Springtime in Charleston Means Home and Garden Tours!

Springtime is a bit early , but right on time for the many opportunities coming up right now to visit fine homes and private gardens on tour with several organizations and churches this coming weekend!
The Garden Club of Charleston is holding their Annual House and Garden Tours this coming Friday and Saturday March 23 and 24th, from 2:00 to 5:00 each day. Each tour will provide the opportunity of visiting at least ten private historic homes and gardens in downtown Charleston. One great feature to this tour is that the ladies knock themselves out creating beautiful flower arrangements for each home.   Tickets can be purchased, if still available, at the Visitor's Center on Mary Street. Call 843 724 9349 for details and to confirm available tickets. This event sells out! For mor information , go to www.thegardenclubofcharleston.org
Also coming up on March 23 and 24 are famous long-time tours an hour to the north in Georgetown, where the Episcopal Church Women of Prince George Winyah Parish are offering their 65th Annual Plantation Tours.The list shows 10 plantations and townhouses each day! These tours are from 9:30 to 5:00 each day, and be sure to allot the whole day for the event.Histories and maps with the route are provided for this driving tour. Additionally, the Men of PGW will be hosting an old fashioned oyster roast Saturday at 6:00. Available tickets can be purchased at the Parish Hall either day using your personal check.. Call Mrs. Lisa Collins at 843 545 8291 or email toper4y@aol.com . For more information and to view the schedules, go to
 www.pgwinyah.org
And of course, the Historic Charleston Foundation kicks off their annual Festival of Houses and Gardens tomorrow, March 22 all the way through April  21, but more about that in the next posting!

Now remember, here at Charleston Old Walled City Walking Tours  we offer our very own Home and Garden Tour at 1:00 Wednesday through Sunday, so come seeus. After our tour, you will have a deeper appreciation for what you are looking at on these other tours---enhance your springtime  experience!  Al Ray

Some History on Chicora Park, aka the Officer's Housing Historic District at the Navy Yard.

.


Plat of Chicora Park, the design of Frederick Law Olmstead

The neighborhood where the Officer’s Quarters are located is  beautiful rolling high land unusual for the Lowcountry.  In 1895, the City of Charleston Board of Park Commissioners purchased nearly 600 acres of Retreat Plantation bordering the Cooper River some four miles north of the city and by 1896 designated the new development as Chicora Park. Established just east of the Inland Trail, the Trail itself was a vital route of commerce, carrying goods between the sea coast and the Midlands of South Carolina.   The famed Olmstead brothers, Frederick Law and James, were hired to design it, and the street plan for the Officer’s Housing was part of the initial design.  Frederick Law Olmstead was famous for designing fine parks and residential districts in garden settings. Among his accomplishments are Central Park in New York and the Riverside Avondale District in Jacksonville Florida. As the vision for Chicora expanded, the existing Turnbull Plantation was incorporated into the plan. In 1897 a rail line and a passenger station extended tracks from downtown Charleston  to Chicora Park. It was an ambitious project with salt water lagoons and landscaped gardens. A pavilion had been built and many Charlestonians took the trolley to the park to picnic and dance on summer evenings  There was a bandstand and a small zoo.  With the zoo in place, a caretakers cottage was built, and that structure  is today known as Quarters F. In 1899, more land was acquired for a golf course. Chicora Park was Charleston’s first urban planning effort as well as its first substantial experience with professional landscape architects.



Quarters F

In 1900, when the Federal Government was scouting the southeast for a site to expand a navy Yard, Port Royal near Beaufort was a top contender. The City of Charleston successfully lobbied for the new Base and On 12 August 1901, the Navy took possession of the property.  Captain Edwin Longnecker, representing the Navy, had arrived in Charleston from Washington the day before, accompanied by the government paymaster. On the afternoon of the twelfth, they took the trolley to the site and made a final inspection of the property.  Once this was done, a check in the amount of $34,307 was given to the city for 171 acres of Chicora Park and one for $50,000 to Mrs. Celia Lawton’s representative for 258 acres of the old Marshlands Plantation.  The City conveyed the 760 acres of marshland to the south to the Navy for one dollar.  The destiny of Chicora Park was forever changed. On April 8, 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt visited Charleston and stated that Charleston would be an ideal place for a naval base. Construction began shortly thereafter. Over the next decade, the United States Navy took possession of 1,575 acres along the west bank of the Cooper River, consuming the Park through its expansion. For the next 95 years the naval presence in the area defined the development of what we now know as North Charleston. 

Explore and Discover Charles Towne Landing

Mrs. Waring's Gardens at  Charles Towne Landing

   So  many great things to see and do in Charleston! Whenever I have families on my tour I always recommend Charles Towne Landing. The Museum is highly interactive and kids love it (me too!). The Adventure, a reproduction 18th century trading ketch,  is in port and the Animal Forest is always a favorite. I understand there is even a "behind the scenes tour" of the Animal Forest being offered.
Charles Towne Landing is a state park on the site of the original settlement in 1670. The early settlers knew that the Spaniards in St Augustine wouldn't be pleased with the interloping English. After all, they had claimed the area for nearly 200 years! For that reason, the infant colony was founded up the creek ---called Old Town Creek today---on a high bluff that commands a view of the Ashley River and Charleston Harbor in the distance.Even with the hostile Spanish in the neighborhood, immigrants kept coming, and by 1680 they had enough critical mass to feel confident about a relocation to the current site on the eastern peninsula atop a high bluff . This  relocation to deep water resulted in Charleston becoming a major port by 1700.
   For you Camellia fans Fernandina Waring planted literally hundreds of acres of fine old gardens with huge Camellia bushes . She planted many of the old early varieties and a lot of early spring varieties, so there is a good show from November into April..The Waring House is nestled in the gardens, and sits at the end of a fine Avenue of live oaks with flanking camellia gardens.For further information , go to www.charlestowne.org
Oh, and remember, (a plug here) that Charleston Old Walled City Walking Tours are always $4.00 off for tri-county residents and FB friends!

