In Charleston, the Truth Lies Somewhere Between the Cooper Sunrise and the Ashley Sunset

Charleston's antiquity runs as deep as its harbor waters and its tales are as tall as the steeple of St. Phillips on Church Street. As one of the oldest cities in America, it is a place where reality and legend walk the same streets declaring a timeless story about the lives of its progeny and their hallowed structures. A place where fact and fiction have been skillfully blurred to the delight of those who come to bask in its charm and grace. This article is about some things you will hear on a horse-drawn carriage ride or walking tour that simply is not likely to be true.

Over the course of 300 years, the Pink House has proven itself resilient. It survived over thirty hurricanes, two major earthquakes, two wars, and multiple catastrophic fires. It has a must-see courtyard designed by Loutrel Briggs and a picture-perfect view of St. Philip's steeple through a window.

Like many old Charleston landmarks, it has acquired a ghost story or two. The apparition sighted and from time to time photographed, is that of a female figure wandering and pacing back and forth as though waiting for something or perhaps someone. Some believe the sightings are the spirit of one of the women who once worked at the property during its tavern and bordello days, and others believe it to be the ghost of the female pirate Anne Bonny. According to the narrative, she resided on the third floor and ran a popular business on the floors below. There are several variants to the story of Anne Bonny. The following tale is the most popular.

Born in Ireland, the red-headed Anne is believed to be the illegitimate daughter of attorney William Cormac and his housekeeper. To escape the backlash the sordid situation created, Cormac left Ireland with his mistress and his daughter. They sailed to Charleston.

Anne was a handful for sure and had a fiery temper. While married to James Bonny, a small-time pirate and informant, she became involved with Calico Jack Rackam. To avoid a beating by her husband because of her affair, she ran away with Rackam and joined his pirate crew on a ship they stole in New Providence called the William.

Mural at Pirate Cove Playground, Folly Beach

In 1720, Jonathan Barnet attacked Rackam's ship and took him prisoner with Bonny, Mary Read, and the rest of the crew. The punishment for piracy in the 18th century was execution by hanging. One by one, her friends perished, including Calico Jack, but Bonny and her close friend, Mary Read, pleaded they were both pregnant. The court spared Bonny and Read from hanging like the others. She began to serve her prison sentence and gave birth, but there is no record of Bonny's release, execution, or death. This has fed speculation as to her fate.

After everything has been searched and said, a Post and Courier article, The true and false stories of Anne Bonny, pirate woman of the Caribbean, summed up Anne Bonny's story this way, "Nearly three centuries after Anne Bonny's trial, we know that a woman named Anne Bonny was alive in the early 1700s, that some people called her Ann Fulford and Bonn, that she lived in the Bahamas for a time and joined a pirate crew."

"We don’t know whether she ever lived in Charleston, who her parents were, whether she married a man named James Bonny, her true role aboard the pirate sloop, what her relationships were with Jack Rackam and Mary Read, and whether she ever was released from the Jamaican prison." Often times, the legend becomes larger than life. In Charleston, the truth lies somewhere between the Cooper sunrise and the Ashley sunset.

This is true of one of Charleston's oldest townhouses located at 143 and 145 Church Street. It was built by Huguenot merchant Alexander Peronneau as a double tenement around 1740, likely after Charleston's great fire of 1740. The material used in its construction was Bermuda stone placed on a brick foundation. Bermuda stone was widely used in the construction of early Charleston. The city's old fortification wall was made from Bermuda stone, as was the 1769 seawall, which was probably destroyed in the 1800s by a hurricane.

In the late eighteenth century, the double tenement was owned by craftsman and planter Paul Smiser. Next, Mrs. Goodwyn Rhett took possession of the property. In 1928, Mrs. Rhett restored the home to a single residence with Thomas Pinckney's help, a local African-American builder. Outbuildings located behind the primary residence were constructed using salvaged brick from the former Shepheard's Tavern on Broad Street, also called The Corner Tavern, which was demolished in the same year.

