of which,  for many miles, the sight is refreshed by noble rice-fields, and in many places by fine old structures of the ancient and present gentry. Steamers ply up this river, and return the same day, affording a good view of the settlement along a very picturesque shore-line on either hand.

Standing on James Island, or on the ruined battlements of Fort Sumter, the eye notes the broad stream of the Ashley, winding west of the city, round it southern most point, to mingle in with the waters of the Cooper. The Ashley was anciently a region of great wealth and magnificence. It is still a river of very imposing aspects, broad, capacious, with banks of green, through which you may still behold some antique and noble edifices. Within the harbor, if you can appropriate a couple of days, you may find them agreeably employed by a trip to Fort Sumter, to James Island, to Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island. The two latter places are favorite retreats for the citizens of Charleston in mid-summer.

Charleston was originally founded about 1670. It was subsequently laid out on a plan furnished from England, which was then considered of very magnificent scale; but the streets were narrow , though regularly laid out, and no provision was made for public squares. In this respect the city is still very deficient; but the general style of building , which gives to each private dwelling a large court of its own, with trees and verandalis, renders the want of public squares less sensibly felt. Originally built of wood and ravaged by frequent fires, Charleston had become, to a large degree, a city of brick. Its public buildings are some of them antique as well as noble edifices. St. Michael’s Church, State House and the old Custom House are all solid and imposing structures, raised during the colonial period. St. Michael’s Tower is held in great admiration among the Charlestonians. The Custom House has a traditional character, as distinguished by the British in the Revolution, as the Prison House of the Patriots.  It was in this building that Hayne, the martyr, was kept in bonds, and hence he was led forth to execution. The new Custom House of marble, not yet completed, promises to be one of the finest specimens of American architecture. The several churches of St. Phillip  (Episcopal), Citadel square (Baptist), Central (Presbyterian), are all fine buildings; the towers of St. Phillip and the Baptist rising more than 200 feet. The great fire, which occurred in December , 1861, destroyed many of the finest public edifices in the city, such as the Theatre, Institute Hall, St. Andrew’s Hall, and several fine churches, the most prominent of which was St. Finbar’s Cathedral.
Among the objects of public curiosity is the Orphan Asylum, a magnificent structure of great capacity. It generally contains from 150 to 250 orphans, the numbers of both sexes being nearly equal. The Military Academy (Citadel) is a State Institution. One half of its members are beneficiary. The plan of education is borrowed in part from the system at West Point, and in part from the Polytechnique School of France.

The environs of the city afford a variety of very pleasant drives: the Battery, which is the Charleston  Prada Plaza, Alameda, Carousel, is a great resort on pleasant afternoons; thronged with carriages and pedestrians. Its gardens are on such occasions crowded with happy children, but take a coach and drive to the Magnolia Cemetery, the beautiful “City of the Silent,”  the Greenwood and Mount Auburn of Charleston. You will find this a lovely retreat; well laid out—mingled woods and waters—looking out on the Cooper, whose streams find their way into its pretty lakelets, over which the live oak hangs its druid mosses.
The great avenue from Charleston into the country was pronounced by Archdale, one of the lord proprietors, such an avenue as no prince of Europe could boast. This was due to the noble oaks and magnolias, the myrtles and the jessamines, which lined it on either side, making it a covered way  enbowered in shade, grateful in green, venerable with moss, and giving out a perpetual fragrance from a world of summer flowers.

Charleston is rich in her public charities; the Hibernian, Hebrew, German, and a variety beside, all of whom have large endowments and fine buildings. She also has a Medical and Literary College. The College Library contains some 10,000 volumes; the Charleston Library, some 30,000; Apprentices’, 12,000. The College Museum is second to none in the United States.

The commerce of Charleston, once equal to any city on the Atlantic, has undergone many fluctuations. It is now reviving and increasing in extent and profit. Her chief productions were, previous to the war, cotton, rice, tobacco, tar, pitch, and turpentine. The quantity of rice raised in the state and exported through Charleston once exceeded that of any other city and state. Her population, including negroes,  is now estimated at 45,000 inhabitants.
We have indicated Fort Moultrie as a spot distinguished by one of the greatest battles of the Revolution; but the chronicles of Charleston show , besides, a long series of gallant struggles with powerful enemies. She has been threatened by the Red men, who in formidable alliance, have brought down their numerous tribes to her very gates.
The Hotels are numerous, and among the most stately edifices in the city. They are usually kept in a style which will randk with any in America. Among the most conspicuous of these are the Charleston, New York,  Merchants’, Mills House. The Calder House and Pavilion Hotel (at present used for other purposes than those originally intended) are also good specimens of  Charleston architecture.