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.
]]>History of Brickmaking
Brickmaking dates back to 7,000 BC. In the Americas, bricks were used as early as 1611 in Virginia. In 1817, John and Henry Horlbeck purchased this land known as Wampancheone, now Brickyard and Boone Hall. As building contractors, they constructed many of the buildings throughout Charleston. State requirements for brick buildings following the 1838 Charleston fire, helped brickmaking become a bustling industry. By the mid-1800s, approximately 4,000,000 hand-made bricks were being made at Brickyard, becoming the largest brickmaking industry in the Lowcountry. These bricks were first used for the plantation settlement and then used on buildings throughout the Lowcountry and colonial Charleston. The Horlbeck family was responsible for building the new Charleston Exchange and Custom House (1770), German Friendly Society Hall (1801), St. John’s Lutheran Church (c. 1817), and St. Stephen’s Chapel (1836).
Butterfly Lake
Once solid ground, this lake held the exact combination of red clay and sand needed to create what is now referred to as “Charleston brick”. In the early 1800s, the process of excavating the clay and sand was achieved at the hands of enslaved workers who toiled daily to excavate the rich soil. Slaves then used animals from neighboring Boone Hall Plantation to constantly trod through the wet mud. That effort helped dry the clay and allowed enslaved workers to clear away the twigs and debris. From there, the bricks were then molded and completely dried, before sent to the kilns for firing. Butterfly Lake was so named because of the shape made from unearthing the tons of clay and sand. While workers knew that their hard labor helped to build Charleston and surrounding areas, they may not have known that the land they carved out was actually the shape of a butterfly.
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