Part 3

TRINITY METHODIST CHURCH, _273 Meeting Street_: As its congregation springs from the old Cumberland Church, the first Methodist group in Charleston (1786), Trinity may be called Charleston's oldest Methodist congregation, but the building it now occupies was recently acquired from the Westminster Presbyterian Church (which combined the abandoned Third Presbyterian in Archdale Street and the Glebe Street Presbyterian Church). Through years Trinity Church was at 57 Hasell Street. Here the first church was erected before 1813. For a short time the church was used by an Episcopal congregation. The story goes that some of the congregation were not agreeable to occupancy by Episcopalians and sought legal counsel. They were informed that possession was "nine points in the law." So, after an Episcopalian service, the Methodist brothers and sisters, when the congregation was dismissed, locked the doors from the inside, fastened the windows and mounted guard within the edifice, women assisting, until the case was returned in their favor. During this peaceful siege, a lad was born in the building; he years later became a bishop of the church. The Methodist church was planted in Charleston when Bishop Asbury and his associates came here in 1785. The first church building was erected in Cumberland Street in 1787, and within it the first Methodist Conference in South Carolina was held the same year. This building was destroyed in the fire of 1861. John and Charles Wesley had visited Charlestown in 1736. John Wesley preached in St. Philip's Episcopal Church in 1737. The Wesleys came with General James Oglethorpe's Georgia colonists. Charles Wesley was the general's secretary and John Wesley was to be a missionary among the Indians.

ST. JOHN'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, _10 Archdale Street_: The Lutheran congregation of St. John's was organized in 1757 with the Reverend John George Fredichs as pastor. Lacking a building of their own the Lutherans used the French Huguenot Church. June 24, 1764, the first St. John's was dedicated. The present brick building was dedicated January 18, 1818, the Reverend Dr. John Bachman, friend and associate of J. J. Audubon, the celebrated naturalist, being the pastor. This congregation was influential in the organization of Newberry College and the Lutheran Theological Seminary in South Carolina. Prominent persons of German origin or descent are buried in the yard. But the Lutheran story goes back to March, 1734. In his _Sketch of St. John's_, the Reverend E. T. Horn says: "In March, 1734, while the ship containing the exiled Salzburgers lay off the harbor of Charleston, Governor Oglethorpe brought their Commissary, the Baron von Reck, and their pastor, the Reverend John Martin Bolzius, with him to the city. Here they found a few Germans, firm in their attachment to the Lutheran faith, and hungering and thirsting for the Holy Supper. In May, therefore, Bolzius was glad to accompany von Reck as far as Charleston, that he might minister to this little company, and on Sunday, May 26th, 1754, at five o'clock in the morning, most probably in the inn where Bolzius was stopping, he administered the Holy Communion to those whom on the day before he had examined and absolved according to the usages of the Lutheran Church."

UNITARIAN CHURCH, _6 Archdale Street_: Just before the American Revolution, the Circular Church on Meeting Street, cradle of Presbyterianism in Charles Town, found it necessary to use an additional building. Thus another church with another pastor was established in Archdale Street. One of the pastors espoused Unitarianism and by amicable agreement the part of the congregation following his teachings took over the Archdale Street church. While the British occupied Charlestown during the Revolution, they stabled horses in this edifice. The present church building was dedicated in April of 1854, and is much praised for its architecture. The ceiling of the nave is peculiarly attractive. The pastor of this Unitarian congregation, the only one in Charleston, was the Reverend Samuel Gilman, author of the famous college song, "Fair Harvard," and in his memory Harvard alumni arranged the Samuel Gilman Memorial Room in the church tower; the ceremony was performed April 16, 1916.

ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, _79 Hasell Street_: Mother parish of the Roman Catholic Church in North and South Carolina and Georgia, St. Mary's congregation was organized in 1794, and in 1798 bought a frame building from a Protestant congregation. In 1836 this was burned and on the site the present fine brick edifice was erected being completed in 1838. In the late 1890's the interior was improved. Memorial stained-glass windows were emplaced. Of its interesting graveyard Bishop John M. England who came to Charleston in 1820 (finding two Catholic churches occupied and two priests doing duty) wrote: "The cemetery of this church which is now in the center of the city affords in the inscriptions of its monuments the evidence of the Catholicity of those whose ashes it contains. You may find the American and the European side by side.... The family of the Count de Grasse, who commanded the fleets of France near the Commodore of the United States and his partner, sleep in the hope of being resuscitated by the same trumpet." According to David Ramsay, "prior to the American Revolution in 1776, there were very few Roman Catholics in Charleston, and these had no ministry, but of all other countries none has furnished the Province with so many inhabitants as Ireland." About 1786 a vessel bound for South America, having an Italian priest aboard, put into Charleston. This priest celebrated mass for a congregation of about twelve persons. It was "the first Mass celebrated in Charleston and may be regarded as the introduction of the Catholic religion to the States of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia which afterward constituted the See of Charleston." The history of St. Mary's is coeval with the history of the Roman Catholic religion in the Southeast, excluding the Florida possessions of the Spanish.

