Dunes West was part of two proprietary grants that deeded 460 acres to Francis Gracia in 1699 and 620 acres to Thomas Carry in 1704. When the two properties were combined and sold to George Logan in 1708, there was already a sizable plantation with a house, outbuildings, barns, a stable, orchards, and gardens situated along the Wando River. During the early 18th century, the land was owned by a succession of families including the Chalmers, Peronneaus, and Vanderhorsts. William Hopton purchased the land in 1759, and it remained in his extended family until 1853. William Hopton was a successful Charleston merchant, served as Deputy Naval Officer for the colony, and was appointed public registrar in 1748. He named his new Wando plantation Starvegut Hall. Hopton managed his property from his principal residence on Meeting Street in Charleston. The land was known as Hopton throughout the 19th century and as Wando Plantation in the 20th century. William Hopton’s wife, Sarah Ward Clapp, was an avid gardener and corresponded with the famous botanist William Bartram. When Bartram visited Charleston in 1763, William Hopton invited him to visit his Wando plantation. Bartram wrote in his journal, “Set out with Mr. Hopton to his seat which he called starve gut hall on Wando river. He shewed me his rice ground and we walked in his salt swamps.” An interest in botany ran in the Hopton family. William Hopton’s grandson James Gregorie Jr. inherited the Wando lands in 1808. James moved permanently to his residence at Starvegut Hall in 1834 where he developed an ever-bearing strawberry. In 1996, archaeologists excavated the site of William Hopton’s Starvegut Hall. They found remnants of 10 buildings and thousands of artifacts associated with the everyday lives of the Hopton family, plantation overseer, and enslaved community.

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On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. One of the first units to be mustered into the service was the Third Regiment of South Carolina Militia, which was stationed at Haddrell’s Point, west of here, to aid in the defense of Charleston harbor. Their barracks stood within the present town limits of Mount Pleasant, and they were equipped with state funds. The 1812 monument in this cemetery originally marked a burial plot of the Third Regiment of State troops. The soldiers who were buried there apparently died from disease while stationed at Haddrell’s Point, nearby. Before the Civil War, the monument is said to have stood at the corner of Pitt and King Streets. It was moved to this Confederate cemetery for protection from vandalism.

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Indians living along the Wando River 1200 years ago made distinctive pottery using limestone and clay from the river banks. This type of pottery is found only in the Wando River Basin and is distinguished by the presence of limestone used to temper the clay during the firing process. Some pottery shards exhibit impressed and stamped designs.

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Venning’s Landing Battery was located at another ferry landing 1.37 miles northeast of Kinloch’s Landing Battery on the southeast shore of Mount Pleasant facing Sullivan’s Island. Like Kinloch’s Landing Battery, this battery was placed to protect a ferry landing, to serve as a rear defense for Sullivan’s Island, and to prevent light-draft boats from navigating through the inland waterway.

The battery was constructed for two gun positions and a small powder magazine. It was armed with two 24-pound guns on siege carriages.

The site of Venning’s Landing Battery was at the terminus of Venning Road on the marsh front at the rear of the Mount Pleasant Waterworks. The battery is destroyed.

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The keel for the aircraft carrier BonHomme Richard was laid down December 1, 1941, six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The vessel was renamed USS Yorktown (CV-10) in honor of the original carrier Yorktown (CV-5), the only U.S. carrier lost at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The CV-10 conducted numerous air strikes including the Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Formosa, and on the Japanese mainland. The ship’s crew numbered 380 officers, 3,088 enlisted personnel and 90 planes. Nicknamed “The Fighting Lady”, she received the Presidential Unit Citation and earned eleven battle stars for World War II service. She was placed in reserve from January 1947, until December 1952. Her deck was cantilevered in 1955 in order to accommodate newer aircraft. In 1957, the vessel was again overhauled and reclassified as an antisubmarine warfare (ASW) carrier and designated CVS-10. During deployment in the Pacific, she qualified for the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal on three occasions for her responses to the Communist Chinese shellings of Formosa, Quemoy, and Matsu. From 1965 until 1967, Yorktown’s main activity was in combat operations in Vietnam where she earned an additional five battle stars. In 1968, she recovered NASA’s Apollo 8 capsule from the Pacific Ocean. In the late 1960s, she conducted exercises in the Atlantic Ocean participating in the major fleet exercise Operation Peacekeeper. The carrier was featured in the 1970 Japanese-American produced film, Tora, Tora, Tora. Decommissioned that same year, she is now the honored main feature of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.

