Stop Nine on Charleston's Museum Mile

Charleston has a wonderful creature they call Museum Mile. It is as the name implies: a one-mile section that contains a series of buildings filled with history as rich as the food on a Lowcountry plate. I'm a little embarrassed to admit we'd yet to step into one of these treasuries—the haint blue roof we prefer to stay under is generally the sky. But we abandoned that policy on our last visit to check out a place I learned about in 2004, but couldn't enter because it was closed to the public. It recently opened, so my husband and I drove south on Meeting Street, then traversed the uneven cobblestones on Chalmers to reach what was once a showcase of human flesh. No, not a closed strip joint. Charleston's Old Slave Mart.*

If you're like my husband, discomfort just crawled up your spine. Though I'm what my daughter calls whiter-than-bright-white-copy-paper, I'd passed that stage long ago while doing research for my first and, unfortunately, badly written novel—you have to start somewhere—about a young woman subjected to a life of forced labor and personal rejection by virtue of her birth. Part of the story takes place in Charleston, and one scene occurs in the Slave Mart. Though I have no plans to revise the story (you can't fix broke) I had to get inside, to see if reality matched what I'd envisioned, and to learn about the auctions that once took place there.

"Come on," you might say. "Of all the neat places in Charleston, why focus on that one? It's not even an attractive building. Are you just trying to be politically correct?"

The only PC I like is my laptop. But like so many places around the world, Charleston and slavery are inextricably linked, and while we went in expecting major condemnation, we found a sorrowful, but surprisingly evenhanded and informative look at the history of slavery, and the old mart's role in it.

We weren't permitted to take photos inside, so I can't give you a glimpse of the narrow interior (basically the width of the facade you see in the photo) that was once part of a four-building complex widely known as Ryan's Mart. The building on Chalmers, pictured above, served as the "showroom", not the caged holding area I wrote it to be. On display there now are placards and relics that taught us how the mart was run, how the slaves were brought in, and about the people involved on all ends including the "free blacks" who purchased slaves of their own. They even offer near-ancient audio recordings of interviews with former slaves. It was the beginning of the broader scope presented, and though the admission price is $7.00/adult at this writing, (but we are talking Charleston's Historic District), I highly recommend this stop, as well as the remainder of Museum Mile, for all who long to know Charleston more intimately.

For more information on the Old Slave Mart, go to
www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/osm.htm

For more information on Charleston's Museum Mile, go to
www.charlestonsmuseummile.org/Home.html

And since I mentioned it, I should include the Slave Mart scene that I originally wrote. And I will, as soon as I figure out where I hid the file.

-------------------------

*Not to be confused with the covered vendor area known as the Slave Market on the corner of Market and Meeting.

Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved. Do not use or distribute

The State Museum (Columbia, SC)

While we missed visiting several Columbia attractions during our recent visit, I did have the opportunity to visit the State Museum, located on Gervais St.

Along with the Confederate Museum and the Cotton Mill Exchange Store, the State Museum is housed in the old Columbia Mill building near the new Vista area.



Floors once filled with the whirl of machinery and the footsteps of men, women, and children, now contain displays designed to teach the history of South Carolina, from the beginning of time.

We started our trip at the Lipscomb Art Gallery, located on the first floor. After viewing a variety of tiles and masks created by the renowned Carolinian, we went to the second floor, which covers prehistoric South Carolina, along with the varied habitats in the state. I was amused to see a picture of Looking Glass Falls, located in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest, hanging on the wall beside posters of other SC outdoor habitats. That faux aside, we did learn a bit about the region, especially the sandhills, which we've yet to explore.

From there, we walked up a wide, open staircase to the Science and Technology displays. South Carolina and technology? Yes! Greenville native, Charles Townes, patented the laser. A former resident of South Carolina walked on the moon. South Carolinian, Kary Mullis, worked with DNA sequencing. Several individuals from SC have won Nobel prizes. Quite an eye-opener.



We also viewed displays on the modes of transportation throughout the years, including a recovered dugout canoe.

If I have an opportunity to visit the State Museum again, I'll start on the fourth floor, which, we soon discovered, covers the cultural history of South Carolina. The first three floors are informative, but the motherlode of information on the history of South Carolina, from native tribes to the time of the automobile, is what I wanted to see.

Without signage to direct us--not counting the map we received at the ticket counter, which we failed to consult--we made the mistake of starting our journey on the wrong side of the building. So we didn't get the scope of the displays until we neared the end. Still, we had a good dose of SC history in the eight permanent displays and three changing galleries located on the fourth floor. Here, I learned the original Carolinas charter issued by England's King Charles II stretched all the way to the Pacific Ocean. That the original Lord Proprietors included Craven, Hyde, Monck, Albemarle, Berkeley, Carteret, and Anthony Ashley Cooper. All names of towns, counties, and rivers Carolinians are familiar with.

To view the permanent displays in order, start with the Native American exhibit. From there, move on to Exploration & Settlement, the Revolutionary War, Plantation Life, the Civil War, Rural Life, Mill Life, and Automobiles.

Before we left, we spent a fair amount of time in the Cotton Mill Exchange Gift Store, which carries a nice selection of books along with clothing and merchandise.

The State Museum is a trip worth taking while in Columbia, but make sure you have plenty of time to thoroughly view the exhibits, watch short videos, and to let the kids play on the hands-on displays. It can easily turn into a day-long event, but operating hours are from 10:00 - 5:00, Tuesdays through Saturday (Mondays as well during the summer), and 1:00 - 5:00 on Sundays. The museum is closed on major holidays.