Ramsay discusses the numerous creeks and marshes that were gradually filled in as houses and buildings as Charleston advanced and the impact that had on reducing intermittent (malarial) fevers in the city. One of the major impediments to the development of Charleston towards the southern end of the peninsula was Vanderhorst's Creek.
From Ramsay's Medical History:
Fever Season June to Oct.
Charleston itself, which contained numerous areas of marsh and standing water, was particularly unhealthy in the months June through Oct. That gradually improved, particularly over the last half of the 18th c., as these areas of marsh and standing water were drained and buildings built up.
George Chalmers, in his political annals of the united colonies, printed in 1780, page 541, 542, observes that " Charlestons was long unhealthful. From the month of June to October, the courts of justice were commonly shut up. No public business was transacted. Men fled from it as from a pestilence, and orders were given to inquire for situations more friendly to health."
This statement is corroborated by tradition from the elder citizens, who inform us that in the time of their fathers the sick were sent from Charlestown to expedite their recovery in the more wholesome air of the country ; and that the country was preferred on the score of health as a place of summer residence.
Improvements In Charleston Reduced Malaria, but eventually increased Yellow Fever
This is by no means improbable. The site of Charlestown in its natural state was a slip of land stretching south-eastwardly, between two, rivers, and projecting into the harbor formed by their junction and divided into a number of peninsulas by creeks and marshes; indenting it on three sides so as to leave but little unbroken high land in the middle.
The first buildings extended along East Bay-street, and had a marsh in their whole front. A considerable creek, named Vanderhorst's creek, occupied the foundation of Water street; and passing beyond Meeting-street, sent out a branch to the northward nearly to the presbyterian church. Another creek stretched northwest-wardly nearly parallel to East Bay-street, from the neighborhood of Macleod's lots, through Longitude lane, and to the north of it.
The same kind of low grounds ran up Queen-street, then called Dock- street, beyond the french church, and through Beresford's alley till it approached Meeting-street. (The north end of Union-street was planted with rice about the middle of the 18th century.
Another very large creek occupied the site of the present central market, and extended westwardly beyond Meeting-street, which diverged southwardly almost ' to the independent church, and northwardly spread ing extensively, and then dividing into two branches ; running to the north-west and to the north-east so as to cover a large portion of ground. Besides the marsh and these creeks which nearly environed three sides of the improved part of Charlestown, there was another creek a little to the southward of what is now Water- street, which stretched westwardly over Church-street ; and another which ran northwardly up Meeting-street, and then extend ed across westwardly nearly to King-street.
A creek ran from the west near where Peter Smith's house now stands, and nearly parallel to South Bay till it approached the last mentioned creek, and was divided from it by King-street and a slip of land on each side. Six other creeks ran eastwardly from Ashley river, three of which stretched across the pe ninsula so as to approximate to King-street.
There were also ponds and low grounds in different parts of the town. One of these extended on the east side of King-street almost the whole distance between Broad and Tradd streets. This was granted to the French church in 1701, but being useless in its then state was leased out by them for 50 years. In the course of that period the tenants improved and built upon it.
There was also a large body of low grounds at the intersection of Hasell and Meeting- streets The elder inhabitants often mention a large pond where the court house now stands. It is believed that this, though real, was artificial.
It is probable that the intrenchments attached to the western fortifications of Charlestown, which extended up and down Meeting-street from the vicinity of the independent church to the vicinity of the presbyterian church, were dug so deep as to cause a constant large collection of water at that middle part of the lines*. It was the site of Johnson's covered half moon, and of a drawbridge over which was the chief communi cation between the town and the country.
No prudent engineer would erect such works as these in a pond, though when they were erected in the moist soil of Charlestown they would be very likely to produce one. Whether this was a natural or artificial collection of water, there was enough in other parts of the town to make it unhealthy. Such, with some small alteration was the situation of Charlestown for the first 70 years after its settlement!
To reduce such a quagmire as a great part of Charlestown originally was, to a firm, high, and dry state, required time, labor, and expense. Much has been done, but much remains for future enterprise.
The pond at the south end of Meeting-street was filled up and built upon by Josiah Smith in the years 1767, 1768, and 1769, at an expense of about £ 1 200 sterling.