It is believed, after the restoration of the house, rumors began to circulate claiming pirates lived there in its early days and used an underground tunnel system located in its basement that was connected to the waterfront of the Battery. The rumors stated the tunnels were the primary means of smuggling and escaping by the pirate visitors. During extensive renovations and the redirection of Charleston's sewage systems in the 1930s, the tunnel was filled with sand, as the story tells.

One rumor claims Blackbeard's legendary cache of gold is buried somewhere within the tunnel or in the basement of the house, which remains highly suspect because facts lean toward the presumption Blackbeard never set foot on the Charleston peninsula. As to the assumption pirates stayed there, Charleston's pirate days had ended by 1720. Although, sailors could have stayed at the tenement. However, search as you may, no legitimate evidence has been found to support such claims.

It is hard to say with any surety who visited the double tenement at 143 and 145 Church Street and what happened there. The name Pirate House became attached to the address due to the undocumented stories. Despite contrary facts, it will forever be known as the Pirate House, and the rumor will prevail with those who choose to believe. And to those who choose otherwise, in Charleston, even the truth is legendary. The house at 37 Meeting Street has similar stories.

The single house is an architectural style found almost exclusively in Charleston. The design is responsible for much of the city's unique charm. The floor layout was perfect for the narrow street-facing lots originally laid out in Charleston in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

The single house is only one room wide and two rooms deep on each of its levels with a central hall between them. They were purposely built with the piazzas facing south or west to get the cooling, prevailing breezes from the sea. It runs the length of the house with a public door facing the street at one end. Visitors would enter the home through this street entrance and traverse the porch to the home's centralized private door. Entertaining was done on the second floor, further from the dust and noise of the street.

While walking or riding the historic streets of the city, a tour guide might tell you single houses were a reaction to the city taxing street frontage, but truth be told, it had more to do with the efficient use of limited real estate in the confines of a peninsula. A Charleston County Public Library article entitled The Charleston Single states, "Early Charlestonians developed the single house as an ingenious solution to the various demands of their unique urban landscape: a house that provided privacy, ventilation, fire protection, and social status within the confines of a tightly restrictive public space."

Charleston's Pirate House--A Place Where The Reality Morphed Into The Legend

Charleston's antiquity runs as deep as its harbor waters and its tales are as tall as the steeple of St. Phillips on Church Street. As one of the oldest cities in America, it is a place where reality and legend walk the same streets declaring a timeless story about the lives of its progeny and their hallowed structures. A place where fact and fiction have been skillfully blurred to the delight of those who come to bask in its charm and grace. This is true of one of Charleston's oldest townhouses located at 143 and 145 Church Street.

It was built by Huguenot merchant, Alexander Peronneau, as a double tenement around 1740--likely after Charleston's great fire of 1740. The material used in its construction was Bermuda stone placed on a brick foundation--Bermuda stone was widely used in the construction of early Charleston. The city's old fortification wall was made from Bermuda stone as well as the 1769 seawall that was probably destroyed in the 1800s by a hurricane.

American scholar, Justin Schwebler, stated in an interview printed in The Royal Gazette, "The archives here have a very good history of how the stone got here. It appears that the stone would be cut in quarries in Bermuda, before being taken down to the Turks and Caicos, where large quantities of salt would also be loaded on to the ship. Then both materials would be brought up to Charleston, where the stone would be used for buildings and walls, and the salt for food preservation."

In the late eighteenth century, the double tenement was owned by craftsman and planter, Paul Smiser. Next, Mrs. Goodwyn Rhett took possession of the property. In 1928, Mrs. Rhett restored the home to a single residence with the help of Thomas Pinckney, a local African-American builder. At this time, the outbuildings located behind the primary residence were constructed using salvaged brick from the former Shepheard's Tavern on Broad Street, also called The Corner Tavern, which was demolished in that same year.

