White Point Garden Charleston South Carolina an American History Treasure

Posted By : manager
Posted : September 16, 2020

White Point Garden is a 5.7-acre public park located in peninsular Charleston, South Carolina, at the tip of the peninsula. It is the southern terminus for the Battery, a defensive seawall and promenade. It is bounded by East Battery (to the east), Murray Blvd. (to the south), King St. (to the west), and South Battery (to the north).

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The southern tip of Charleston’s peninsula was originally known as the South Bay and later Oyster Point. In the early 19th century it was renamed White Point. Later, landfill projects resulted in the sharp-edged terminus of the peninsula.

From about 1840 to 1881, a public bathing house stood at the end of King Street. The building was constructed by James English, William Patton, and Henry L. Pinckney at a cost of about $25,000.

A cake and ice cream parlor was operated on the top floor of the bathing house. The bathing house suffered several injuries by storms but was rebuilt each time. It was removed in 1881 as White Point Garden and the waterfront was filled in.

For more than a century, White Point Garden has been a repository of relics and memorials, with a largely military theme.

The War Department eventually loaned ten guns to Charleston. Some were put on display at the then-Thomson Auditorium temporarily, while two of the guns from USS Keokuk were installed at White Point Garden in 1900.

This is a historical monument in the pathway on the north side of the park commemorating the execution of Stede Bonnet and his pirate crew in 1718.

Along the center walkway in line with Church St.
is the Fort Moultrie Monument (“To the Defenders of Fort Moultrie”)It is often called the Sergeant Jasper Monument.

The monument sometimes referred to as the “Sergeant Jasper Monument” commemorates the victory of the colonists over the British at Fort Moultrie in 1776. It bears the inscription “To the Defenders of Fort Moultrie” on June 28th, 1776.

This piece might have been seized from a Spanish ship during the Spanish-American War as a trophy. It features five barrels and would have been mounted to the boat.

This memorial commemorates William Gilmore Simms, a lawyer, and historian who also wrote numerous novels popular for their use of local details. The monument was erected in 1879.

At the meeting of Meeting St. and South Battery is a memorial to the crew of the H.L. Hunley. Added in 1899, the granite monument recognizes the first successful submarine, the Hunley, which eventually sank in Charleston Harbor following a successful attack on the USS Housatonic. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship. The Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America.

Located across from Meeting Street in the center of the park, a bandstand, begun in 1906 and completed in 1907, is a memorial to Mrs. George W. Williams by her daughter, Mrs. Martha W. Carrington.

One of two columbiads that were part of the Confederate artillery at Fort Sumter and drew heavy bombardment from Union troops hoping to neutralize the fort.

At the southeastern corner of White Point Garden is a large allegorical statue installed in 1932 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument titled, “To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston” Fort Sumter 1861-1865, commemorates the soldiers who fought for their city and the Southern States during America’s Deadliest War!

The Brooke rifle was a large gun invented by John Mercer Brookea Confederate officer in the U.S. Civil War. This particular Brooke rifle was manufactured at Selma, Alabama in 1864. It was later found at Fort Johnson and was brought to Charleston in 1900.

The first of four identical pieces of heavy artillery dating to the Civil War. Each of the guns weighs approximately 17,000 pounds and could fire a 200 plus pound shell nearly three miles. All were Union weapons, and similar guns were used against Fort Sumter. These three guns were made in Pittsburgh in the early 1860s. They have been in the park since 1901.

On the edge of the High Battery, just across East Battery from the Fort Sumter Monument, there is a small metal survey disk embedded in the wall. The disk has been there since at least 1933.

Near the southwest corner of the park is a memorial to the crew of the USS Amberjack, a submarine that was sunk during World War II, and 51 other American subs lost during the conflict.

In 1913, the capstan of Maine was delivered to Charleston. This capstan, a metal drum used for raising anchors, was part of the USS Maine, a battleship sunk at the harbor in Havana, Cuba in 1898. The sinking claimed the lives of 258 sailors and led directly to the Spanish-American War, a total victory that helped signal the rise of the United States as an international power.

Also located near the southwest corner of the park is the 20-foot tall, granite Hobson Monument. On April 26, 1952, the U.S. destroyer Hobson was cut in half and sunk after being in a collision with the American aircraft carrier Wasp. The stones used in the platform come from the 38 home states of the 176 sailors who died. The Hobson was built at the Charleston Navy Yard.

In 1962, Charleston sculptor Willard Hirsch was commissioned by Miss Sally Carrington to create a bronze statue of a dancing girl. The statue was a gift to the City and was installed as a water fountain in White Point Garden on an especially low granite base so that children could make easy use of it.

The Villa Margherita at 4 South Battery has a front porch with tall, white columns and it resembles a smaller version of the U.S. White House.

White Point Garden, Charleston, South Carolina is one of the most sacred property on American soil, rich in its History, Monuments, Landmarks, and Busts!

Visiting White Point Garden (America’s Historic Tourist Attraction with its 28 landmarks) gives you the sense of who and what made America the GREATEST STRONGEST country in the history of Nations!

The prime location overlooking Charleston Harbour, Fort Sumter, and the numerous other Islands each have its heroic military battles and stories to tell is the view every American must visit and see!