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The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is home to a remarkable American culture known today as Gullah/Geechee, which reaches back into the seventeenth century. This is a tradition that was first shaped by captive Africans brought to the southern United States from Central and West Africa who were forced to labor on plantations. They developed a new language with Caribbean, European, American, and African influences. Africans kept their traditions and over time reshaped those practices by incorporating elements of Southeastern culture. Geographic barriers along with a strong sense of family and community are factors that have helped to maintain Gulllah/Geechee culture. Mount Pleasant residents and visitors engage Gullah traditions on a daily basis through vivid cultural exchanges.

The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was created: To recognize the important contributions made to American culture and history by Africans and African Americans known as Gullah or Geechee who settled in the coastal counties of Florida (Duval and Nassau), Georgia (Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Glynn, Liberty and McIntosh), North Carolina (Brunswick and New Hanover) and South Carolina (Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, Georgetown, Horry, Jasper and parts of Berkeley and Dorchester); To assist Federal, State and local governments, grassroots organizations, and public and private entities in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina in interpreting the story of the Gullah/Geechee culture and preserving Gullah/Geechee folklore, arts, crafts, and music; and To aide in identifying and preserving sites, historical data, artifacts, and objects associated with the Gullah/Geechee culture for the benefit and education of the public.

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Thomas and Sabina Lynch were some of Mount Pleasant’s earliest and wealthiest residents. Their 18th century plantation house was located here in Rivertowne. The Lynch family story begins in 1677 when Jonack Lynch emigrated from Ireland to Charles Towne and was granted land on the Cooper River. He established Blessing Plantation and quickly amassed a fortune. He used his new wealth to expand his holdings and cement the family’s social standing among the planter elite. By 1715, Jonack’s son Thomas had acquired 1,170 acres of land on the east bank of the Wando River and additional property in Berkeley County and along the Santee River. Thomas built a "new dwelling house" called Brick House on his Wando property in 1713. Lynch served in the Commons House of Assembly and was a colonel in the Christ Church Parish militia. When Thomas died in 1738, he left his property to his wife Sabina Vanderhorst and their children. Thomas’s wife, Sabina, lived on the plantation until her death in 1741. Sabina was the last member of the Lynch family to reside on their Wando River property. Their son Thomas amassed his own fortune and resided at his principal home on Hopsewee Plantation near Georgetown. Thomas was a staunch patriot and was elected as a representative to the First Continental Congress. Sadly, he was struck down by a cerebral hemorrhage. His son, Thomas Lynch, Jr., signed the Declaration of Independence on behalf of his ailing father in 1776. In the 1990s, archaeologists located the foundation of Thomas Lynch’s Brick House and a small brick kiln used to make bricks for its construction. A variety of household artifacts were found including a silver needle case engraved with Sabina Lynch’s initials. The artifacts confirm that the house was built in the early 1700s. This may be the oldest house excavated in Mount Pleasant.

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Elias Whilden, planter and mayor (1857-1858), built his home c. 1840. Five sons fought for the Confederacy, including John Marshall Whilden. John was Captain of the Citadel cadets who fired on the steamer, The Star of the West. This action on January 9, 1861 prevented Union efforts from supplying the troops at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. It was the first shot of the Civil War.