ST. JAMES, GOOSE CREEK, _off the Coastal Highway_: The British Royal Arms still stand in South Carolina! The British yoke was thrown off one hundred and sixty years ago, but in St. James Church, Goose Creek, sixteen miles from the city hall of Charleston the Royal Arms have never come down! The ancient edifice stands in a tranquil woodland, quite near The Oaks, home of Arthur Middleton in early years. At the foot of the altar is a tomb with this inscription: "Here lyeth the body of the Reverend Francis Le Jau, Doctor in Divinity, of Trinity College, Dublin, who came to this Province October, 1706, and was one of the first missionaries sent by the honourable society to this Province, and was the first Rector of St. James, Goose Creek, Obijt. 15th September, 1717, ætat 52, to whose memory this stone is fixed by his only Son, Francis Le Jau." In the records left by Dr. Le Jau is mentioned that he christened Indians. Four acres for the old parsonage were the gift of Arthur Middleton, and another pioneer gave the Glebe of one hundred acres. The cherubs in stucco over each of the keystones are famous and so is the pelican feeding her young, over the west door. Interesting memorial tablets have places. In the present day this picturesque and historic church is easily reached by automobile. Each year at Easter divine services are held in the church, the congregation invariably overflowing the building. The original church was built soon after Dr. Le Jau's arrival.

ST. ANDREW'S, BERKELEY, _on the Ashley River Road_: The parish of St. Andrew's, Berkeley (the district about Charles Town was Berkeley in olden times), was founded in 1706 and a simple brick building erected. Seventeen years later this was enlarged, taking the form of a cross. The gallery was intended for non-pewholders and was later set aside for negroes. Destroyed by fire it was rebuilt in 1764 and is one of the few rural churches that has survived the Revolution and the War for Southern Independence. St. Andrew's was one of ten parishes authorized by act of the Assembly in 1706 regulating religious worship in accordance with the forms of the Church of England. In quite recent years a question relative to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London was raised! St. Andrew's had its genesis when the colony had a population of 9,000, "of whom 5,000 were Negro and Indian slaves."

ASHLEY RIVER ROAD, _Leading to Famous Gardens_: St. Andrew's Church is but one of many interesting and historic places on the Ashley River Road. Two miles from the Ashley River Bridge the road passes near the site of the original Charles Town in South Carolina and three miles farther is the Ashley Hall plantation of the Bull family, distinguished in provincial and colonial periods. It was on the Bull place that Attakullakulla, a chief of the Cherokee Indians, signed a treaty of peace in the 1760's after his tribe had been severely humbled by the whites. Just across the highway were the lovely Magwood Gardens, now the property of a granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln. Here the highway passes through a grove of majestic live oaks festooned with Spanish moss. Seven miles from the bridge one passes St. Andrew's Church and a short distance farther through old Fort Bull, the moat about which has been filled. Next, on the right, is the entrance to Drayton Hall, then Magnolia Gardens, Runnymede, home of John Julius Pringle, Speaker of the House of the Assembly in 1787, and later the property of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, of the famous Pinckney family; Middleton Place (gardens) where is buried Arthur Middleton, Signer of the _Declaration of Independence_; the seat of the old Wragg barony; the Ashley River is crossed at Bacon's Bridge near which stands an ancient oak beneath the spreading boughs of which General Francis Marion is alleged to have entertained a British officer (it is a pretty legend, but its site is severally located). Half a mile beyond the bridge is the road leading down to the ruins of old Dorchester, established in 1696 by colonists from Dorchester, Massachusetts, led by the Reverend Joseph Lord. In this year ruins of fort and churches are mute reminders of a brave village in a primeval wilderness infested with savage Indians. From Bacon's Bridge the distance to Summerville is five miles. It is a drive every visitor to this section should follow. In the season, the Middleton Place and Magnolia Gardens are open to visitors.

CASTLE PINCKNEY, _in Charleston Harbor_: Stand on the incomparable Battery and look seaward. Fort Sumter is in plain view, of course, but nearer the gaze is Castle Pinckney, holding the status nowadays of a government monument. It is to be reached only by boat. The fort at the edge of the sand bank known as Shute's Folly was built after the Revolution, in 1797-1804. Later, it was enlarged. In the War for Southern Independence, it lacked opportunity to contribute materially to the defense of Charleston. Really there is more legend than history about Castle Pinckney, but long it has been a well-known landmark. The government used it as a depot for aids for navigation until the depot was established at the foot of Tradd Street, on the Ashley River, site of the old Chisolm's rice mill. An excuse for including it among _Landmarks of Charleston_ is that many strangers promenading on the High Battery wish to know what Castle Pinckney is.

ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, _78 Meeting Street_: Five times have the bells of St. Michael's crossed the Atlantic ocean. They came from England in 1764 and returned there after the British evacuated the town in 1784. Repurchased for Charleston, they came back to their steeple. During the War for Southern Independence they were taken for safekeeping to Columbia and in the burning of that town charged to General William Tecumseh Sherman (who had been a social favorite in Charleston before the war) they were so damaged that they were shipped to England. There they were recast in the original molds. Brought back they are still in the steeple, pealing on occasions. When Charles Town on the peninsula was laid out, a lot was designed for the English church, St. Philip's. A wooden building was erected. This being outgrown a brick church was built on Church Street, on the present site of St. Philip's. By act of the Assembly, June, 1751, Charlestown was divided into two parishes; the lower, St. Michael's, and the upper, St. Philip's. February 17, 1752, the corner stone was laid with much ceremony, the _South Carolina Gazette_ carrying an account. The reputed successor of Sir Christopher Wrenn was the architect and the edifice is declared to resemble St. Martin's-in-the-Field, London, near Trafalgar Square. From the pavement to the ball of the steeple is 182 feet. During the War for Southern Independence, the steeple, and that of St. Philip's, offered shining marks for the Union artillerists. Cannon balls struck the church, but not with serious results. Heavy damage was done by the earthquake of August 31, 1886. The old clock in the steeple, with four dials, began the keeping of Charlestown time in 1764. President George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette have worshipped in St. Michael's. In the taxed tea excitement of 1774, the assistant rector of St. Michael's preached a sermon that aroused his congregation and he received his walking papers. In the yard of this church are illustrious dead, including James Louis Petigru, eminent South Carolina lawyer, an opponent of Nullification in the 1830's and of Secession in 1860; however, when his state had seceded, Mr. Petigru cast his fortune with the Confederacy. The incumbent Bishop of South Carolina, the Right Reverend Albert S. Thomas was rector of St. Michael's when he was elected to this high office.

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, _122 Broad Street_: John Morica England, first Bishop of Charleston, arrived in Charleston December 30, 1820, and the Cathedral of St. Finbar was dedicated by him a year later. It was a plain frame structure. Thirty years it stood. Then it was razed for the building of the St. John and St. Finbar Cathedral, burned in 1861; it was similar in design to the present Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on the same site, the northeast corner of Broad and Legare Streets. This handsome Gothic edifice of brown stone was begun late in 1888 by the Right Reverend Henry Pinckney Northrop, Bishop of Charleston. April 14, 1907, it was consecrated, Cardinal Gibbons being one of the celebrants. The site is that of the Vauxhall Gardens. Between December, 1861, and the occupancy of the new cathedral, the congregation worshipped in the pro-cathedral in Queen Street, built by the Right Reverend Patrick Nielsen Lynch, then Bishop of Charleston. St. John the Baptist's is 200 feet long from the entrance to the rear of the vestry, the nave being 150 feet long by eighty feet wide; from the floor to the top of clerestory is sixty feet. The interior is beautifully decorated and contains fine paintings and stained-glass windows. To the north of the Cathedral is the Convent of Our Lady of Mercy. Graves of bishops are under the cathedral. The edifice is one of Charleston's cardinal show places.

