Part 6

THE SWORD GATES, _32 Legare Street_: Years and years ago, a famous school for girls was on this property under the principalship of Madame Talvande, survivor of the Domingo massacres. It is one of the most desirable residential properties in Charleston. It was built in 1776. Through the Sword Gates (1815-20), uncommonly fine examples of ornate and graceful iron work, one peeps into a beckoning garden, protected by high brick walls. The ballroom in the house is known as one of the most elegant in Charleston. There are really two houses, the older, of brick, on the north; the wooden building has broad piazzas on two sides, overlooking the large garden to the south and west. For years, after the Confederate War, Colonel Charles H. Simonton, United States Circuit Judge, distinguished Confederate officer, and his family lived here. Now it is the property of a granddaughter of President Abraham Lincoln, who owns also the old Magwood Gardens in St. Andrew's Parish on the Ashley River Road. Kinspeople of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln have long been resident in the Barnwell section of this State.

BETH ELOHIM SYNAGOGUE, _74 Hasell Street_: Charleston has had a Jewish congregation since 1750. The tabernacle of Beth Elohim was dedicated in March, 1843, and was among the first synagogues in which an organ was installed. To this congregation is attributed the Jewish Reform movement in the United States, which had its beginning in 1824. The Beth Elohim congregation had a tabernacle on this site just after the Revolution; it was destroyed in the fire of 1838. The incorporation of the congregation dates to 1781. The present tabernacle is a fine example of the Athenian style in architecture. Certain changes in the interior were made about 1880.

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, _26 George Street_: While this handsome and commodious building was completed in 1912, the association in Charleston was organized in 1854 and is one of the oldest. Its beginning was less than ten years after the Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London, England, June 6, 1844; the Charleston date was February, 1854. The Charleston association moved into its own building at 208 King Street in 1889 and there remained until it occupied the present building at 26 George Street. Clarence Olney Getty has been general secretary since 1917.

YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, _76 Society Street_: This Charleston branch of a great association had its beginning in 1903. Its first quarters were in an old residence at 21 George Street, the modern building coming with the growth of membership and the increase of community calls.

GRACE CHURCH, _100 Wentworth Street_: Its congregation founded in 1840, its corner stone laid in July, 1847, Grace Episcopal Church was consecrated November 9, 1848. The Reverend Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, D.D., was its rector from 1850 to his death in 1898, nearly a half century. The Reverend William Way, D.D., has been rector more than a quarter of a century. Grace has one of the largest and most prosperous Episcopalian congregations in the South.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, _126 Coming Street_: This is frequently called St. Paul's, Radcliffeboro, as its site was outside the town when the edifice was consecrated in March, 1816; the congregation was founded in 1811. Its first rector was the Reverend Dr. Percy, an Englishman, who in 1772 took charge of the Bethesda school near Savannah, established by George Whitefield. St. Paul's is a handsome building with Gothic tower and an impressive portico, with four Doric columns.

ST. PETER'S P.E. CHURCH, _Rutledge and Sumter Streets_: On this site of Christ Church is St. Peter's, so named from the old church at No. 8 Logan Street. Through arrangement of the two vestries, the new St. Peter's came into the old St. Peter's properties. The Logan Street church was burned in the fire of 1861. Its graveyard is maintained. Possibly it was on this site that Hessian soldiers were drilled during the Revolution, as Charles Fraser says they went through their military exercises in Logan Street.

CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF MERCY, _Legare and Queen Streets_: This large brick building is of quite recent construction, but the Sisters of Mercy have been in Charleston more than a hundred years. Misses Mary Joseph and Honora O'Gorman, their niece, Mary Teresa Barry, fourteen years and six months old, and Miss Mary Burke arrived in Charleston November 23, 1829, coming on the invitation of Bishop John M. England. The Misses O'Gorman were natives of Cork, living in Baltimore, Maryland. December 10 they accepted the habit of religion, with Sister Mary Joseph as superioress of the new Community. In a small house on Friend (now Legare) Street the Sisters established the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy in December, 1830. Two years later the Bishop established a seminary and appointed Sister Mary Martha (Miss Honora O'Gorman) to its supervision. The Orphanage, Queen and Logan Streets, was established in 1840, under the care of the Sisters. The St. Francis Xavier Infirmary, Ashley Avenue and Calhoun Street, dates to 1882; it began in the McHugh residence, Magazine Street. In 1870 the Sisters acquired the old Nathaniel Russell house, 51 Meeting Street, relinquishing it on the completion of the new Convent. From the Charleston Community of Sisters of Mercy have gone other communities into both Carolinas and Georgia. Nor yellow fever nor war nor earthquake has swerved these consecrated women. They were angels of mercy in the yellow fever epidemics of 1835 and 1852. They nursed friend and foe alike in the War for Southern Independence. Notwithstanding the alarm and excitement in the time of the earthquake (1886) they ministered calmly, sweetly, efficiently to the sick and the injured.

