South Carolina is one of the thirteen original colonies. In 1670 a permanent English settlement was established on the coast near present-day Charleston. During the 1700s, French and British settlers used a slave workforce to establish rice and indigo plantations, which over time extended to cotton and other agricultural crops. In these early days of slavery, Barbados served as a major port for England’s trans-Atlantic slave trade.
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, Charleston became a major hub of both the transatlantic and interstate slave trades. During the early eighteenth century, Charleston started to receive large numbers of enslaved people directly from Africa. Wikipedia tells me that ‘by 1710, African arrivals to Charles Town were typically fewer than 300 annually; by 1720, there were more than 1,000, and by 1770, over 3,000′.
On 1 January 1808, the United States passed the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, which ended the legal importation of enslaved Africans into the country. This ban ended the country’s participation in the International Slave Trade, leading to the creation of a domestic slave trading system. Charleston became one of the major enslaved collecting and selling centres. By the time of the American Revolution, South Carolina was one of the richest colonies in America.
South Carolina was one of the original 11 Confederate States (along with Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina) that opposed the creation of the United States, primarily over the issue of Slavery.
After the war it ratified the US Constitution on May 23, 1788, becoming the eighth state to enter the union. Slavery was eventually abolished 6 months later when the 13th Amendment was ratified. Today South Carolina is the 40th-largest and 23rd-most populous US state with a recorded population of a bit over 5 million.
Boone Hall Plantation is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of America’s oldest plantations still in operation (dating back to 1681). The plantation is 738 acres that have been continually producing crops for over 320 years.
The main dwelling (a historic Colonial Revival-style joint) was built in 1936, with the most significant feature being the entrance (an allée of southern live oak trees), believed to have been planted in 1743.[
Our entrance into Charleston was short and sweet and probably not entirely indicative of what the place is normally like.
We were here just before Christmas so the place was icy cold and full of artisan Christmas markets. We wandered past surf shops (while freezing our butts off) the locals swore that it was usually warm.
The key to Charleston is its history – it is home to the first public college, museum, and playhouse in the United States. It was also a one-time centre of culture, the buildings are old and attractive, the streets are clean and safe and the place has a really nice feel about it. And the weed intake was about 2% of every other US city we have been in.
Charleston has hung its hat on historical significance, with horse and carriage rides around the streets still commonplace. This gets added to by a plethora of haunted history tours. I guess with such a history of slavery and atrocities, there are bound to be stories of the unexplained that happen.
The Angel Oak is one of Charleston’s top tourist attractions. Estimated to be between 500 and 1,500 years old it is one of the oldest living things. But by night it gets on the haunted bandwagon with reports of glowing lights and fiery apparitions of faces that can look part human, part goat or boar.
The place is pretty much flat so wandering about is simple and there are any number of historic walking tours on offer. We wandered inland from the port passing the various churches and Cathedrals along the way, through the historic streets until we found ourselves in the university district (characterised by the Frat and sorority houses – complete with Greek letters).
And all of this gets capped off with an accessible and attractive waterfront that is just a pleasant spot to walk around.
Charleston was a charming little town. I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to come here, but it did make for a really nice and pretty stop on our planned itinerary.