TRUMBULL'S WASHINGTON, _in Charleston City Hall_: One of the most famous and valuable portraits of General George Washington hangs in the City Hall, northeast corner of Meeting and Broad Streets. It was done by John Trumbull on the order of the City Council in honor of President Washington's visit in 1791. It is reputed to be worth a million dollars! Art connoisseurs have come long distances to inspect this great portrait. Washington is shown full length, with his horse near him. While this is Charleston's most valuable painting, there are other fine paintings in the Municipal Gallery, including President James Monroe, commemorating his visit in 1819, by Samuel F. B. Morse (inventor of the telegraph); the damage done by a Union shell in the 1860's does not show; President Andrew Jackson, in uniform after the Battle of New Orleans, by Vanderlyn, student under the celebrated Gilbert Stuart; General Zachary Taylor, with spyglass in hand in Mexico, by Beard; John Caldwell Calhoun, eminent statesman, addressing the United States senate, by Healy; General William Moultrie, defender of Fort Moultrie against Sir Peter Parker's British fleet in 1776, by Fraser; Marquis de Lafayette, miniature, by Fraser, commemorating the Frenchman's visit in 1825; General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox," in Revolutionary uniform, by John Stolle (here the famous coonskin cap is replaced by a brigadier's hat, by order of William A. Courtenay, then Mayor); Queen Anne, of England, by Sir Godfrey Kneller, a fragment of the original cherished as a relic; Joel Roberts Poinsett, statesman, by Jarvis; William Campbell Preston, statesman, by Jarvis; General and Governor Wade Hampton, the hero of Reconstruction, by Prescott; General P. G. T. Beauregard, Confederate Chieftain, by Carter; General Thomas A. Huguenin, the last Confederate commander of Fort Sumter; statuary busts of James Louis Petigru, Robert Young Hayne, Christopher Gustavus Memminger, Robert Fulton, and others. An informing sketch of this gallery by Joseph C. Barbot, Clerk of Council, is recommended. In Colonial years the site of the City Hall was the town's market place. On it the United States Bank was housed about 1802 and this building became the City Hall. It is related that the money for the purchase came from the sale of the Exchange to the United States government. The interior has been rearranged.

THE OLD EXCHANGE, _East End of Broad Street_: From the standpoint of history, this building is incomparably the most interesting in South Carolina and one of the most interesting in America, the Rev. William Way, D.D., told the Rebecca Motte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, whose property it is by gift of the United States. When Charles Town was laid out in 1680 this site was the Court of Guards, the place of arms for the early colonists. Here were imprisoned Stede Bonnet and other pirates in 1718 when South Carolina was putting down piracy after its previous years of friendship and fraternizing. The Exchange and Custom House was built in 1767 at a cost of 44,016 pounds. Most of the material was brought from England in sailing vessels. The date of completion was 1771. Taxed tea from England was stored in the Exchange in 1774 and citizens prevented its sale. A second cargo, arriving November 3, 1774, was dumped by merchants of Charlestown into the Cooper River. In July, 1774, delegates to the Provincial Congress gathered in this building and set up the first independent government established in America; the congress also elected delegates to the General Congress meeting in Philadelphia. Patriotic men and women of Charlestown were incarcerated in the Exchange by the British during the Revolution; it was from the Exchange that the martyr Colonel Isaac Hayne was led to his execution in 1781. President George Washington was entertained in the building, Charles Fraser writing in his _Reminiscences_: "Amidst every recollection that I have of that most imposing occasion, the most prominent is the person of that great man as he stood upon the steps of the Exchange uncovered, amidst the enthusiastic acclamation of the citizens." Saturday, May 7, 1791, General Washington was guest of honor at a "sumptuous entertainment" given by the merchants of Charleston in the Exchange. During the War of 1812 patriotic meetings were held in the Exchange. In 1818 the city of Charleston sold the Exchange to the United States government for the sum of $60,000 and a week later the city government paid the sum of $60,000 for the building of the United States Bank, to be converted into the City Hall. The following year President James Monroe was in the Exchange. The federal government used the building for a customhouse and post office, the customhouse transferring to its own building after the War for Southern Independence and the post office to its present home in 1896. In the earthquake of 1886, the cupola designed by the artist Fraser was so badly damaged that it was removed. For years the building has been headquarters for the Sixth lighthouse district; these offices continue in it although the government has presented the historic building to the Daughters of the American Revolution in and of the State of South Carolina as an historical memorial, to be occupied by the Rebecca Motte Chapter; this was effective in March of 1913. When the United States entered the World War the Exchange by unanimous vote of the D.A.R. was tendered the Federal government which it used to the end of the conflict. On the centennial of George Washington's death a handsome bronze tablet on the west side of the Exchange was unveiled. There is no question that this ante-Revolutionary building is one of Charleston's greatest landmarks.

SITE OF INSTITUTE HALL, _134 Meeting Street_: South Carolina declared itself free and independent, seceding from the United States, December 20, 1860. This bold act was taken in the hall of the South Carolina Institute. The _Ordinance of Secession_ had been adopted in the hall of the St. Andrew's Society, 118 Broad Street, but the delegates came to the Institute Hall because of its greater capacity; the wish was to accommodate as many as possible of the thousands who hoped to see the ordinance signed. With the great hall crowded to suffocation, after all the signatures had been affixed, President Jamison advanced to the front of the rostrum and announced, that South Carolina was an independent sovereignty, free of the United States. And the War for Southern Independence was nascent. In this hall several months before had been held the famous Democratic National Convention that adjourned without decision with respect to candidates for President and Vice President. On the site are published _The News and Courier_, one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States, founded in 1803, with its roots going back to 1786, and the _Charleston Evening Post_. They carry on the traditions of the South.