#22: The lady who saved Mount Vernon, Washington's only trip to Charleston, and a lecture on Eliza Lucas Pinckney
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #22 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
Welcome “rpetreccia” “linnearansier” “rlawless3188” “teinsc” “thoran09” “Fsdarnell” “gwtwcb” “pguell” “tphdavidmiller” “comptonm” “alyssaarmor10” “tracigreendesigns” and “davicald” to our SC History Newsletter community! Woohoo!
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions on South Carolina history you’d like to learn more about. I’m only a click away.
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And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
3 ➳ Upcoming SC History Events
While I have curated the following 3 events below to feature in today’s newsletter, please click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the events I have featured in the newsletter to date, as well as others I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the list! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
I.
Saturday, March 16th from at 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, or 10:30 am | “Indigo Workshop for Kids” | L.W. Paul Living History Farm of the Horry County Museum | Conway, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“Children will learn about the history of indigo as a cash crop in South Carolina. They’ll also design and dye their own small bag to take home!”
II.
Tuesday, March 19th at 7:00 pm | “Raising Revolutionaries: Eliza Lucas Pinckney and Her Sons” | Church of the Holy Cross Parish Hall | Daniel Island, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“March is Women’s History Month and the Daniel Island Historical Society will celebrate it with “Raising Revolutionaries: Eliza Lucas Pinckney and Her Sons” at 7 pm, Tuesday, March 19 at the Church of the Holy Cross Parish Hall. Her sons, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney, were both among the Founding Fathers. Charles signed the Declaration of Independence. Thomas negotiated the treaty with Spain that assured our new nation the right to navigate the Mississippi River. Each ran unsuccessfully for vice-president with the Federalist Party. But Eliza’s contributions to local history go beyond motherhood and arguably outweigh those of her sons. Her family owned three Lowcountry plantations…which Eliza took over management of as a teenager when her mother died. (Her dad was Britain’s Lt. Governor of Antigua). Teen Eliza is widely credited as the driving force behind indigo becoming second only to rice as a cash crop in the Carolina colony.
That was a key factor in her being the first woman inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 1989. She joined the South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2008. But here’s a clue how important Eliza was in her own time. At her 1793 funeral, one of her pallbearers was President George Washington. Our March 16 speaker will be Faye Jensen, CEO Emeritus of the South Carolina Historical Society.”
III.
Friday, March 22 at 7:00 pm & Saturday, March 23 at 11:30 am | “The Slave Dwelling Project: Joe McGill & Herb Frazier In Conversation” | Fort Moultrie | Sullivan’s Island, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“We’re thrilled to have Joe McGill and Herb Frazier at Fort Moultrie this month for campfires and conversation about The Slave Dwelling Project. The March 22nd topic will be ‘A Campfire Conversation: Black Voices Who Built America,’ and the March 23rd topic will be ‘Sleeping with the Ancestors: Coffee & Conversation.’”
2 ➳ SC History Fun Facts
I.
Did you know that in 1859, a disabled woman from Laurens County, South Carolina was responsible for the saving and preservation of George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, which had been on the brink of ruin?
Anne Pamela Cunningham (1816-1875) grew up on her parents Rosemont Plantation in Laurens County, SC. The plantation grew cotton. Anne was educated at home and grew up riding horses sidesaddle. Unfortunately she suffered a terrible riding accident in her teens years that left her disabled for the rest of her life.
On a trip to Virginia, Anne’s mother Louisa Bird Cunningham, was traveling via steamboat on the Potomac River when she passed George Washington’s Mount Vernon home — which at the time, was fast deteriorating. Her mother, distressed at the sad state of Mount Vernon, wrote to her daughter:
"I was painfully distressed at the ruin and desolation of the home of Washington and the thought passed through my mind: Why was it that the women of his country did not try to keep it in repair, if the men could not do it? It does seem such a blot on our country!"
After learning from her mother about the deterioration of Mount Vernon, Anne decided to take action and organize an effort to raise money to purchase Mount Vernon for preservation. The owner of Mount Vernon at the time was John Augustine Washington Jr. He revealed that “speculators had offered him $300,000 for the property, and he had approached both Congress and Virginia's legislature to sell it and the surrounding 200 acres for $200,000, in order to preserved its public access. However, neither the Commonwealth of Virginia nor the federal Congress was willing to approve such purchases (both being preoccupied with the impending war).”
Anne was in her 30s when she began the Mount Vernon fundraising project, and at that point, had been disabled for 21 years. In 1853, she kicked off the campaign with an open letter address to “the Ladies of the South,” which the Charleston Mercury newspaper published. Here is an excerpt from her published letter below:
“To the Ladies of the South: A descendant of Virginia, and now a daughter of Carolina, moved by feelings of reverence for departed greatness and goodness, by patriotism and a sense of national, and above all, of Southern honor, ventures to appeal to you in behalf of the “home and grave” of WASHINGTON… A spontaneous work like this would be such a monument of love and gratitude, as has never been been reared to purest patriot or mortal man; and while it would save American honor from a blot in the eyes of a gazing world, it would furnish a shrine where at least the mothers of the land and their indignant children, might make their offerings in the cause of the greatness, goodness, and prosperity of their country…It is known to you that Congress has virtually declined to purchase and preserve Mount Vernon in behalf of the nation. Yet there is now necessity for immediate action, as schemes are on foot for its purchase by Northern capital, and its devotion to money-making purposes. It is, therefore, respectfully and earnestly suggested to you, and by one who, in her descent, inherited the sympathies and reverence of those who were one in the social relationship of life with the ‘Father of his Country,” that the South, by general contribution, each a mite, furnish the amount sufficient for the purchase of Mount Vernon.”
