Queens of the American South

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

Rural American prides itself on its energy and its vigor. It sees the cities as effete places where man is dependent on machine. Yet people drive everywhere in the country and walk all the time in the city. The paradox is that the best walks in America are, to some, not the Appalachian Trails or hikes in the high country but strolls through quaint and lovely cities.

And the best seem to be in the gracious South especially if you walk when magnolias bloom and perfume sweetens the air. But some cities delight at any time. It's as if their location, their history and their houses have been created by some indulgent and benevolent institution just for visitors to enjoy their ... majesty. Such is true of all Queens of the South - and of two in particular.

Charleston, South Carolina 

The story of Charleston is the story of America. It's the story of people building in a wilderness creating a culture far advanced of its neighbors and standing strong when challenged. And sometimes being too proud to change when change seemed inevitable. Yet it's this absence of change that makes Charleston so delightful. Its tribute to the 18th century is, however, not the result of pride but poverty. This city that heard those first shots at Fort Sumter may have perceived the Civil War at its start as an elegant exercise in principle. But it saw itself at the end of the war far from elegant. Indeed it was beggared, overwhelmed, destitute. Unlike other cities which were able to rebuild the war's damage and in so doing embrace the Victorian style of architecture that was becoming popular, Charleston had to struggle through the last part of the 19th century with what it had.

Only in the last twenty years has the city realized what that was -- more pre-revolutionary architecture per square mile than any other city in the United States. A visit to Charleston, is therefore not just a visit to any old city but a walk through history and the authentic America of our beginnings.

In the middle of the 17th century life was hard in colonial America. It was harder in England for those who supported the crown after Charles I was beheaded in 1649. When the monarchy was restored and Charles II gained his throne he rewarded eight noblemen who'd had the courage to support him at a time when royalty wasn't popular.

To those eight he gave the strip of America that lay between the 31st and 36th parallels. It extended westward to the Pacific Ocean but on the east coast the royal grant encompassed what is now North and South Carolina and Georgia. The eight Lords Proprietor established their base in 1670 on that peninsula separated by two rivers, later to be described by 20th century Charlestonians as "where the Ashley and the Cooper rivers converge to form the Atlantic Ocean."

From its very start, Charles Town prospered. Its oldest buildings are a tribute to those nationalities who first cleared this virgin cypress swampland and laid out a city. Initially it was the English and Welsh and Irish and, of course, the Scots -- Charleston, indeed, boasts the oldest St. Andrews Society in America, in consecutive use since 1739. Then came Huguenots fleeing from Catholic persecution in France, and Lutherans from the religious wars in Germany, and with them came Dutch and Jewish settlers.

Charles Town could truly claim to be a holy city where all who lived there were free from political or religious harassment. "Unless they were Catholic or Spanish," says walled city guide Nancy Lynah with a wry smile. "But of course all colonies had their specific rules from the onset," she continues. "Later, Savannah would decree: 'No lawyers and no rum!'

Ms. Lynah was explaining to a group of tourists how the citizens reduced their taxes by cutting down the street frontage of their homes. The single houses were constructed one room broad and two rooms deep, with the piazza, veranda, on the southwest side to catch the prevailing breeze. The houses went up quickly in this affluent colony. The prosperity of the city in its early days lay in the great crops it grew on its plantations: rice, indigo and cotton. It grew the first indigo in America in 1690, a dye crop so valuable money invested could be tripled in two years. It exported the first American cotton to England in 1748 to increase further the substance of its citizens.

This enormous wealth gave birth to an impressive number of firsts in our nation. Charleston has America's oldest gardens, municipal college, museum, and chamber of commerce. It organized the first fire insurance company in America (bankrupted four years later in the great fire of 1740) and the first golf club in 1786. It has America's first apartment house, department store and drug store. Here were made the first book jackets in America and here huffed and puffed the first railroad. Charleston not only has America's oldest Bible Society but also its oldest music hall.

"That's still not enough for us," said Ms. Lynah. "To doctors we'll even brag we were the first city in America and perhaps in the world to require pasteurization of all milk sold within city limits." Though today's city limits have inevitably extended, there was a time once when everything lay behind walls that guarded against attacks by Indian and pirate.

There is much to see in the old walled city. You can walk, drive your own car or charter a walled city guide to drive you around. Start at the Visitor Information Center on 85 Calhoun Street where not only is there free parking but a very helpful 38 minute slide presentation, "The Charleston Adventure" showing continuously to orient visitors.