BISHOP ENGLAND HIGH SCHOOL, _203 Calhoun Street_: Long have the Catholics of Charleston had their parochial schools and the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy for girls. In 1914, in the pro-Cathedral, next to the Convent, Bishop Northrop established the Bishop England High School. Outgrowing these accommodations, it was transferred to the former home of the Cenacle Nuns in Calhoun Street, and on this site later the present large building was erected. Under the principalship of the Reverend Joseph L. O'Brien, the school has acquired a shining progress.

BIRTHPLACE OF MASONRY, _Broad and Church Streets_: Charleston has the oldest lodge of Ancient Free Masons in this country. Chartered by the Grand Lodge in England in 1735, Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, was organized in October, 1736. Its communications were held above the old Shepheard's Tavern, northeast corner of Broad and Church Streets, now the home of the Citizens and Southern Bank, successor to the Germania Savings Bank. The site is of interest also in that here was instituted the mother council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry in May, 1801, the significance of which is recognized by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, its headquarters in Washington.

THE IZARD HOUSES, _110-114 Broad Street_: Some time before 1757 the Izard House in Charlestown was built. It remained in the Izard family a hundred years and since then has been in the possession of the family of Judge Mitchell King. Next door to the west, Ralph Izard, in 1827, began the erection of a house for his daughter, who sold it in 1829 to her brother-in-law, Colonel Thomas Pinckney. It was later acquired for the Bishop of Charleston. The Most Reverend Emmet Walsh, sixth Bishop of Charleston, has residence here. It is but three doors from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

JOHN RUTLEDGE'S HOUSE, _116 Broad Street_: The war in which the Cherokee Indians were humbled had not been decided when this house was built in Charlestown. It became the home of John Rutledge, known as the Dictator, second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President of the independent Republic of South Carolina as the Revolution was breaking, he was clothed by the Assembly in 1780-82 with dictatorial powers; he was then Governor. The house, built in 1760, was the residence of Robert Goodwyn Rhett, former Mayor of Charleston, former president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, chairman of the board of the People's State Bank of South Carolina. As guest of the Rhetts President William Howard Taft was entertained in this house.

CYPRESS GARDENS, _On the Coastal Highway_: Twenty-three miles north of Charleston, on the Coastal Highway (United States No. 52) Benjamin R. Kittredge has developed the Cypress Gardens. A cypress swamp, dark, mysterious, witching, has been shaped into an attraction of great power. To enjoy the Cypress Gardens to the full the visitor should use a boat. In their seasons the azaleas on this property are gorgeous, and in late spring the show of lotus is exquisite. Mr. Kittredge more than twenty years ago acquired the Dean Hall property, an old-time plantation on the Cooper River, from James Petigru Carson, grandson of the eminent lawyer and Unionist, James Louis Petigru.

CHARLESTON ORPHAN HOUSE, _160 Calhoun Street_: When the City of Charleston was incorporated in 1783, it was provided that poor orphan children should be cared for by the town. At first boys and girls were boarded in private homes and educated at Charleston's expense. In November, 1792, the corner stone of the orphanage on the present site was laid, and in October, 1794, it was occupied. At that time the roll of orphans numbered more than a hundred. In 1855, the building was greatly improved and enlarged. In the belfry is one of Charleston's fire-alarm bells and above the belfry the figure of Charity. Clergymen of Charleston take turns in officiating in the orphans' chapel, on the Vanderhorst Street side. Distinguished visitors to Charleston have inspected the Orphan House, among them Grover Cleveland when he was here, with Mrs. Cleveland, in 1888. The Charleston Orphan House is one of the oldest in the country. Generous gifts and legacies have greatly assisted the Board of Commissioners, the chairman of whom at this time is the Honorable John F. Ohlandt.

FIRST WHITE CHILD, _Born at East Bay and Tradd_: The site of the Tradd home is at the northwest corner of East Bay and Tradd Streets. Here was born the first white child of the colony, a boy, Robert Tradd. The Tradd family has perished in Charleston. It is perpetuated in the street so named.

JOHN EDWARDS' HOUSE, _15 Meeting Street_: John Edwards came from England and prospered as a merchant in Charlestown. In 1770 he built the fine mansion at what is now 15 Meeting Street. Edwards cast his lot with the patriots and contributed of his fortune to the cause of independence. "I would rather lose my all, than retain it subject to British authority," he is reported to have said. During the British occupation in the Revolution, this house was quarters for Admiral Arbuthnot (Sir Henry Clinton was in the Miles Brewton house, 27 King Street). When in 1793 the French fled from San Domingo, the illustrious Compte de Grasse was entertained in this house. (Members of his family are interred in old St. Mary's Churchyard, Charleston). The Edwards home is the property of the family of George W. Williams, banker.

