Charleston as a frontier town

State's most historic city grew from a town that was much rougher, much simpler

More than three centuries ago, Charles Towne had a few hundred structures from the Cooper River back toward what now is Coming Street.

Today, despite Charleston's reputation as one of America's best-preserved cities, they're all gone.

The city's oldest surviving buildings, such as the Pink House at 17 Chalmers St., date from the early 18th century. There's no proof anything still stands from the 17th century, the period that's the focus of a new book by local historians Susan Bates and Cheves Leland.

Their work — "Proprietary Records of South Carolina Volume Three" — examined and reproduced hundreds of the earliest property records from Carolina.

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Taken together, they make a point that most tourists don't hear, that most residents probably haven't thought much about: Before the oldest parts of Charleston became the historic city we know today, they were something quite different. Something rougher, simpler.

"We've painted a picture of Charleston in the colonial period that predates the glamor of the rice culture and plantations," Bates says. "This was a frontier town," Leland adds.

The streets were dirt, and property owners hadn't been required yet to spread oyster shells in front of their properties for sidewalks. The architecture likely was crude, small and made mostly of wood.

After all, the colonists had a strict deadline to build. When the Lords Proprietors granted someone a town lot, usually about half an acre, the grantee had to build something within a year or two, or the proprietors would take the lot back.

Bates and Leland not only transcribed many of the individual property records of the province's surveyor general, but they map them over time, providing a fresh look at how the town grew from its earliest days.

Leland says when she was in school, she was taught how Charles Towne began in 1670 as a settlement on the Ashley River (on what today is the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site) and then was moved to the peninsula in 1680.

"The two towns actually grew simultaneously, one on the point and one at the old town," she says. By 1680, there already were dozens of people living on what many then referred to as "Charles Towne on the Wando." (The Cooper River originally was known as Wando, while the river today known as the Wando was then called the "Etiwan.")

The records show that Charles Towne is no stranger to booming growth: The peninsular settlement of 1680 tripled in size a decade later and then doubled in size the decade after that.

Their study of Charles Towne's early settlement pattern underscores a reality about Lowcountry real estate that persists to this day: The most desirable lots are on the water.

The peninsular town grew inland and northward during the 17th century, a trend that continued through the following centuries.

But the book also includes lot histories, which could prove valuable for those researching properties north of Water Street, east of Legare Street and south of Market Street.

While the area on Church Street around the French Huguenot Church today is considered the city's French Quarter, the French originally settled along Broad Street just west of King. The records show they also had a burial ground on the east side of King, just south of Broad, none of which is visible today.

Sorting through all the records was a major task, partly because some lots were given the same numbers and were ordered chronologically rather than geographically. Also, the first streets were known not by their current names but by descriptions such as the "little street parallel to Cooper River that runneth by Henry Symond's House." That's what we call Church Street today.

This information isn't new: It's just that before their book, it could only be read by making a trip to Columbia and squinting at copies on microfilm.

Bates and Leland both hope that by their making these old records more accessible, they will help others unlock new secrets about the colony's start.

"You don't know what's going to turn up next," Leland says.

Coming up

The Custom Home + Remodel Show later this week will feature a gallery of custom homes that 12 Lowcountry architects selected to showcase good design. Admission to the show is $7, and it's open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Gaillard Auditorium.

Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His e-mail address is rbehre@postandcourier.com, and his mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403.