Thus, Anne Cunningham founded The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association (and served as its first regent) and sought out “representative women leaders from each of the 30 states in the union” to serve as vice regents. Cunningham described the qualities of the women she was looking for to join her cause:
“She shall be of a family whose social position would command the confidence of the State, and enable her to enlist the aid of persons of the widest influence...She must be able to command considerable leisure, as the duties will require much time until stipulated funds are raised. She should also possess liberal patriotism, energy of character, cultivation of mind, and such a combination of mental powers as will insure that she shall wisely and judiciously exercise the power of voting in Grand Council upon the future guardianship and improvement of Mount Vernon.”
Anne Pamela Cunningham and The Mount Vernon Ladies Association were successful in “rallying the nation” to raise the funds and successfully purchase Mount Vernon, its outbuildings and 200 acres from John A. Washington for $200,000 ($5.7 million in today’s dollars). The Mount Vernon Ladies Association became the first “historic preservation organization” in the United States. The group still owns, manages, and maintains Washington's Mount Vernon, which is open to visitors 365 days a year. Their logo is on the bottom of the Mount Vernon website.
And here is a video about the The Mount Vernon Ladies Association’s history:
II.
And speaking of George Washington, did you know that GW made his first and only visit to Charleston in May of 1791? It was a visit of lavish balls, elegant dinners, fireworks and more!
In May of 1791, George Washington spent less than a week in Charleston, but it was a week to be remembered in history. His stop in Charleston was part of a larger tour of the Southern States, a tour that he hoped would “promote unity” within the the young nation.
On May 2, 1791, George Washington had breakfast at Governor Charles Pinckney’s plantation, Snee Farm. After breakfast, they ventured to Haddrell’s Point on Mount Pleasant, where they met up with early political and military leaders such as “Revolutionary War general and delegate to the Constitutional Convention Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Revolutionary War cavalry hero William Washington, and Declaration of Independence signer Edward Rutledge.”
The group then got into a both with “12 elegantly dressed oarsmen and a captain” to make a symbolic “13” seamen for the 13 original states. As they rowed across the Cooper River towards Charleston, the party was “joined by other boats full of well wishers” who sang aloud:
“He comes! he comes! The hero comes. Sound, sound your trumpets, beat your drums, from port to port let cannons roar, his welcome to our friendly shore!”
Indeed, as Washington and his retinue approached the city, artillery pieces fired salutes, and the church bells of St. Michael’s rang in honor of the president. Thousands of well wishers lined the streets as the president landed in Charleston. The official receiving party was comprised of “Governor Charles Pinckney, Lt. Governor Isaac Holmes, the Intendant, or mayor of Charleston, both United States senators, the city councilmen, and the local members of the Society of the Cincinnati (former officers of the Continental Army).”
Throughout his visit to Charleston, George Washington was lavishly entertained. On May 3rd, a gathering was held at the Old Exchange Building where many toasts were raised and “an artillery piece would be fired for every toast to General Washington” to signal to those not personally at the event to toast the General from their homes.
On May 4th, once again at the Old Exchange building, Washington attended a ball in his honor, where he noted in his diary, “There were 256 elegantly dressed & handsome ladies.” Many women wore ribbons and sashes that read “Long Live the President” or “GW.”
On May 5th, Washington attended a concert (also at the Old Exchange Building) where he noted in his diary, “…at least 400 ladies—the Number & appearances of which. Exceeded any thing of the kind I had ever seen.”
On May 7th, Washington visited the Orphan House, and then visited St. Michael’s Church where he “ascended into the church steeple to view the city and countryside from that vantage point.” He loved the experience and remarked on the beauty of the city. That night was more lavish entertainment with dinner and fireworks over the harbor.
At the end of his visit, the leading citizens of Charleston escorted him out of the city, exchanged pleasantries and goodbyes, and sent him under a triumphal arch that had been constructed in his honor at the bridge over the Ashley River.
Reflecting later on his trip, Washington wrote of Charleston: “wealthy—Gay—& hospitable; appear happy & satisfied with the Genl. Governmt.” He believed the people gave him “very polite attention” and noted, “it will give me pleasure to visit again this very respectable city.”
1 ➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
I.
“Ladies, the Home of Washington is in your charge; see to it that you keep it the Home of Washington. Let no irreverent hand change it; no vandal hands desecrate it with the fingers of progress!" "
—Anne Pamela Cunningham, Regent of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which saved George Washington’s home Mount Vernon
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
I always want to improve my work. Answer the poll below to give me your review of today’s newsletter. I also welcome your suggestions for new content! Simply reply to this email with your ideas. Thank you!
I just joined your newsletter and thoroughly enjoy the content. The portrait of GW accompanying the story about his visit may be worth a short story of its own. The final product is not exactly what was expected, but likely what was deserved.