Interwoven into the early history of Mount Pleasant is a story similar to Shakespeare's epic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. The interchangeable components include two star-crossed young lovers and an age-old feud between two powerful families that erupts into bloodshed.
The story takes place in Charleston's early-1700s. It is about the son and daughter of two prominent landowners who owned large tracts of land across the Cooper River beyond Hog Island in the area known as North Point. Unknown to their feuding parents, they fell in love and for months met secretly in an oak grove along the shores of Charleston's harbor. When their parents discovered they had secretly married, the couple fled and joined a band of pirates on Sullivan's Island. Apparently they didn't read the book Never Trust a Pirate.
The pirate captain became enamored with the young woman and hatched a diabolical plan. He instructed the crew to kill her husband. Learning of her lover's fate, she fled to their secret grove. Determined to have her, the captain followed. Overcome by hopelessness, she buried a knife into her own chest. As she lay dying, her husband, having averted the malicious plot, arrived. Confrontation was forthcoming. Losing a duel with the pirate, he expired in his wife's arms. The grieving fathers of the young couple erected a stone marker as a memorial.
The story obviously mentions no names. However, after examining Mount Pleasant's history and matching various components of the story to specific names and places, I propose the following conclusion. George Haddrell and William Hort fit the bill of the feuding landowners and parents of the two doomed lovers of this tragic tale.
George Haddrell was a prominent name in Mount Pleasant's early history. He owned 500 acres. It included most of the area beginning at Shem Creek and bordered today's Highway 703 to Center Street.
William Hort was an early settler from Barbados and owned land along the harbor waterfront beginning near Alhambra Hall and extended to Cove Inlet. In 1775, he wrote in his diary that his daughter, Elizabeth Haddrell Hort, was born in the house of Shem Creek tavern owner Jonathan Scott. Ironically, George Haddrell owned the house. Elizabeth interestingly was identified with both names by her father, Haddrell and Hort. As stated in the story, the couple would secretly rendevous at an oak grove. It just so happens a stand of oak tree's on the land owned by Hort became known as Hort's Grove. A stone marker called Hort's Pillar by the locals once stood near today's Pierates Cruze, the memorial erected by the parents.
The pirate captain could possibly have been Charles Vane or Calico Jack Rackham, but can not be said with any certainty, just a hunch. Their Charleston connections make them a likely consideration and both had a reputation that could match the individual in the story. In August of 1718, Vane raided Charleston and took eight ships. William Rhett pursued him but never caught him. Calico Jack was known for his affair with Charleston's pirate native, Anne Bonny.
Deep in Mount Pleasant's Old Village just southeast of Alhambra Hall on the land once owned by William Hort is the residential borough of Pierates Cruze. The name Pierates is obviously a play on the word pirates and Cruze for the word cruise. In the late 1920s, this five-acre parcel was home to Massachusetts transplants Dana and Laird Osgood. A small moat with an imitation drawbridge encircled the house. The property had something of a pirate's den feel.
The Osgoods erected a very substantial concrete seawall along the entire length of the property that withstood numerous storms and several hurricanes. In the 1930s, the owners transformed the grounds into seven spectacular gardens. They were named: The Sea Garden, Wind'll Blow, Little Wheel, Twyfy's Garden, Eight Bells, Wiggins Walk, and Amalfi. There was an abundant variety of flowers, shrubs, and trees, including thousands of prize-winning camellias and azaleas.
The Osgoods opened Pierates Cruze to the public on February 20, 1943. A popular tourist attraction in the 1940s and 1950s, entrance fees were $2 from December to May and $1 the rest of the year. Ads for the attraction included a photo of the Amalfi garden. Plants with dark green, stiff, dagger-like leaves projecting from thick, trunk-like stems called Spanish bayonet lined a walkway along the harbor that ended in a Spanish mission-style bell wall. "See the Spires of Charleston against the sunset across the wine-dark sea," the ads raved. A brochure stated: "More than one hundred varieties of camellias bloom luxuriantly here; as do flowering shrubs, wisteria, azaleas, roses, tulips, pansies and violets." In 1947, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society awarded Mrs. Osgood the prestigious "Gold Medal" for the development of new varieties of hybrid camellias.
The gardens were closed in 1959. The land was sold and subdivided with each lot priced at $10,000. There are homes of varying styles on the property now. Some of the old oak trees still overshadow the quiet enclave, but the original house and moat are gone. No trace of the seven gardens survived the reckoning of residential expansion except for Amalfi's original garden columns, which remain on the seawall and are reminiscent of the Italian mission structure that stood there. The belled wall was no match for Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It was completely destroyed. However, the property owners reconstructed the wall from the original bricks and replaced the bells with ship bells in a tribute to Pierates Cruze's wild history.
The Osgoods celebrated Charleston's pirate past and named their garden estate in recognition of it with a twist. Perhaps, they knew of the tragic love story that haunts Mount Pleasant's moss-covered trees along with the secret grove and the pillar. Pierates Cruze has faded into the sunset of history like the infamous pirates that prowled Charleston's surrounding waters. However, hints of its existence remain to mystify curious seekers of what was before. If you would like to learn more about the Old Village of North Point bounded by Shem Creek, Simmons Street, Cove Inlet, and the Harbor, Mount Pleasant offers a tour that explores several of the historical sites located within its original settlements. The pirate story is courtesy legends and lore.