GIBBES ART GALLERY, _131 Meeting Street_: "For the erection or purchase of a suitable building to be used as a hall or halls for the exhibition of painting and for necessary rooms for students in the fine arts," James S. Gibbes bequeathed about $125,000. The memorial building was erected on the site of the old Grand Opera House, opposite the site of the South Carolina Institute Hall in which the _Ordinance of Secession_ was signed December 20, 1860. It is under supervision of the Mayor and the Carolina Art Association, chartered in December, 1858.

HIBERNIAN HALL, _105 Meeting Street_: Says the bronze tablet at the gateway: "Founded March 17, 1801. Met in Corbett's Tavern until construction of this hall. Dedicated 1841. Long a center of civic life in disasters as in prosperity. Its presidents alternate Catholic and Protestant. Hibernian Society." Prominent among its founders was Judge Aedanus Burke, of whom many merry stories survive. Through many years the St. Cecilia Society gave its balls in this hall. At the St. Patrick's Day banquets of the Hibernian Society men of lustrous national and international reputation have spoken.

THE ENSTON HOME, _720 King Street_: "To make old age comfortable," William Enston, native of Canterbury, England, left his estate, after life tenures, for an institution for old and infirm persons. In 1882, in the life-time of the widow, arrangements for constructing the Enston Home were begun and in February, 1899, the memorial hall, a chapel and meeting place was formally dedicated. Cottages occupy about a half of the property. The Board of Trustees is watchful of the conditions warranting further growth. The Enston Home is an exemplary practical charity.

BETHEL METHODIST CHURCH, _Calhoun and Pitt Streets_: Elsewhere is reference made to the visits of John and Charles Wesley to Charleston in 1736 and 1737. John Wesley preached in St. Philip's Episcopal Church in 1737. It was in 1785 that Bishop Asbury and his associates came to Charleston. Bethel, one of the strongholds of Methodism in South Carolina, dates to 1850. The church building was dedicated in 1853. It stands on the site where Wesley once preached and the pulpit from which he preached is still in use. The Sunday school building was erected in 1912. The earlier Bethel, known as Old Bethel, moved from the site, is used by a negro congregation at 222 Calhoun Street.

ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, _20 Elizabeth Street_: For the convenience of Episcopalians in the northeastern section of Charleston, St. Luke's Church was founded in December, 1857. The corner stone of the present building was laid in 1859 and the church, though partly completed, used in February, 1862. During the War for Southern Independence Union soldiers sacked the building and a negro female school was held in it. In the fall of 1865 it was repossessed by the vestry. In 1880 the congregation of St. Stephen's chapel, Anson Street, united with St. Luke's. For a time after 1900 the church was closed, but reopened by a section of the congregation of St. Paul's.

YEAMANS HALL, _Club on Goose Creek_: On property taking its name from Sir John Yeamans, second Governor at Charles Town, is the Yeamans Hall Club, an exclusive organization, the members of which are mainly from the East. A number of the members have their own cottages on the property. Most of them are interested in hunting preserves in coastal South Carolina. The club property is not open to the public. It is on Goose Creek, some distance above its mouth. The late Walter Camp, in a letter said: "The combination of golf and other sports, with fishing, hunting and the close proximity of a large town for supplies renders the situation particularly attractive." Golfers of wide experience have pronounced the links at Yeamans Hall among the very best. It is appropriate as Charleston boasted a golf club late in the eighteenth century, on the Harleston Green.

UNITED STATES NAVY YARD, _on the Cooper River_: The development of this naval base and station grew out of a recommendation by a special board in 1901. Of particular interest to the visitor is the old frigate _Hartford_, flagship of Commodore Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay--"Damn the torpedoes; go ahead." For some years the cruiser _Olympia_, flagship of Commodore Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay, was a receiving ship at the Charleston yard, but it was recommissioned in the World War. The destroyer _Tillman_, the gunboat _Asheville_ and other naval craft have been built at this yard, which is equipped with a dry dock large enough to accommodate modern battleships, and with marine railways of considerable capacity. One of the navy's most powerful radio-telegraph stations is at the yard. Charleston's is the only navy yard on the Atlantic Coast south of Norfolk, of peculiar strategic value in relation to the Panama Canal. During the World War thousands of bluejackets were trained here, and the navy maintained a clothing factory with two thousand operatives.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, _Broad and Church Streets_: Having begun in 1773 the Charleston Chamber of Commerce is the oldest in the United States. With the removal of the Charleston Library to its building in King Street, the Chamber of Commerce acquired the building, formerly the home of the old South Carolina Bank.

