Charleston Historic Houses Historic Charleston lies at the end of a peninsula surrounded by the Cooper and Ashley rivers. The area south of the orange line on the map is called South of Broadway (SOB), a residential area of modest houses and large mansions, particularly along Battery Street and along White Point Park (outlined in green). The black circles indicates the large public markets. The northern most black circle is the Aiken-Rhett House, described below. Charleston has a distinctive house style called "single" for a single family or a "double" for two families. A "tenement" refers to a rental property whether for the wealthy or ordinary folk. The narrow sides of these houses face towards the streets and they have two or more stories of porches (called piazzaz--Italian for square!) facing west or south to avoid direct sunlight and the heat of summer and to catch the breeze.

Let's visit a sample of historic houses in a few neighborhoods:

9 East Battery	The Charles Town Neighborhood, including the Battery. This 1838 Greek Revival, three-story brick structure with giant Ionic columns on an arcaded base is a very expensive version of the Charleston "single" house type. One of the owners, was the publisher of the News and Courier. A large piece of a Civil War cannon from 1865 was lodged in the attic when the evacuating Confederates blew up a gun on the nearby Battery (fortifications), now White Point Park at the southern tip of the city.
48 Elizabeth Street	Wraggborough Neighborhood In 1817 a merchant and real estate investor built the 23-room Aiken-Rhett House (the northern most black circle on the above map). Gov. William Aiken inherited this house from his Irish-born father, who was the first president of the South Carolina Rail Road. Gov. By the age of 21 Aiken owned a great deal of land and became wealthy from rice, indigo, and cotton. He was Governor of South Carolina, 1844-46, and U.S. Congressman, 1851-57. He enlarged the house several times to this Italianate style, based on villas which he observed on frequent trips to Europe. During the Civil War, in 1863, a reception for Confederate President Jefferson Davis was held here, and from December 1863 to April 20, 1864, it was the headquarters of the Confederate commander, Gen. Pierre C.T. Beauregard. The house is now open to the public.
Looking into the yard	The (back) "yards" of wealthy families' houses might contain slave quarters, privies, a kitchen house, well, cistern, stables, and sheds for livestock. In the case of the Aiken-Rhett House they were all built of expensive brick. Six rooms on the second floor above the kitchen building (barely visible on the right side of the photo) housed 13 slaves: a mother and her son; a husband and wife with their five children; two single men; and two carpenters. On the left side in this photo of the yard, the carriage house and spare rooms are shown; in the background, a cow shed and each of the corners of the yard, a brick privy--to keep the smell from the outhouse farthest from the house. Although whites regarded town servants/slaves living "in the yard" of the Big House as a privileged, most slaves, if given a chance, preferred to "live out"--on their own even in much physically poorer conditions.

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