Many tours are available. If you decide to do it on your own, notice the earthquake rods rammed through the old houses, and the fascinating gates protecting many gardens. Some gates have the symbol of the pineapple for hospitality; one has the authority of twin swords to give an opposite effect -- it is a duplicate of an old guard house. Don't miss the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon restored at a cost of $2 million, the Old Slave Market Museum and its tribute to the black African heritage, the Dock Street Theatre reconstructed on the site of America's first playhouse, or the mother church of Southern Baptists and the oldest synagogue in the United States in continuous use.

Amongst the houses, don't miss Battery Street, and the beautiful homes maintained by the Historic Charleston Foundation. Special events include the Festival of Houses in early spring and the Spoleto Festival in late May.

Savannah, Georgia 

Although Savannah lies only a short distance to the south, it has quite a different flavor. More wealthy than Charleston, it was able to rebuild after a great fire in 1796 that destroyed two-thirds of the city, and build again after the ravages of the Civil War. Savannah is younger than Charleston. Its squares and streets were laid out in 1733 in obvious military precision by General James Oglethorpe and his assistant, Col. William Bull. There were 24 squares in the original plan, and no tourist wandering in Savannah can fail to notice how each one is different yet adds to the total effect the city has on the traveler.

Anita Raskin, a Savannah writer, described the city parks as "jewel-like." She said," Savannah is a lady, a gracious thoughtful gentlewoman who keeps her treasures polished for the pleasure of her guests."

The city is easy on pedestrians because the streets run in North and South, East and West grids. No one could ever get lost. Again, a good start to a tour is to visit the Visitors Center in Savannah on 301 West Broad Street. Open every day except Christmas day, it has ample free parking and like its counterpart in Charleston gives a slide presentation which not only orientates the visitor but has the photography buffs in the audience gasping with pleasure. The best seller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil has had, even now, an extraordinary impact on city tourism.

Though the visitors center has many free maps you may wish to buy a copy of Sojourn in Savannah because its walks lead the tourist so gently yet so informatively through this city so beloved by songwriter, Johnny Mercer and hymn writer John Wesley. Here first saw the light of day, the Girls’ Scouts of America, America's first orphanage, the country’s first black Baptist congregation and the nation’s first golf course. All there for walking.

One walk, for example, Bull Street starts to the south on Forsyth Place, a ten-acre park where the cast iron fountain is a replica of one at London's Crystal Palace. The street runs north past the square memorializing the capture of Monterey, Mexico and past Madison Square, which though named for President James Madison actually commemorates Sgt.William Jasper, the hero of the Siege of Savannah in 1776.

Continue north past Chippewa Square but notice the magnificent bronze of Ogelthorpe designed by Daniel Chester French. The next square, though named for Sir James Wright the last of the Royal Governors of Georgia, has an enormous granite boulder from Stone Mountain at its corner as a tribute to a former chief of the Yamacraw Indians.

The most northern square on Bull Street is the most interesting. Johnson Square, the first of the 24 original squares, was laid out in 1733. Here the colonists came to draw water, to read the time on the sundial, and to hear gossip or public proclamations. Its monument marks the last resting place of Revolutionary War hero, Nathanael Greene.

It takes one or two hours to walk Bull Street, and though there are many other streets and squares to visit, you are now so close to the river, you'll want to visit the historic waterfront "Where all of Georgia began." An example of a $7 million urban renewal project that went well, the area completed in 1977, includes three museums, four hotels, and 20 restaurants.

But if you want a lunch that's different, go back down Bull Street to 107 West Jones Street where Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House offers home-style meals. The restaurant was so popular the proprietress, "the Julia Child of the South," didn’t bother to place a sign outside her business. Asked once her recipe for success she replied: "Practice and imagination. I always imagine it's going to come out alright." This famous local lady died in 2002 at the age of 95 but her restaurant continues to receive accolades for “a Southern feast for $15.”

Special events in Savannah include Oktoberfest, an Arts Festival and a tour of homes and gardens in spring; and, surprisingly, a St. Patrick's Day Parade in March. St. Patrick's Day? Said Jenny Stacy longtime city booster, "We have the largest percentage of Catholic population next to Chicago. On St. Patrick's Day we offer the tourists green grits."