Vanderhorst's creek was turned into a firm, solid land, between the years 1788 and 1792, and ob tained the name of Water-street.
The creek running under the governor's bridge was finally obliterated and turned into a market be tween the years 1804 and 1807.
The extensive marsh-land and low ground to the north and west of this creek had been filled up and built upon some years before by John Eberley, Anthony Toomer, and others.
The time when the other creeks were converted into solid land and improved, cannot be exactly ascertained. As Charlestown extended, and land became more valuable, industrious enterprising individuals, by draining marshes and filling up creeks, advanced their private interest and contributed to the growing salubrity of the town.
The original plan for Charles Towne laid out a grid of streets and building lots on the peninsula. Salt-water creeks and marshes cut into several areas of the planned town. Two deep tidal creeks ran inland from the Cooper River, Daniel’s Creek and Vanderhorst’s Creek. Known since the late eighteenth century as Water Street, Vanderhorst’s Creek separated Church Street from White Point, the southern tip of the peninsula. It flowed across Meeting Street and extended beyond the west side of King Street. Smaller streams drained into Vanderhorst’s Creek from both sides. The shallow south branch was controlled as a tidal basin by the early eighteenth century, but the long arm that ran northward between Church and East Bay streets remained an open creek until the mid-1750s.
In the early eighteenth century, a belt of protective fortifications enclosed the Charles Towne settlement. The southernmost wall was placed inland of Vanderhorst’s Creek, and featured bastions at each end: Colleton’s Bastion to the west and Ashley’s Bastion to the east. As the city grew, the earthen walls along Vanderhorst’s Creek and Meeting Street were abandoned and dismanteled. During the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1748), fears of an attack on Charleston led to another system of defenses, which relied heavily on earth and wood construction. The great hurricane of 1752 wrecked those walls and fortifications.
Charleston’s defenses were rebuilt between 1755 and 1757, with new works designed by German military engineer Major de Brahm for Charleston’s Commissioners of Fortifications. In May, 1756, de Brahm ordered the line between Granville’s Bastion and Broughton’s Battery to be built level with the height of the “Flood-Gate newly constructed.” Under the roadbed of today’s East Battery, this floodgate managed the tidal flow into Vanderhorst’s Creek, controlling the stream as a thirty-foot wide channel deep enough for boats. For at least part of its length, the creek was lined with brick walls.
With Vanderhorst’s Creek confined, property owners were encouraged to fill the tributary creek between Church Street and East Bay Street. As the block south of Tradd Street developed, two small east-west footpaths became established alleys, Longitude Lane and Stoll’s Alley.
From the mid-1780s into the nineteenth century, Charleston’s political leaders engaged in a difficult effort to extend East Bay Street south to the tip of the peninsula. The work eventually led to the conversion of Vanderhorst’s Creek into Water Street.
A legislative act and corresponding city ordinance in the spring of 1785 authorized City Council to continue East Bay Street “from its present termination to the extremity of White Point.” The work was to be funded by assessments on real estate, but property owners resisted paying. A series of acts and ordinances followed, each changing the mode of assessment slightly and all causing controversy. There had been little progress on the new street by 1788, when City Council appointed new commissioners for “completing East Bay Street to Ashley River, and for securing the east part of White Point from the sea.” The commissioners were to fund and build “a street of the same width of the southern part of East Bay Street … from the present termination of the said street until it intersects with the southeast angle of the fort …. and to make a good and sufficient front of palmetto and pine logs for the said street from the sea, of the same width of that begun by the late commissioners.”
As late as December, 1795, the legislature was wrestling with how to collect payments, and hearing petitions from citizens claiming losses by the road’s being continued through their lots. Finally, in order to complete the work, in October 1798 City Council approved a special three-year tax assessment to cover funds already spent, and agreed to raise an additional $6,000 through a lottery.
The financial challenges were compounded by the costs of repairs after two severe storms. On October 4, 1800, “as tremendous and destructive a storm was experienced in this city and harbor, as has happened for nearly 20 years.” Most of East Bay Street, “which was nearly completed and cost an immense sum of money, is destroyed.” The seawall and street were repaired, only to be wrecked again by the 1804 hurricane. New East Bay Street was “destroyed: the sea made clear breaches through it and rushing into Water Street and the adjacent parts, compelled the inhabitants to quit their houses…. The whole of Water Street was covered, and in Meeting Street it was nearly two feet in depth.”
