The Hanging of Issac Hayne

Saturday August 4th marks one of Charleston’s most somber anniversaries – the hanging of Col. Isaac Hayne. A rice planter from Colleton County, Hayne was commissioned as an office in the South Carolina forces fighting for independence against the British. Hayne was among the thousands of soldiers trapped in Charleston during the second British siege in 1780, and was captured and paroled. Under the terms of parole, an officer was allowed to return to his home under the condition that he not take up arms again, under the punishment of death.
But Hayne, who was an accomplished soldier with outstanding leadership, was put in an awkward position by the British in 1781, as fortunes were turning in favor of the Revolutionary cause in South Carolina. The English demanded that Hayne take up arms for the British, or be subjected to house arrest at his Walterboro plantation. Hayne chose the threat of death rather than change his convictions, and considered the British offer tantamount to violating the terms of parole, once again joining the American ranks. He was captured again, and held in the basement of the Exchange building at the foot of Broad Street that still stands today.
Found guilty of treason, he was marched through the streets of Charleston to the gallows at White Point, encountering sobbing citizens along the way who begged the British not to hang one with such honorable standing in the city. Hayne’s hanging not only helped inspire South Carolina’s patriots to drive the British out within the year, it also gave rise to a famous ghost story.
According legend, Hayne passed the house of his sister on the way to the gallows, and she called out to him to please come back to her. Her supposedly promised that he would return, and there have been claims that his boots can be heard marching down Broad Street at the dead of night.

Rutledge House Memories

John Rutledge House
When I was first enrolled at old Gaud School for boys as a fourth-grader in 1961, classrooms were in the 1760’s John Rutledge House on Broad Street. This venerated Georgian structure had been home to Rutledge, who was a signer of the US Constitution, and was later remodeled with details added by the great Charleston iron master Christopher Werner. In the early 20th century, it was home to Robert Goodwyn Rhett, Charleston mayor and good friend of President William Howard Taft, who visited the house on several occasions, and it was here that Rhett’s cook, Henry Deas, created the famous she-crab soup as a treat for the President.
Not only noted for its great beauty and historic connections, the house famously survived the great fire of 1861, which literally passed by next door and ruined 540 acres of Charleston, with the Rutledge House only slightly scorched on its west side.
After all this, however, there came three years of young school boys who went to the extent of their creative and delinquent genius to forever change the old building. Exquisite parquet floors became scratch pads for initials, enchanting marble mantels were targeted daily with spitballs, hand-carved doorways were peppered by paper airplanes equipped with needle noses, time-worn iron railings rattled with outlandish yo-yo tricks, and classic staircases were lined with peeled bumper stickers turned upside down to stick on teachers’ shoes.
In the same spaces where a Constitution signed dreamed great thoughts and a President was hailed, the swish of rubber-band/ruler guns and the clatter of rolling “steelies” made the Rutledge House a challenging place…not to learn, but to see who could outdo the other in new, entertaining mischief.
Alas, the Rutledge House room with which I was most familiar was the second floor area reserved for detention, and I actually found myself there one Christmas Eve, writing “I will not release my ant farm in class” 250 times.
Gaud School moved out in 1965, and some people in the neighborhood swore that, from the old Rutledge House, they heard a gigantic sigh of relief

It Ain’t Haint or Haint Blue

Sky Blue Piazza Ceiling

Northside Manners

Window overlooking piazza
The “single house” construction that dominates historic Charleston features houses one room wide that typically stand very close to each other. This creates a common situation that is seen in quite a few locations in the city, where the side piazza is only a short distance from the windows of the house next door.
In north-south situations such as 86-94 Church Street, the piazzas are all on the south side, where the door that opens into the house leads to a hall in which there is a staircase. In these narrow halls, the north-running stair turns halfway on a landing and proceeds south again to the second floor, and usually the landing is lighted by a northside window.
From this landing window, overlooking the open expanse of the piazza next door, there is a natural tendency to linger and look over at what’s going on at the neighbor’s house. Traditionally, Charlestonians would spend many hours on the piazzas on pleasant days – socializing, relaxing, or enjoying time with family.
This made it very easy for overly-inquiring minds to eavesdrop on family secrets, arguments, or romantic interludes that were not meant for the public, and tarnish the city’s reputation for politeness. So, there developed the saying “northside manners”, in which it was considered proper behavior to refrain from listening or viewing from that north staircase window on the south piazza privacy next door.
I do remember in our “side hall” single house on Legare Street, the stair configuration was somewhat different, but the tempting northside windows were there, overlooking the southside piazza at number 10. With seven children in our family who were accustomed to passing information up and down the four-story house at the top of our lungs, it couldn’t have been much fun for those adults trying to have a peaceful cocktail under our watchful eyes and ears.
So I remind myself and others that, should they linger overlooking a southside piazza, please remember your northside manners.

