Category: Photos - Glimpses of Charleston

I Believe It!

Some brilliant blue Charleston skies over the “Four Corners of Law.” Did you know that Robert Ripley of Ripley’s Believe It or Not coined that phrase in the 1930’s? Cool.

This Tradd Street jasmine-capped gate leads to the entrance of the c. 1736 Hext Tenement on the right. You will have squeeze down the walkway, as the Col. George Chicken House (c. 1731) is a very close neighbor.

It’s Broad By Any Other Name

These handsome buildings are on Broad Street. Broad was one of the grandest, widest streets in colonial America. Originally named “Cooper Street,” the name was changed because the citizens wanted to brag a little. Apparently, size matters.

1765 With A View

This handsome house on Tradd Street was built around 1765. Back then it had a very different view — both of “Councellair’s Creek,” which is long gone, and the marshes of the Ashley River.

Porgy’s House, Sorta

This handsome entrance is for the house at 78 Church Street. Originally a separate house from 76 Church, they have been combined into a single residence now. Significant in that combination is that 76 Church is where Dubose Heyward wrote Porgy — which was later turned in the opera Porgy and Bess.

Communications Clash

While it wasn’t used to communicate with satellites, the tower of St. Philip’s Church was part of another form of communication system from 1893 until 1915. The steeple held the rear light in the Fort Sumter Range Lights — which were used to guide ships through main channel of Charleston Harbor. The front light was at Fort Sumter and the rear light was in the church tower. The system is still in operation today, with the rear light now situated in a tower built for that purpose in the harbor.

Pointillist Charleston

Being on the walkway in the back of Joe Riley, Jr. Waterfront Park is is a bit like being in a pointillist painting, or somewhere in France. Waterfront Park, one of the jewels of Charleston, is named after the long time mayor of Charleston (he served 10 terms — 40 years!) who conceived of the park and fought until it became a reality.

The Pink House

“The Pink House” on Chalmers Street is one of the oldest houses in Charleston and one of the oldest structures in South Carolina. Built some time before 1712 out of pinkish Bermuda stone, it got its name from the stone’s pinkish hue, not the color of its paint.

Little Pink House

This little pink house, c. 1750, set back from Tradd Street is certainly eye-catching, but did you know the potted flowers and plants aren’t real? Shhhhh….

2 Into 1

You can find this pretty compound on “Little” Lamboll Street. An open passage on the first floor clearly separated the original two tenement structures, but it now functions as a single family house.