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Charleston, South Carolina is a place of firsts; the city grew from the first successful settlement in the Carolinas, it is home to America’s first theater building (the Dock Street Theatre which opened in 1736), the town gave the struggling new republic its first decisive victory of the Revolutionary War, the state was the first to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860, the first shots of the Civil War occurred in Charleston Harbor, the first death in the Civil War was at Fort Sumter (ironically from an accident during the Union surrender ceremony) and the first submarine to sink an enemy ship completed its mission here (the H.L. Hunley).

There are other superlatives about the area; in the settlement’s early years its main trade item was captured Indian slaves which the settlement exported, it was one of the wealthiest colonies at the time of the American Revolution, in 1788 South Carolina became the 8th state, between one third to 40% of all African slaves came to the U.S. through the Charleston Harbor, at the beginning of the Civil War Charleston was the fourth largest city in the country with the second largest harbor (after Philadelphia), and in 2005 the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge opened as the longest cable-stayed bridge in the Western hemisphere. All of these facts combine to create a proud, historic, and unique city.

There are things found in the Lowcountry (coastal plain) that aren’t found in other places. Take for instance the joggling board. It is similar to a bench but instead of being firm and sturdy it is bouncy and springy. The bench originated in Charleston in the early 1800s and was used quite often by lovers. They would perch at opposite ends and as they bounced up and down, each bounce would bring them closer to the middle (and each other). Also unique to the area is the Charleston Tea Plantation which is the only tea plantation in North America. We spent part of an afternoon at the plantation where we learned the history of tea, how it is made, and of course, tasted it. It was delicious! (Supposedly, this tea is served at the White House.)

Is the town of Charleston unique because it survived countless fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, a major earthquake, several wars, and finally, urban restructuring? Or was it already unique and that’s what helped it survive? I think this local saying gives some insight into the Charlestonian world view, “Charleston is located on a point of land where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers come together to form the Atlantic Ocean.”

For our visit we began at the beginning by visiting the original town site of Charles Towne (as it was known back then) which is now a state park. The first official settlers of the Province of Carolina landed on Ablemarle Point, a few miles up the Ashley River, in March of 1670. The province was named after English King Charles I and the first settlement was named after his son, King Charles II. In 1663, the young king granted the land to eight nobles who were loyal supporters, officially called the Lords Proprietors.

The area had been claimed by Spain as early as 1521 but Spain’s nearest official holding was St. Augustine, Florida, many miles to the south. King Charles II, the merry monarch, loved the arts and the ladies (he sired over 14 children, many of them illegitimate) but had a poor head for business. Not only did he give away a vast tract of valuable American coast to the Lords Proprietors he leased the very profitable Bombay Islands for practically nothing. A tidbit for you: Diana the deceased Princess of Wales had two of Charles II’s illegitimate sons in her ancestry, one of whom she shared with Camilla, Prince Charles’s second wife. Hey, it’s a small island…

The settlers were assisted in finding a suitable town site and other chores by the local Kiawah Indians, who were eager to have anyone but the Spanish living there. The settlers had stopped in Barbados to resupply their ships and while there they became enamored with the slave system. The only ship that survived the journey from Barbados carried a little over 100 people some of whom were slaves, most were indentured servants and a few were unencumbered. In 1680 the settlers vacated the small palisaded fort for a new location at Oyster Point (today’s downtown Charleston). The main benefit was a better harbor, and shipping soon became big business (as it still is today).

The Lords Proprietors viewed their province as a business venture and demanded profitable exports. The first profits were realized by the export of deer hides, captured Native Americans, and wooden barrels to the Barbados sugarcane plantations for rum and molasses. Later Sea Island Cotton, indigo, and rice were the big money makers for Charles Towne. The settlement imported African slaves who were familiar with rice cultivation to work the fields. Soon rice became the most valuable export which led people to refer to rice as “Carolina Gold.”

The province split into North and South Carolina in 1712 and soon after the English crown decided the Carolinas were too valuable to remain so loosely controlled. In 1729 both South and North Carolina were given royal colony status. The Carolinas welcomed the added protection after the years of harassment by pirates like Blackbeard and Bonnet. In the summer of 1718 Blackbeard (Edward Teach) and Bonnet (Stede Bonnet) blockaded Charleston Harbor, looting ships that attempted to enter or leave those waters.