A Distinctive Brand

Hampton Brand at work
Wandering historic Charleston along East Bay Street just south of the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon is a delightful location that brings real character to the term “nooks and crannies”. It’s called the W. Hampton Brand Gallery, but don’t let the name make you think it’s only that, because although confined to tiny interior and courtyard of a narrow colonial building, there is an abundance of curiosities and memorabilia that compels visitors to linger. The gallery is operated by artist and South Carolina native W. Hampton Brand, who is usually seated on the sidewalk in front, busily crafting oil images with his paint brush and easel.
Hampton will paint on canvas, but the some of his most interesting works are done on historic bricks, glass, and slate, depicting such landmarks as Rainbow Row, the Old Exchange, and various classic wrought iron gates such as the Sword Gate. Hampton is one of those classically-untrained artists who took up painting when he was a kid, and had a knack for it, as well as a passion for history. His collection of historic bottles, masonry and other implements is an excellent reminder of the simple materials that were so essential to life in the colonial city. And by using these surfaces as the basis for much of his art work, Hampton follows in the footsteps of Charleston’s classic artisans by making those simple materials into things of beauty.
The gallery is in a structure that itself is one of the most unusual in Charleston. Built in the 18th century as adjoining commercial enterprises originally called Champney’s Row, it was constructed small and narrow to conform to city laws. Going back to the 1690’s, early Charles Town was protected along the waterfront by a brick barrier called “the curtain line”. To the east of the curtain line were wharves, and to the west the street that became known as East Bay, and the only passage between was through protected openings under guard. Fearing attack from pirates or other enemies who might land at he wharves and slip into the city, buildings allowed along the curtain line were restricted in size so that they could easily be pulled down in the event of invasion. Thus Hampton’s little shop is among the skinniest structures in town. To compensate for the possibility that the old shop might be ripped down, there is a massive underground cellar area that was apparently created to dump everything into.
After the Revolution, the Champney family sold the premises to the Coates family, and the adjoining sections have been known as Coates’ Row ever since. Home to a long series of taverns, the underground areas became very useful as wine cellars over the years, and two doors down at The Tavern, Gary Dow operates the oldest liquor-dispensing location in America, but more on that in another post.

Steam Fire Engine

Steam-powered fire engines were not used in Charleston until more than 40 years after Robert Fulton made the technology possible. For most of the city’s history, the “engines” were little more than pumps on wheels that were pulled by hand or by horse through the city to water wells dug in the streets. A variety of early pumping methods included the capstan barrel, with holes on six or eight sides to connect horse-drawn poles that would spin the device and create hydraulic pressure.
The 1860’s brought the steam engine into prominence, as companies in the northeast created a variety of contraptions that used steam pressure for suction and spray. Some of these engines, fulled loaded with boilders, pans, gauges, and hoses, weighed more than five tons, so what draft animals pull through the streets of Charleston pales in comparison.
After the first three city-wide fire houses were built in 1887, fires and heated water were constantly kept in separate non-mobile boilers for transfer to the engines to aid in rapid response to alarms, so that time was not wasted in waiting for the pressure to build. With successful digging of artesian wells in the city by the late 1870’s, a crude system of pressured water became available with mains and hydrants.
Steam engines pulled by horse were still in use into the 20th century, and the first motor-driven fire truck was purchased in 1912. Today, the old steamer in the picture stands inside the main fire house at 262 Meeting Street, as a reminder of the rustic nature of fire-fighting that served the city for so many years.

The Ark of Sullivan’s Island

The Ark
Coastal South Carolina was once famous for its ancient forests that produced a thriving timber industry. Vast acres of oak, pine and cypress were cut for great ships and grand houses that were virtually impervious to rot and termites. Timber growing in natural settings typically takes much longer to mature, and many old-growth trees near Charleston dated in the hundreds of years, developing tight growth rings that assures durability. Trees such as the long-leaf pine were harvested in huge numbers, and cut in timber mills and sawpits all over Charleston for centuries.
Most of local wood-producing establishments where built along the western bank of Charleston’s peninsula, where the timber barges would bring logs from up the Ashley River. Early mills used wind power to saw the huge trunks that were often hundreds of years old, and tides were impounded in expansive mill ponds to provide water power until steam took hold in the 1820’s. For many years, timber exports rivaled rice and cotton as one of Charleston’s most lucrative industries, and among the very successful enterprises was the Anderson Lumber Company at the West end of Broad Street.
One of the Anderson company’s most notable projects was construction of houses on Sullivan’s Island in the early 1900’s, after the new island railway had opened up areas north of Atlanticville. One such structure was built for the Anderson family near tram station 27 – a gabled-two story sturdily constructed from the heart of the old-growth pine. Shortly after it was finished, the island was hit by a severe hurricane in 1911, and both family members and neighbors gathered inside the house as the swirling waters rose to dangerous levels all over the island. Many houses were completely swept away, but the Anderson house proved a lifesaver from the flood, and was christened “The Ark” – a name that it has been famous for ever since.