THE COUNTRY CLUB, _on James Island_: On picturesque property on James Island, on one side washed by Wappoo Creek, the Charleston Country Club has a handsome and comfortable house and an excellent golf course. The club had its beginning in the Belvedere property on the Cooper River, northward of Magnolia Cemetery. Charleston, according to advertisements in the _Charleston City Gazette_ in the late 1790's, had the country's first golf club. The Country Club is accessible by yacht as well as by motor, as it is on the inland waterway. A mile from this club are the municipal links, near the Stono River bridge, open to the public.

CHARLESTON'S BANKS: Oldest banking house in the South, dating to 1834, the main office of the South Carolina National Bank is at the northeast corner of Broad and State Streets. The old Bank of Charleston was the parent of the banking system with offices in Columbia, Greenville, Sumter and other South Carolina towns.

The Carolina Savings Bank's main offices are at the southwest corner of Broad and East Bay Streets.

The Citizens and Southern Bank of South Carolina is in a new home at the northeast corner of Broad and Church Streets, site of the first Masonic lodge in this country.

The Miners and Merchants' Bank is at 23 Broad Street.

Branch Offices of the banks are at convenient places in King Street, the principal retail area.

THE FIRE OF 1861: This conflagration is given prominence because of the great number of important buildings that were destroyed. The Charleston City Year Book of 1880 says that this fire began in a large sash and blind factory near the foot of Hasell Street on the night of Wednesday, December 11, 1861. A gale blowing from the north-northeast the flames swept through the town to the then west end of Tradd Street, laying waste an area of 540 acres and inflicting property damage of about seven millions of dollars. The fire was not due to the war. Among the buildings burned were the Cumberland Methodist Church, the Circular Church, the building of the South Carolina Institute, the Charleston Theater, the building of the St. Andrew's Society, the Catholic Cathedral of St. Finbar and St. John, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, the Quaker Meeting House.

CHARLESTON'S BEACHES: Charleston is fortunate in possession of resort beaches which are easily accessible. Sullivan's Island, on which is old Fort Moultrie, has been a popular summering place for many many years. Beyond it is the Isle of Palms, with its nine-mile strand. A notable pavilion has been a feature since 1899. Both of these islands are reached by way of the Cooper River Bridge and the bridge over Cove Inlet, between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island. The latter and the Isle of Palms are separated by Breach Inlet, over which is a modern bridge. By way of the Ashley River Bridge, thence through James Island, is the route to Folly Beach, with its seven-mile strand. An entertainment pier was built in time for the season of 1931; this is over the water at high tide. To the east of Folly Beach is Morris Island where stands the Charleston Light, the first and only Colonial light south of the Delaware capes. To the west is the desirable Island of Kiawah, property of the late Major Arnoldus Vanderhorst.

PETIGRU'S GRAVE, _in St. Michael's Yard_: When Woodrow Wilson was attending the peace conference at Paris, a message came to Charleston that the president wished the inscription from the grave of James Louis Petigru in St. Michael's Churchyard. It was furnished at once by Joseph M. Poulnot, then postmaster at Charleston. Mr. Petigru was an eminent South Carolinian. Notwithstanding that he opposed Nullification and Secession he held the high opinion of the community, and commanded its respect. Mr. Petigru, through his mother, was a grandson of the French Protestant Pastor Jean Louis Gibert, who led French settlers to the Abbeville section in the late 1760's. The inscription on his tomb which is widely quoted says in part:

Future Times will hardly know How great a Life This simple stone commemorates; The tradition of his Eloquence, His Wisdom, and his Wit may fade: But he lived for Ends more durable than Fame. His learning illuminated the principles of Law: His Eloquence was the Protection of the Poor and Wronged. In the Admiration of his Peers: In the Respect of his People: In the Affection of his Family, His was the highest Place: The just Mead of his Kindness and Forbearance, His Dignity and his Simplicity, His brilliant Genius and his unwearied Industry. Unawed by Opinion, Unseduced by Flattery: Undismayed by Disaster, He confronted Life with antique Courage: And Death with Christian Hope: In the great Civil War He withstood his People for his Country: But his People did Homage to the Man Who held his Conscience higher than their Praise: And his Country Heaped her Honours upon the Grave of the Patriot, To whom, living, His own righteous self-Respect sufficed Alike for Motive and Reward.

Mr. Petigru's funeral took place March 10, 1863. To a Unionist who went with his people into Secession, highest honors were paid even while the forces of the United States were battering away at Charleston!