Water Street had been created gradually. Sometime after the Revolution, Vanderhorst’s Creek/canal was filled between Meeting and Church streets. By about 1784 it was known as Water Street. The east block, below Church Street, was finished more slowly. A 1798 plat of the Somers property (43 East Bay Street) depicts Water Street, and marks the area north of the street “shoal land dry at low water.” Only after final construction of East Bay Street and the seawall in the early nineteenth century was Water Street dry at high tide.
From Charleston Footprints: Colonial Commons / Rutledge Pond / Coming's Creek
The old sluice gate mechanism at Colonial is a reminder that the water comes from the Ashley River, and that the city’s largest inland wetland was once connected to its source naturally.
Old maps of Charleston’ peninsula show that most of the western side of the city was originally marsh and tidal basin, and Coming’s Creek once stretched well into what is now the heart of Radcliffeborough.
In the era prior to steam engines, these vast wetlands were impounded with man-made dikes, trapping water that could be used to power rice and timber mills. By funneling tons of water through successively-smaller pipe openings, there would be a great force that could push sawing and winnowing mechanisms. By the early 1800’s, the mill ponds were tapped for heating into steam power, and mills lined the western part of the peninsula. As rice and timber production waned after the Civil War, many of the old wetlands were filled for new neighborhoods, and by the 1880’s, the only significant area left was Rutledge Pond, a leftover recreation area bordering the Ashley River that had been established in 1768 as Colonial Commons.
The city continued its filling expansion beyond the pond, a enclosed the area in 1881 as the new Colonial Lake. Ringed with cement and bordered by landscaping and a walking promenade , the lake was at the heart of “ten acres of lake, lawn and terrace” that proved to be a blast during the Victorian-era with fireworks displays during the autumn horse-racing festival celebrated as Gala Week. A burst of new building in the early 1900’s along “water lots” near the lake added fashionable houses on Rutledge Avenue and Colonial Street, as well as Baker Hospital, the city’s first specializing in surgery.
By the 1920’s, the popular gathering place featured five-cent rentals of “swan boats”, propelled by foot pedals, and the beginning of an annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony by illuminating a tree set on supports in the middle of the lake. Fed by tides through underground culverts,
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Charleston didn't get a modern sewer system until the 1890's. Until then, it was all outdoor privies.
Charleston's streets were bare ground covered in sand until
Old maps of Charleston’ peninsula show that most of the western side of the city was originally marsh and tidal basin, and Coming’s Creek once stretched well into what is now the heart of Radcliffeborough.
In the era prior to steam engines, these vast wetlands were impounded with man-made dikes, trapping water that could be used to power rice and timber mills. By funneling tons of water through successively-smaller pipe openings, there would be a great force that could push sawing and winnowing mechanisms. By the early 1800’s, the mill ponds were tapped for heating into steam power, and mills lined the western part of the peninsula. As rice and timber production waned after the Civil War, many of the old wetlands were filled for new neighborhoods, and by the 1880’s, the only significant area left was Rutledge Pond, a leftover recreation area bordering the Ashley River that had been established in 1768 as Colonial Commons.
The city continued its filling expansion beyond the pond, a enclosed the area in 1881 as the new Colonial Lake. Ringed with cement and bordered by landscaping and a walking promenade , the lake was at the heart of “ten acres of lake, lawn and terrace” that proved to be a blast during the Victorian-era with fireworks displays during the autumn horse-racing festival celebrated as Gala Week. A burst of new building in the early 1900’s along “water lots” near the lake added fashionable houses on Rutledge Avenue and Colonial Street, as well as Baker Hospital, the city’s first specializing in surgery.
By the 1920’s, the popular gathering place featured five-cent rentals of “swan boats”, propelled by foot pedals, and the beginning of an annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony by illuminating a tree set on supports in the middle of the lake. Fed by tides through underground culverts,
-----------------
Charleston didn't get a modern sewer system until the 1890's. Until then, it was all outdoor privies.
Charleston's streets were bare ground covered in sand until
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