Charleston Time Machine

I’d like to introduce Abraham the Unstoppable, the true adventure story of an enslaved man of African descent who won his freedom during the Anglo-Cherokee War of 1759–61. First we’ll explore the background of that unfamiliar war and learn about the world in which Abraham lived, and then we’ll follow the train of events that launched this enslaved man on an epic journey towards freedom.

The 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in 1619 Virginia provides an opportunity for reflection. In today’s episode, we’ll situate this anniversary in a broader perspective and connect it to the history of Charleston’s own African arrivals. Facts and figures form a big part of this story, but language and thread-pulling are also important to the ongoing conversation about the Africanness of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Charleston was once a heavily heavily-fortified town, enclosed by defensive works that accumulated over successive eras of warfare with our enemy neighbors. The campaign to fortify Charleston commenced early in the town’s history, but precisely how early is unclear. Today we’ll focus on the earliest years and ask—how prepared were Charlestonians of the 1680s to defend their homes? The answer just might surprise you.

Ropemaker’s Lane is a place name in Charleston that evokes images of antique men twisting long fibers into useful objects. That scenario is accurate, but it represents one facet of the site’s long history. To gain a fuller picture of its development over the past three centuries, lets reach back to the town’s early days and meet the people who created the lane and inspired its present name.

The City of Charleston, in my opinion, needs an official nickname, and perhaps even an official symbol. There are a few contenders out there, ranging from cheeky epithets to marketing slogans, but I think there's only one real option. Rather than inventing something new, or adopting something with a murky historical pedigree, I propose that we embrace Charleston's original nickname, which endured for more than a century: "The Palmetto City."

Charleston’s history is filled with stories that have a bright side and a not-so-bright side, and both aspects deserve to be told. Consider, for example, the story of Eliza Akin’s 1842 bequest to the city, which was intended to establish an institution to shelter the abandoned newborns of Charleston. Despite Miss Akin’s best intentions, the official politics of discrimination succeeded in stunting her benevolent design and failing those most in need.

If you’ve ever wondered what Christmas was like on a Lowcountry plantation in Antebellum times, William Gilmore Simms has the answers. His 1852 novella, The Golden Christmas, is a sunny take of romance and comedy that floats carelessly above the thinly-veiled darkness of slavery. Today we’ll take a quick overview of its author, its storyline, and its fatal flaws, and then sample a bite-sized portion of this holiday story.

The mass execution of 49 pirates in Charleston in 1718 is described in historical documents with a frustrating paucity of details. Despite the drama and trauma associated with this event, an air of mystery still hangs over the precise location of the pirates’ last stand. Today we’ll look closely at the local historical evidence and examine the larger legal framework that dictated the demise of so many pirate brethren.

Over the course of five weeks in the autumn of 1718, Charleston witnessed 13 trials of 58 men accused of piracy. Clerks made a paper record of this entire courtroom spectacle, most of which was published in 1719, but few people have seen the text of this dramatic narrative. This episode contextualize this valuable historical record and provides a summary of the confusing sequence of trials.

This month marks the 300th anniversary of one of the dramatic episodes in the history of Charleston—the trial and execution of 49 pirates captured off the Carolina coast in 1718. In this episode, we’ll explore the background preceding these extraordinary trials and focus on the efforts of South Carolina mariners to capture two of the most notorious pirates, Stede Bonnet and Richard Worley, and bring them to justice in Charleston.