The trading schooner
 Adventure at Charles Towne Landing

Camellias in Full Bloom at Magnolia Gardens!

Sunday, some guests  on my Home and Garden Tour  told me that they went out to Magnolia Gardens and that the Camellias are in full bloom! Not surprising, the mild weather has made it so that our deep winter bloomers aren't being taken out by the cold. Camellias are thought to have been cultivated in China for at least 5,000 years. Camellia sinensis is the common tea plant.
Camellias first arrived in America as hothouse specimens in Philadelphia in the 1740s. In 1786, Andre Michaux, French botanist and Botanist to King Louis XVI, established a Botanical Garden north of Charleston approximately where the Airport is today, hence Michaux Parkway.  He gave to his friend and patron Henry Middleton four camellias to plant at the corners of his parterre garden, at least one if which still survives.
Tom Johnson, Director of Gardens at Magnolia, takes camellias seriously, and has been collecting heirloom specimens from endangered sites and placing them in a new section of the gardens.So, if you love camellias, or just want to see some flowers in deep winter (?) go visit Magnolia Gardens on one of these pretty days.

BTW, we all know that February is Black History Month. In that theme, this coming Saturday, February 11, Magnolia will feature a Black History Month Event, "From Slavery to Freedom" with more than a dozen separate events highlighting the roles and presence of African Americans in plantation culture. Admission to these events are included as part of the regular $15 admission. For further info, go to the website http://www.magnoliaplantation.com/whatsnew.html

A Beautiful Day Exploring Old Chicora Park

Saturday was an ideal afternoon for the Preservation Society’s  Oyster Roast Fundraiser. An excellent turnout, good oysters and beer benefited saving the Admiral’s Quarters at the old Navy Base. It was good to touch base with old friends and make new ones! It was held on the grand lawn in front of Quarters H, grand former Officers Quarters designed by James Olmstead, brother of Frederick Law. In the process of a remodel, Quarters H was open for touring.

 After we said our goodbyes and left the event, we explored the neighborhood. With beautiful rolling hills and swails, it is not typical Lowcountry landscape. You can feel the influence of Olmstead in the design.
We went by the Admiral’s Quarters, grand but decrepit; truly sad to see it looking so forlorn. But it was after that that we made our greatest discovery. On the way out, we visited another house, finely restored on the outside and used as a set for Army Wives. It is leased , along with two others next to it, by a local 501( c ) 3 non-profit  called South Carolina Strong.  

Their Mission Statement: 

"Our Mission is to rehabilitate criminals and substance abusers and to move people into economic self-sufficiency.SC STRONG is a residential community that is self-governed where residents learn and teach academic and vocational skills, interpersonal and social survival skills, along with the attitudes, values and self reliance necessary to live in the mainstream of society drug and crime free, successfully and legitimately."

 A great bootstrap operation! Consider that many of these guys have felony convictions and, right or wrong, many employers just won’t hire someone with a felony conviction. It is the policy of many corporate and government  entities that people with felonies are forever tainted goods. These rehabilitated  drug and alcohol addicts live in the other two houses and have created  a number of businesses that they own and operate. Prosperity and Security go a long way toward sobriety and clean living, so kudos to them! The house that we toured with them is being meticulously restored as their catering and venue center. With at least five thousand grand square feet, it is sure to be a success! Check out their website at http://www.southcarolinastrong.org/

Things to do in Charleston? Well, here you are!

Just placed this ad at www.things-to-do-in-charleston.com . Great info on things to do and current events etc. A good community resource. Check it out!

Charleston Old Walled City Walking Tours

www.things-to-do-in-charleston.com

The Old Walled City Tour - Hear all about it!

There are numerous  walking tours in Charleston. Today I highlight what differentiates my Charleston Old Walled city Tour from the others. First of all, I have been a student of Charleston and American History my entire life. I relate events in Charleston to the national scene of the time to provide context that interests visitors from all over. Having done tours for so long, I incorporate elements from all my tours to raise the interest of my guests. With kids in the group, we talk pirates, Founding Fathers, maybe even a ghost story. With Canadians, not so much national history but more culture, gardens and architecture.

The 10 AM Old Walled City Tour is my freestyle tour. We discuss topics and visit sites  of particular interest to my guests. Typically I survey my group to get an idea which direction to go. I start the tour at Cumberland and Meeting Streets, the site of the Colleton Bastion, which  was the northwest corner of the oldest section of town.  Charleston was the only English walled city in North America, the wall substantially in place by 1712. We tour  the oldest neighborhoods in Charleston, strolling past virtually intact blocks of pre- and post colonial homes, storefronts, churches and public buildings. All the while I relate the rich tales and legends from Charleston’s proud and turbulent past. Hear about the personalities and circumstances that turned a small pioneer settlement in 1670 into the greatest city in the South by the time of the American Revolution, and the seat of Southern Culture through the Antebellum period. I always engage my groups, (questions encouraged!) and your input develops the theme for the day. We generally end on High Battery at the waterfront and I will direct you back up the streets we haven't seen so you can  discover Charleston on your own. So beautiful! Although this old Charleston  tour takes 2 hours to walk a mile and a quarter, you can stroll back to 151 Meeting Street (the starting point) in 20 minutes! Locals, remember that the price is always $16.00 for residents of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties. Come see me!----Al Ray