Charleston Time Machine

Longitude Lane is a short, narrow alley in urban Charleston that has captured the imagination of countless tourists and residents alike.  Measuring approximately 540 feet long and just over ten feet wide, Longitude Lane is parallel to and approximately 150 feet south of Tradd Street.  Like Tradd Street, it intersects with East Bay Street at a right angle.  It offers one of the most picturesque vie...

Adam Gordon was born around the year 1726, the fourth son of Alexander, second Duke of Gordon. A native of Scotland, Lord Adam entered the British military at an early age, and in 1763 he was promoted to colonel of the 66th Regiment of Foot, a position he held until 1775. I n the early 1760s he was stationed briefly in the West Indies. Before returning home, 38-year-old Lord Adam sailed to Florida...

Today we’re going to travel back in Lowcountry history to explore the genesis and legacy of a public holiday called “Carolina Day.”  Carolina Day is celebrated on the 28th of June every year, and that’s been the case since 1777.  The day commemorates an important battle that took place on Sullivan’s Island, an action that could rightfully be called the first significant American military victory i...

Today we’re going to travel back in Lowcountry history to explore the roots of a site in urban Charleston called Vendue Range.  Almost everybody who’s been to Charleston in the past twenty-odd years has probably visited Vendue Range, but the small site may not have made much of an impression besides serving as the path to the popular splash fountain in Waterfront Park.  Most visitors are a bit con...

In our last episode, we talked about history of the Charleston park called Marion Square from the early 1700s through the American Civil War, so let’s resume the narrative with the Confederate evacuation of Charleston in February of 1865.

Today we’re going to explore the history of a specific piece of property in urban Charleston called Marion Square. I’m sure most of you know the piece of land I’m talking about, but in case you’re new to the Lowcountry, we’ll begin with the basics.

Today we’re going to travel back in Lowcountry history to explore the life story of a man who lived in the Charleston area in the eighteenth century and today is remembered by very few people. I’m talking about a man named Thomas Grimball, who was born in rural South Carolina in 1744 and died in Charleston in 1783. Never heard of him? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

I’ve been collecting information about the history of bicycles in our community for several years now, and almost all of the information I’ve gathered comes from old Charleston newspapers. At first I wasn’t even looking for information about this topic. I was actually browsing through some post-Civil-War newspapers a few years back, looking for facts to use in a program about Civil Rights history,...

If you want to understand the expansion of South Carolina in the first half of the eighteenth century, or if you simply want to learn about the roots of our state’s German population, you need to hear this story, so stick around.

In the past two episodes we’ve focused on the “normal” legal parameters that shaped the lives of women in early South Carolina, but the legal rights and “disabilities” of enslaved women, free women of color, and Native American women in early South Carolina were not quite the same as those of their free white counterparts.

In our last episode, we began to survey the rights and “disabilities” (to use an old legal term) that framed the lives of women in the first century of South Carolina. In this episode we consider the antiquated options for marriage dissolution and explore the precarious legal existence of widows, with examples from the lives of real women to illustrate our points.

This week we’re traveling back in Lowcountry history to talk about women. Every March we celebrate women’s history month, and in the past I’ve presented some programs on various aspects of this topic around the community. Rather than profiling the lives of famous South Carolina women, or talking about famous events in local women’s history, I’ve taken a different tack and tried to focus on the big...

Today we’re going to travel back in Lowcountry history in search of something to drink. Time travel can make a body thirsty, you know. Let’s imagine that we’re traveling back to colonial South Carolina, that is, sometime between the arrival of the first European settlers here in 1670 to the 1770s, the era of the American Revolution.

We’ve followed the adventures of John Laurens from his childhood in Charleston to the America siege of British-held Yorktown, and now we conclude this dramatic story by tracing the last ten months of his tragically short life.

This week we continue our narrative adventure through the life of John Laurens (1754–1782), with comparisons to his portrayal in the hit musical, Hamilton.

Over the past several months I’ve spoken with a number of people around Charleston, fans of the hit musical, Hamilton, who asked me what I thought of the portrayal of John Laurens in the musical—was it accurate, was it fair, and wasn’t it just so cool?

The cultivation of rice in early South Carolina had a tremendous impact on the development of Lowcountry culture and history. It inspired the forced migration of thousands of people from West Africa, created a wealthy elite, and dominated the economy and culture of our state for many generations. In an effort to raise awareness about the local story of this humble grain, I’ve assembled a list of w...

November 2016 marked the 250th anniversary of the first concerts of the most significant musical organization in the early history of the United States—Charleston’s St. Cecilia Society. In this episode, we’ll take quick tour of the society’s history, from its origins in 1766, through the Revolution and the War of 1812, to its final concerts in 1820.

Rather than following one large topic from beginning to end, this episode offers a bowl of Charleston alphabet soup—an A-to-Z feast of 25 short biographies profiling (mostly) obscure Charlestonians, each of whom would make a great subject for your next historical novel, screenplay, or school report.  Bon appetit!

Here’s the conclusion of our overview of notable hurricanes in the history of Lowcountry South Carolina, from the dramatic storm of 1804 to the mild passing of Matthew of 2016. Learning about these old tropical twisters will help you get in the grove for the next hurricane season, which is always just around the corner.

Hurricanes are an inescapable part of living in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, and our community has weathered quite a few storms over the past three centuries.  Join me for a look back at the most memorable and significant hurricanes to hit the shores of Charleston, from the Spanish-thwarting storm of 1686 to the battery-breaking cyclone of 1804.

Benne (or sesame) seeds are a staple ingredient of many Lowcountry dishes and desserts, but when and from where did it come to Charleston? In this episode, we’ll explore the earliest descriptions of benne cultivation and use here, and the colonial-era traditions we continue to enjoy today. South Carolina was once mad about benne, but it wasn’t just the taste that made it so important to our econom...

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my first podcast: a digital audio version of my recent “Invasion of 1706” radio program. You can listen to the program here on the Charleston Time Machine whenever you like, and soon you’ll be able to subscribe to my podcast feed through iTunes and other podcatching services.