It is believed after the restoration of the house rumors began to circulate claiming pirates lived there in its early days and used an underground tunnel system located in its basement that was connected to the waterfront of the Battery. The rumors stated the tunnels were the primary means of smuggling and escape for the pirate visitors and at the historic Dock Street Theatre, two blocks down Church Street, evidence of the tunnel's existence can be found underneath its stage--an opening into a sand-filled passageway. During extensive renovations and the redirection of Charleston's sewage systems in the 1930's, the tunnel was filled with sand, as the story tells. One rumor claims Blackbeard's legendary cache of gold is buried somewhere within the tunnel or in the basement of the house.

The name Pirate House became attached to the address as a result of these stories, but search as you may, no legitimate evidence can be found supporting such claims. The Dock Street Theatre is peculiarly silent as to the rumored opening underneath its stage leading to a sand-filled tunnel. None-the-less, there is a plausible explanation as to how the truth, by way of a slight variation, gave birth to the rumor that grew into the legend.

Extensive renovations, including heavy disturbances to the grounds, were performed on the property of the Dock Street Theatre in the 1930's. In a report presented to the city of Charleston called "The Dock Street Theatre: Archeological Discovery and Exploration," evidence of an opening being discovered is corroborated. It states, "Visible in the northwest corner of the interior courtyard, adjacent to the exterior wall of the theater building and a brick property wall, was an opening in the concrete flooring of the courtyard, excavated to a depth of approximately 3' below the concrete surface. A rectangular brick foundation, roughly 6' north/south by 8' east/west, was exposed in the 10' x 10' opening." Construction workers reported that three courses of brick were removed from the foundation to complete the pit excavation. The foundation, visible in remnant yellow sand fill, was a single header (brick laid with the narrow end exposed) wide. The size, configuration, and location of the foundation suggested a privy."

As to the privy's dating, the piece goes on to say, "Moreover, the location and possible association with the standing structure suggested the building could be associated with the early 19th century. However, the artifacts recovered during the pit excavation included five green glass bottles typical of the mid-18th century. Additional artifacts collected during the pit excavation and during the archaeologist's visit date to the 18th century. No early 19th century materials were recovered." The 18th century puts it during the pirate years of Charleston. So--and this is my own assumption, change one word of the summary, tunnel for privy, and you have the legend to captivate the masses. You have to admit, it does make for better story telling.

As to Blackbeard's treasure being buried in the basement of the house or in the tunnels, there is no concrete evidence to be found anywhere in the archives of Charleston to support such a presumption. In fact, it is more likely Blackbeard never set foot on the city's cobbled streets nor drank at its taverns, although, their paths did cross in May of 1718, when Blackbeard's flotilla of ships blockaded the port of Charles Town, stopped and ransacked nine vessels, took Samuel Wragg--a member of the Council of the Province of Carolina--along with other prominent Charles Town citizens hostage, and at one point near the end of the ordeal, entered the harbor of Charleston and threatened the city. Blackbeard was in need of medical supplies. The affair from start to finish lasted many days.

As the story goes, a Mr. Marks and two pirates were put into a boat and sent into Charleston to collect the drugs. While in Charleston, the two pirates and Mr. Marks became separated. The two pirates went on a drinking binge with friends, but not likely at the infamous Pirate House. It didn't exist until 1740, although some say it was built in 1704, which then would have made it possible. After days had passed, the pirates were found drunk and returned to the ships with Mr. Marks carrying the demanded drugs. The hostages were released and Blackbeard sailed away with whatever treasure he possessed. Through the whole affair, Blackbeard remained on the ships.

With a history stretching back to 1740, it is hard to say with any surety who visited or what happened at the double tenement at 143 and 145 Church Street. The fact it has survived fire, hurricane, earthquake, and change all these many years is a testimony to its resilience. Despite contrary facts, it will forever be known as the Pirate House and the rumor will prevail with those who choose to believe. And to those who choose otherwise, in Charleston, even the truth is legendary.