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By 1872, several settlements which had developed along Charleston Harbor, were incorporated as the Town of Mount Pleasant. The earliest hamlet was Greenwich Village (1766), followed by the Hibben Ferry Tract (1770), Mount Pleasant Plantation (1808), Hilliardsville (1847), and Lucasville (1853). The Old Village was bounded by Shem Creek, Simmons Street, Cove Inlet and the Harbor.

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The Forever Chimney

This steam boiler chimney is a reminder of the brickmaking industry of the 1800s. Purchased by the Horlbeck family, this land was originally part of Boone Hall Plantation located two miles south of this site. The land mass surrounding this chimney once included an overseer’s house/ commissary, several workshops, drying areas, and kilns. Sand and red clay excavated from nearby Butterfly Lake, provided the perfect combination of materials. The clay and sand were excavated and molded into brick by enslaved workers and stacked to dry.

The steam boiler powered the mills and to mix the clay, sand, and water, and brickmaking machines in the 1830s. The 1850 Industrial Census reported that 50 male and 35 female slaves worked at the brickyard, producing approximately 4,000,000 bricks at a profit of approximately $28,000 a year. The brickyard continued operation and supplied bricks to the Lowcountry through the end of the nineteenth century. It remained an important landmark to the Horlbeck family after operations ceased. This is the only boiler chimney of its kind still standing in Mount Pleasant.

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In 1779, Andrew Hibben bought land on the south side of Shem Creek from Jacob Motte, which became known as the Ferry Tract. Until the opening of the Grace Memorial Bridge in August 1929, ferries connected Mount Pleasant to Charleston. Hibben’s Ferry operated until 1847, followed by others on Hog Island, Ferry Street, and Hort’s Grove. The Ferry Tract was bordered by Shem Creek and Hibben, Bennett, and Beach streets. From colonial days until the 1980s, small shipyards operated on Shem Creek. A bucket factory was also on the creek leading to the name Factory Street, now Live Oak Drive. Restaurants and shrimp boats line the creek, while private homes occupy the boatyard lands.

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On August 8, 1929, a grand three day celebration and parade opened the first bridge to span Charleston Harbor. Built as a private toll bridge in 17 months for $6 million, it was a major link between Maine and Florida. With its steep inclines, dip, and sharp mid-way curve, the bridge was like a giant rollercoaster. In 1943, it was named to honor former Charleston Mayor John P. Grace. The state purchased the bridge in 1945 and removed the tolls.

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General Robert E. Lee was sent to Charleston in early November 1861 to oversee the design and construction of defenses for the South Carolina coast and the cities of Charleston and Savannah. Lee and his engineers analyzed the multiple possible attack points on Charleston and determined that the Federal army had three likely choices:

1. Land on James Island along the Stono River, proceed across the island to capture Fort Johnson. From that vantage point, force the surrender of Fort Sumter and place Charleston under direct threat from batteries erected along the James Island northern shore.

2. Land on Folly Island and cross Morris Island to attack Fort Sumter. After the capitulation of Fort Sumter, the Federal Navy could move to the inner harbor to force the surrender of Charleston.

3. Land at Bull’s Bay, cross into Mount Pleasant, attack Sullivan’s Island from the rear and establish batteries to fire across the harbor into Charleston.

Lee designed a defensive solution for each attack point. To address the approach from Bull’s Bay, he ordered the construction of a long continuous defensive line in Christ Church Parish starting at Butler’s Creek at Boone Hall Plantation, extending east to Hamlin Sound. The Christ Church Lines are illustrated here on a modern street map.

The Christ Church Lines were constructed using slave labor from area plantations. On December 16, 1861, Lee reported to Secretary of War J. P. Benjamin in Richmond that, “[the] branch through Christ Church Parish to the sound, are in good state of progress, . . . The works have been mostly constructed by labor furnished by the planters. I hope they will be completed this week.” On Christmas Day, Brigadier General Roswell Ripley reported that “the lines on Christ Church will be done in the course of three days, and will be quite strong; Lieutenant Blake has carried them quite down to the inland navigation, covering the landing.” Two companies of the 23rd South Carolina Infantry (also known as Hatch’s Coast Rangers) were assigned to the lines to act as lookouts.