South Carolina continued to prosper until the onset of the Revolutionary War. The War was going poorly for the Americans until the battle on Sullivan’s Island in late June of 1776. The hastily built fort of rubbery palmetto logs and sand manned by determined colonists withstood a major British onslaught that hindered the King’s army immensely. The victory was so important that the palmetto became part of the state flag and the state’s nickname, The Palmetto State. The simple fort was later rebuilt and named Fort Moultrie in honor of the head of that scrappy group of colonists. We’ll talk more about that fort later…

In 1783 the town officially changed its name to Charleston in an effort to distance itself from England. The 1700s ended and the 1800s began relatively peacefully. Charleston was one of the country’s most valuable ports, so in 1829 construction began on Fort Sumter.

Meanwhile, it was business as usual in the South, Charleston profited extraordinarily from the importation of slaves and the products of their labor. On December 20, 1860 South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union after decades of tension over the issue of slavery. As one native speaker, J.S. Preston said, “Slavery is our King – Slavery is our Truth – Slavery is our Divine Right.” With such a fervently held belief it seems fitting that the first shots of the Civil War were fired over Charleston Harbor in 1861.

I’ll back up a bit for you. When South Carolina seceded in December 1860 residents considered all properties in the state to be rightfully theirs. The Federal government, who had invested millions of dollars constructing various public buildings, maintained that those works still belonged to the government. In the Charleston area at the time was a small Union force led by Major Robert Anderson. President Buchanan sent orders to Anderson that he was to hold all five Federal Properties (Fort Moultrie, Fort Johnson, Fort Sumter, Castle Pinckney and the armory in downtown Charleston) at all costs. Major Anderson, who had a grand total of 85 men under him (13 of whom were in the band), knew he couldn’t hold all the properties so he selected the most defensible: Fort Sumter.

Fort Sumter with its 55’ tall walls was built on a man-made island near the entrance to the harbor. It was designed to withstand a water based attack by a foreign army, not a land based attack from behind. Although construction began in 1829, the Fort was still unmanned and few of the big guns were mounted when Anderson and his men rowed out to the fort under the cover of darkness the day after Christmas 1860. Anderson may have snuck out to the Fort, but he did not try to hide his location as he immediately ran up a huge 20’ by 30’ stars and stripes flag.

Charlestonians were outraged by Anderson’s bold move. They promptly occupied and began improving the defenses of the other three forts, Moultrie, Johnson and Castle Pinckney. While most historians agree that the first shots of the Civil War were fired at 4:30 am on April 12th of 1861, some argue that the Confederates’ first shots were actually fired in January. I am sticking with the April date since that was the first day that the Union forces fired back.

The first shots came from Fort Johnson, with Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney later adding to the volley. It wasn’t much of a battle, the Union forces were on starvation rations since they had long since stopped receiving supplies, they were low on ammunition, and severely outnumbered. A fire that threatened the powder magazine (Does this sound familiar? Sounds like it was a major design flaw.) led to Major Anderson’s decision to surrender after 34 hours.

The Confederates held the fort until 1865, withstanding a two year long siege and seven million pounds of ammunition. Charleston’s hard times after the War were exacerbated by a strong earthquake that caused major damage on August 31, 1886. The city sits on top of the Woodstock Fault and still receives minor tremors to this day.

After the War, Charleston embraced industrialization by opening its own textile mills and other manufacturing plants but its main focus is still the harbor. The Charleston Harbor is home to the second largest container seaport on the East Coast.

Tourism is a large part of the economy now and with all this history it is easy to see why. For those of you who are into the arts it is notable to mention that the DuBose Heyward book Porgy (which George Gershwin adapted into the opera Porgy and Bess) was based on a tenement in Charleston. The tenement still exists and a sign points out famous Cabbage Row (Catfish Row in the book and opera).

Charleston’s buildings span the centuries with 73 that pre-date the Revolutionary War, 136 from the 1700s and over 600 from the 1800s. Some are massive estates, like John C. Calhoun’s or the Heyward House where George Washington stayed during his visit in May of 1791. Yes, we have entered the land of “George Washington slept here” signs.

Others, which are my personal favorites, are called “single” or “double” houses. These can be two or three stories tall and quite long but as the name implies they are either one or two rooms wide. Some historians think the home builders were trying to reduce street front property taxes, others claim the homes were designed to maximize the cool breezes from the harbor. It might have been a little bit of both.

That may be what we liked most about Charleston. It is more than just a bunch of historic dates and events, it is still alive. The buildings aren’t just restored or preserved, they are lived in.

Photos: View our photographs from Charleston, South Carolina.

Notes: We stayed in Charleston, South Carolina from 05/06/2007 to 05/12/2007.