Great Day/ the Day of Jubilee St. Helena's Island has two major America firsts: the island was the site of the first freedom or jubilee schools, organized by two women from a Quaker mission in Philadelphia. The Penn Normal School's 1862 legacy lives in the Penn Center, a multi-program conference and early childhood education site.
St. Helena's also held the nation's first emancipation proclamation celebration. At mid-night January 1, 1863, troops and residents celebrated freedom with oratory, spirituals, (they captured and released the celebration's deepest emotions), and an all-night oxen roast. Many new freedmen enlisted in the United States Colored Troops. On February 21, 1865, the South Carolina Volunteer 33 rd Regiment, USCT, marched down Charleston's Meeting Street, in view of auction sites where many of their members had once been sold, to free the the city's enslaved!
After the 1861 war, outside of Charleston, a huge story persisted: that Abraham Lincoln rambled around the countryside. According to oral sources, escorts of cavalry or infantry troops led Abraham Lincoln on horseback or by carriage up the oak alls and stopped in the yards to greetings of mighty applause by the faithful. Smiling, he asked after families, inquired about food supplies, shook hands and accepted well wishes and prayers. Then standing in his buggy or sitting straight on his horse, he spoke briefly to the crowds about the jubilee and the days ahead before he moved on. This widespread myth, the single most repeated legend after the jubilee, makes concrete by its open regard the communities' dream of freedom and by its repeated external sign, the inner fulfillment and expression of a common hope.
If the lowcountry is Goshen, a land of perpetual prosperity, Cypress Gardens is a lowcountry Eden, timelessly beautiful, set in an enchanted flooded forest. Home to 1000's of nesting egrets and song birds, this natural inland lake irrigated Dean Hall, a rice plantation confiscated during the American Revoluntion that employed 500 slaves. 200 people were employed by Benjamin Kittledge in 1927 to plant 1000's of azaleas, camellias, and flowering plants, and to construct the bridges and walk ways to enjoy the breath-taking views. Canoes with old residents singing spirituals glide across the black onyx lagoon, splashed by blazes of color, doubled and repeated, mirrored by earth, air, and water. In the alchemy of space, land's end touches itself and floats offshore. In this swamp, the beauty of primal elements tranfers to our souls a phantasmagoria of life and shadows, infused and alive .
An American Centerpiece Summerville-At its heart, Summerville is a Victorian village of cottages and wooden houses built under long limbs of oak and towering pine trees. Twisting shaded streets weave in front of the houses carved out of manicured forests and were formed from riding trails and walking paths that ran between the river and the village's seven hills. Circled by subdivisions and hidden by high density commuter traffic, shielded by a small business district there are intown neighborhood streets (in a district once called uptown) which dapple the light and soften time by expanding the moment. The famous promenades between inns after high tea can be recreated alone or as a group, at any point in the day or evening. These strolls showcase the open proportions of homes whose spacing and natural settings are an unique American centerpiece.
The rector at St. Paul's once whipped out a pistol and shot two of a group of men who tried to plunder the town during the 1861 war. Mrs. Kitty Springs sold dry goods by carrying her trunk shows on the back of the wagon into the yards of society ladies who opened their homes to neighbors to privately view the latest fashions from New York City where Ms. Kitty went to buy. Fishing was the town's popular sport, next to high school football. Parks and homes explode with spectacular Azalea blooms in March and April.
Beginning with Brown's, Captain Vose's, and the Paradise hotels as summer and hunting retreats, Summerville's hospitality tradition bursts into a
Golden Age of Inns when the immense Pine Forest opens (1891).
Proclaimed in Paris as a world center for respiratory healing, more inns followed as travelers, including Teddy Roosevelt and Elizabeth Arden, discovered the village's charms. Soon the Carolina, Halycon, Holly, Pine View, Postern, Squirrel, Travelers, White Gales, Wisteria Inns, and the Pinehurst Tea farm were favorites of visitors who often build winter homes, then stayed year round. Today, the Woodland Resort, the lowcountry's only 5 star property (3 bell persons appear for each vehicle, one each side and rear), and a new generation of private inns recall the highest standards of service and the rich offerings when Summerville was first choice for SC visitors.
When visitors arrived in Charleston in the 1950's, the inn at Tradd and Church Streets offered guests during the social hour a pitcher of "Oh Be Joyfuls."
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