The Charleston Palmetto

A couple of years ago I started noticing the image of a Palmetto illustrated in quite a number of engravings of Charleston. I found it interesting, it was prominently displayed in a number of the engravings ...almost the most important character in the image. I can see from images where it stood and really am interested in where the iron railings have gone.


Here it is in a page from the Illustrated London News, dated February 2, 1861

“South Carolina, like the other States of America, has a well-known distinctive name, that of the “ Palmetto State,” a designation arising from the prolific growth of this species of fan palm in its marshy districts. The specimen represented in our engraving grows in the slave market of Charleston, within a stones throw of the Exchange and the Post Office. Thus a good deal of Southern life centers round it. An Iron railing preserves it in the midst of josling dealers, bidding eagerly for gangs of “ likely negros,” who's brawny arms seem just now more likely to be tasked in rasing defensive earthworks than in cultivating either cotton plantations or rice fields. ......”

The Palmetto State: This nickname refers to South Carolina's official State Tree, the Sabal Palmetto. The Palmetto is rooted in historical significance dating back to the Revolutionary War. On June 28, 1776, the British fleet's attack on Sullivan's Island was repulsed. The palmetto-log fort, under Colonel William Moultrie, withstood the barrage of British cannons until the fleet retreated. The Sabal Palmetto (Inodes Palmetto), commonly referred to as the Cabbage Palmetto, was added to the "National" flag of South Carolina, after it seceded from the Union in 1861. The Palmetto is South Carolina's official State Tree. It also appears on the South Carolina State Seal and in the salute to the flag of South Carolina written in 1950 by Mrs. John Raymond Carson and was adopted by the General Assembly in 1966: "I salute the flag of South Carolina and pledge to the Palmetto State love, loyalty and faith."

The image of the Seal of South Carolina was published in Ballou’s Pictorial Newspaper in Boston Saturday, June 21, 1858.

The text reads "The shield on the left displays the palmetto tree, with fasces* at its base, surrounded by the motto,“ Animis opibusque parati” ( prepared in heart and deed) The other shield has a female figure holding a bunch of flowers encircled by the motto, “ Dum Spiro spero” ( while I breath I hope) The supporters are a Continentaller in revolutionary uniform, a figure of Liberty, with the phrygian cap and laurel wreath. Above is a figure of flame blowing her trumpet. Conspicuous over the state arms is the far-famed palmetto tree. A military parade parade is delineated in the distance....”
Harpers Weekly Published in New York, Saturday, December 1, 1860
From the images the Palmetto must have been near the corner of Broad Street and East Bay on the North West corner in front of where the Wachovia Bank stands now.

*Fasces: from the Latin word fascis, meaning bundle. symbolize summary power and jurisdiction, and or “strength through unity” The traditional roman fascis consisted of a bundle of whit birch rods, tied together with a red leather ribbon into a cylinder.

Summertime, and the livin' is easy....

Hello, and welcome to my world. In the last couple of days the city has begun its transformation into summer. It is finally warm again a the humidity has begun to arrive... the salty smell of the pluff mud... and the thick odor of magnolia is in the air.... another Charleston summer.

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

But till that morning
There's a'nothing can harm you
With daddy and mamma standing by

Summertime,
And the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
And the cotton is high

Your daddy's rich
And your mamma's good lookin'
So hush little baby
Don't you cry

In the early 1920's, Du Bose Heyward wrote the book "Porgy" based on the comings and goings of the residents of 89 and 91 Church Street. The Building was commonly known at that time as Cabbage Row because of the cabbages grown in the court yard and sold on the doorstep. In Heyward's book the location of the building was changed to the waterfront and renamed the buildings as Catfish Row.

The Building has had a colorful history from being a tenement for many years, A much missed ladies dress shop, Porgy & Bess; and now the home for the last 7 years to Carolina Antique Maps & Prints at 91 Church. I moved the Print Shop from King Street in 2001. Next Door at 89 Church are Martine and Emilie Dulles of Dulles Designs
specialist dealers in fine stationery and gifts.

In the Book "Porgy", Heyward writes of Catfish Row:
" Catfish Row, in which Porgy lived, was not a row at all, but a great brick structure that lifted its three stories about the three sides of the court..... and pierced in its center by a wide entrance way. Over the entrance there still remained a massive grill of Italian wrought iron, a battered capital of marble surmounted each of the lofty gate-posts. The court itself was paved with large flag-stones, which even beneath the accumulated grime of a century, glimmered with faint and varying pastel shades in direct sunlight. The south wall, which was always in shadow, was lichened from pavement to rotting gutter;and opposite, the northern face, unbroken except by rows of small-paned windows, showed every color through its flaking stucco, and, in summer, a steady blaze of scarlet from rows of geraniums that bloomed in old vegetable tins upon every window sill.
Within the high-ceilinged rooms, with their battered colonial mantels and broken decorations of Adam designs in plaster, governors had come and gone, and ambassadors of kings had schemed and danced....