Charleston Celebration

A century before Boston became been the birthplace of the American Revolution, Carolina Colony was the birthplace of entertainment and leisure activities in Colonial America. Building a civilized city in the uncultivated New World was hard work, but Southern settlers made sure to leave time for life’s lighter pursuits. Inspired by the court of Charles II, the Merry Monarch, settlers in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Charles Town opened the country’s first public library (Nov. 16, 1700); hosted Henrietta Dering Johnston, the first professional female artist in the colonies (1707-1729); performed the first opera in America at Shepeard’s Tavern (Feb. 18, 1735); founded the first golf club (1786); and many other firsts as the centuries passed. Every aspect of the port city elicited pleasure, from the architecture, to the magnificent parks and manicured gardens. Charleston’s remarkable landscaping was so widely known that in 1785, Louis XVI sent Andre’ Michaux (known as “the king’s botanist”) to America to catalog and collect plants and trees for the royal nurseries in France.

Throughout the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Great Depression, Charleston and other seaside towns along South Carolina’s coast were fertile ground for art, music, and opportunity. It’s no wonder the region has drawn famous characters for hundreds of years, from political leaders (George Washington; Thomas Heyward, Jr.; John C. Calhoun) to pirates (Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard), and the artists, writers, musicians, and architects who ushered in the Charleston Renaissance in the twentieth century.

Take a journey through Charleston’s past with a look at the talented people and inspiring events that shaped the city and surrounding region into a cultural mecca of art, music, dance, and design. Each chapter features an itinerary for a walking/driving tour to help readers appreciate the lesser-known side of Charleston’s entertaining past.