Indigo and The War of Jenkins’ Ear

Indigofera Tinctoria
In the early 18th century, an English privateer named Robert Jenkins was attacking merchant ships in the Caribbean and stealing cargo when he was captured by the Spanish navy, which punished him by cutting off his ear. The English used this as an excuse to declare war on Spain, and in 1739, “The War of Jenkins’ Ear” began. In Charles Town, planter George Lucas had only recently emigrated from Antigua, and was ordered by the British crown to return to his West Indies military post, leaving his teen-aged daughter Eliza in charge of 6800-acre Wappoo Plantation.
The battles pitting England against Spain and her ally France would spill over for years into a series of wars that would not end until 1763, effectively cutting off considerable trade and goods from West Indies ports blockaded by British ships. Meanwhile, young Eliza, who was well-educated and strong-willed, improved the laborious method of processing the indigofera tinctoria plant into colorful dyes. What was simply known as indigo is a small, evergreen shrub that was soaked, crushed, mixed, boiled, and strained to create a liquid that colored garments and cloth. Dried into cakes, it could easily be shipped and reconstituted with water. Eliza’s innovation was to put all the individual aspects of production into a continuous, step-by-step process, and prompted many other planters to turn to this as a cash crop.
The timing was impeccable, as the wars cut off competing dye-producing ports in the Caribbean, and the British government created tariff protecting South Carolina indigo from non-empire producers. As a result, Eliza and other indigo growers made massive fortunes in a relatively short period of time, and Charles Town would become one of the wealthiest cities in America. She would go down in history as one of South Carolina’s most accomplished women, and was mother to US Constitution signer Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
A legacy of individual greatness and provincial wealth and power that was all the result of poor old Robert Jenkins’ ear.

British Cannonball

A British cannonball from the Revolutionary War was recently found when a tree was removed from the backyard of a house on Broad Street in Charleston. Local ordnance expert Keith Purdy believes it was fired into the city during the Siege of Charleston by English forces in the Spring of 1780.
There were two British cannon batteries firing into the city from earthworks just across the Ashley River during the siege, and could have easily lobbed the 22-pound solid shot from that distance to Broad Street. The size of the ball is odd, considering most cannons of that period used standard size and weight projectiles (6, 12, 18, 24, 32 and 42 pound), but documentation also shows that the British had a howitzer that could have handled this 5 ½ inch diameter ball.
The iron in this ball is actually harder than ordnance that has been salvaged from the War Between the States, authenticates its use during the Revolution. It looks pretty good considering it has been buried for 232 years.

Shore Bird Spectacular

Great Blue Heron
Shore birds of many species begin to gather along the South Carolina coast in late Spring to bring in a new generation of familiar wings. Up in protected areas such as the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge, tens of thousands of pelicans, egrets, herons, terns, ibis, oyster catchers, and gulls will descend on barrier island dunes, grasses and beaches to make nests and lay eggs.
When young birds hatch, they are either altricial – which initially have no feathers, or precocial – where they emerge from eggs already feathered. Altricial young such as pelicans can easily burn up in the sun without the protective plumage, so mating parents split duties, as one sits on the nest covering the young, while the other wings away in search of food. Pelican nests are built from marsh grasses to hold the large young that typically hatch in pairs.
Certain precocial birds, such as royal terns, nest in shallow sand depressions above the high water mark, and although the little ones can’t fly for several weeks, they can move in mass numbers very quickly on tiny wobbling legs. Terns nest in packs known as creches as a means of best defense against predators, and hovering parents will dive on nosy humans if they get too close.
Young of all species come struggling out from eggs without much meat on their bones and often quite ugly at first, But as feathers grow and baby birds beef up on bits of fish brought back by adult birds, their features quickly turn elegant. Pelicans grow big with wide wing spans, herons and egrets sprout long, graceful legs, terns and ibis develop interesting colors, crowns and decurved beaks, and all will be in the air by mid-Summer.