There were several redans constructed in the line for forward infantry positions or in which field artillery could be placed. The following model is a redan in the Christ Church Lines just north of Rifle Range Road.

On the outside of the Christ Church Lines, the trees were cleared for 1 1/2 miles to provide for good lanes of fire. The felled trees were placed with the braches facing outward to create an abatis, a barricade intended to serve as an obstacle for the enemy.

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Coil baskets of native sweetgrass and pine needles sewn with strips of palmetto leaf have been displayed for sale on stands along Highway 17 since the 1930s. This craft, handed down in certain families since the 1700s, originally was used on plantations in rice production. Unique to the lowcountry it represents one of the oldest West African art forms in America.

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Located in the Mount Pleasant Waterfront Park, the Sweetgrass Basket Pavilion is a cultural arts exhibit on the history of sweetgrass basket making and serves as a venue in which local basket makers can demonstrate their craft. The open air pavilion features informative kiosks, basket display cases, and a screening area for documentaries. This pavilion is a tribute to the generations of men and women who have carried on the Lowcountry sweetgrass basket tradition for over 300 years. As a stop along the Gullah / Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, the pavilion gives the public an in-depth look at one of America’s oldest and most important African-inspired arts. Sweetgrass baskets are available for sale at Sweetgrass Basket Pavilion.

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At midnight on September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo, a category four storm, blew into Charleston County. Winds in excess of 140 mph, a massive 20 foot storm surge, and extraordinarily high tides ravaged the area. Hugo cut a swath 50 miles wide and 200 miles long across South Carolina, and was one of the strongest storms to hit the East Coast since Hurricane Hazel in 1954. The storm’s 6 foot surge destroyed the town hall/police station located here, and severely damaged nearby Alhambra Hall. After the storm 1,000 truck loads of debris were removed per day at a cost of $4 million for the 2 month cleanup. The debris stockpile stretched almost 1 mile and was 30 feet in height. The depth of the storm surge at this marker was 5 feet.

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Reverend Andrew Fowler was elected rector of Christ Church in 1828. He bought a village home on Whilden Street where he held services for 40 people from June to Advent to avoid the malaria-plagued sickly season. Services were held at Christ Church during the rest of the year. In 1833, the congregation proposed to build a village chapel for summer services. Governed by Christ Church, St. Andrew’s Chapel was consecrated on September 29, 1835. By 1855, the growing congregation needed a larger church. A new Whilden Street lot was purchased for $250. James M. Curtis built the church, designed by distinguished Charleston architect Edward Brickell White. The cornerstone was laid on May 20, 1857, and the church was consecrated one year later. The old building was sold for $500 to the Etiwan Masonic Lodge No. 95. Over the next 130 years, St. Andrew’s overcame many trials. During the Civil War, when Union shelling drove most residents to the Upstate, the chapel was closed from October 1863 until February 1866 when it re-opened as the only place for public worship. The building withstood destructive hurricanes in 1885, 1893, and 1989, and the earthquake in 1886. Earthquake bolts were added to stabilize the church. The congregation grew steadily in the next century as ferries and the Cooper River Bridge that opened in 1929, connected Mount Pleasant to Charleston. St. Andrew’s Chapel gained independence from Christ Church in 1954. The Ministry Center designed to match the historic chapel was completed in 1996. In 2009, as one of the nation’s largest Episcopal churches, St. Andrew’s elected to affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America.

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The country home of Charles Pinckney (1757-1824), Snee Farm stands about 0.7 M. west of here. One of SC’s signers of the US Constitution, Pinckney also served in the General Assembly and in Congress. He was elected governor of SC four times and was appointed minister to Spain in 1801 by Thomas Jefferson. George Washington visited Snee Farm in 1791 during his presidency.

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