Meeting Street Memories: Lost architectural treasure
By Peg Eastman
Throughout the years, lower Meeting Street has lost multiple prestigious houses. According to an article by columnist Edward M. Gilbreth, one is the Fenwick/Pinckney mansion that stood on the site of the Williams Mansion, aka the Calhoun Mansion, at 16 Meeting St., formerly numbered 10 Meeting St.
Originally built by Edward Fenwick, the house later belonged to Charles Pinckney and according to Gilbreth, would have been “considered one of the most distinguished 18th century town dwellings to grace North America” had it survived; unfortunately, it was torn down by 1860. The lot was one of the southern-most parcels in the city, near the area later developed as White Point Garden. It extended 132 feet on the Meeting Street side and 240 feet back to Church Street. The house was set back from the street, making room for a gate, fencing and two small flanking buildings complete with cupolas. The masonry mansion stood three stories above a high basement, with a pediment centered above the façade on the hipped roof. A two-tiered rounded portico was approached by curving steps.
The mansion was built by Edward Fenwick, a provincial aristocrat, who inherited it from his father who also owned Fenwick Hall on John’s Island and Old Place at the head of the Ashepoo River. He added another 11,000 acres to his inheritance; five hundred slaves worked his seven plantations. His wealth enabled him to divide his time between South Carolina and England, which he visited several times between 1726 and 1774. At Fenwick Hall, he operated a stud farm and maintained a three-and-a-half-mile racetrack. While in England he purchased 14 thoroughbreds for his Carolina breed stock. Unsurprisingly, Fenwick was known as the “Founder of the Turf in Carolina.”
In 1758, Fenwick was one of the eight founders of the Jockey Club, the first of its type in the colonies. Racing was a gentleman’s sport, and it was not long before Jockey Club races and later the Jockey Club Ball became premier events of the winter social season — more so than any other ball or tradition. Gentlemen did not ride for money but rather the “honor” that a horse brought its owner. Purses were silver plate to remove all vulgarity.
Although a member of the Royal Council and Commons House of Assembly, Fenwick was not very active in local politics. He was a commissioner to supervise the building of St. Michael’s Church, commissioner to cut a canal in Charleston and justice of the peace for Berkeley County and a member of the Charleston Library Society. He married twice, first to Martha Izard, daughter of Ralph Izard and Magdalene Elizabeth Chastaigner and after her death, to Mary Drayton, daughter of Thomas Drayton and Elizabeth Bull. The latter marriage produced 15 children.
Fenwick returned from England for the last time in 1774. He was suffering from dropsy and was advised to spend the summer in a northern climate but died soon after in New York in 1775; his widow brought his body back to S.C. His city property passed to his son Edward Fenwick, Jr. In 1777, his daughter married Macartan Campbell, who bought the Meeting St. mansion from his brother-in-law. The Campbells kept the property for 11 years before selling it to Charles Pinckney in 1788.
Better known as “Constitution Charlie,” Pinckney was born in 1732, the son of Frances Brewton Pinckney and William Pinckney. He was privately educated under a noted S.C. scholar, Dr. David Oliphant, who instilled in him a political philosophy that viewed government as a solemn social contract between the people and their sovereign, and if the government fails to fulfill this contract, the people have a right and a responsibility to form a new one.
Pinckney completed his formal education studying law under his father’s tutelage and was admitted to the S.C. bar in 1752 and received an honorary degree from the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) at the age of 30. He was a devoted scholar and mastered five languages and accumulated a personal library of more than 2,000 volumes during the course of his lifetime.
Pinckney also owned five working plantations. He served as a vestryman at St. Philip’s and St. Michael’s parishes. Additionally, he was a member of the S.C. Society, a provincial grand steward of the Masons, a member of the Charleston Library Society and a member of the St. Andrew’s Society.
His first foray into public service was in 1754, when her was first elected to the Commons House of Assembly; he continued to serve in every assembly until 1775. Other offices included commissioner to regulate trade with the Creek Indians, justice of the peace for Berkeley and Colleton counties and commissioner to build an Exchange and Customs House and a new Watch House in Charles Town.
Pinckney supported actions against the British government and presided over a meeting at the famous Liberty Tree in 1770. He was elected to the First and Second Provincial Congresses, 1775-76, and was chairman of the First as well as serving in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1776 to 1778, and in 1779-80 in the Senate, where he was the presiding officer.
He was a member of the First and Second Councils of Safety, a member of the Privy Council in 1779 and fled Charles Town with Governor John Rutledge in April 1780 after the British took control of the city in May. He returned the following June and was granted parole. Because of his position, he came under intense pressure from the British to renounce the Patriot cause; when he resisted, his captors revoked his parole and placed him on a prison ship in Charleston Harbor.
After the war, Pinckney represented S.C. in the Confederation Congress, a post he held for three successive terms. In 1786, he was among those calling for federal authority to raise revenues, and in 1787, he led the fight for the appointment of a “general committee” to amend the Articles of Confederation, a move that led to the Constitutional Convention.
Representing S.C. at the Convention, Pinckney arrived in Philadelphia with many proposals and was one of the most active members of the Convention. More than thirty provisions can be traced to his pen. Among the issues he advocated were the subordination of the military to civil authority and retaining for Congress the power to declare war and maintain military forces. Pinckney tried unsuccessfully to include guarantees for trial by jury and freedom of the press, measures that later would be enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
Pinckney served in the state convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1788. He also chaired the assembly that drafted a new S.C. Constitution in 1790. In between, he was elected to his first term as governor. His second term as governor ended in 1792. Pinckney was chosen to be governor again in 1796.
Miffed that his cousin Thomas Pinckney was appointed ambassador to the Court of St. James, Pinckney broke with the Federalist Party and served as the state manager of Jefferson’s campaign for president in 1800 and supported Jefferson’s program in the U.S. Senate. He resigned in 1801 to become ambassador to Spain, where he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase.
Pinckney returned in 1804 to serve in the state legislature and a fourth term as governor. While in office, he supported an amendment to the state constitution to increase representation from the backcountry and pressed for measures that would eventually lead to universal white male suffrage.
Charles Pinckney married Mary Ellen Laurens, daughter of Henry Laurens; they had three children. Inflicted with dropsy, he died in 1824 and was interred in St. Philip’s churchyard.
Stay tuned: The fate of Pinckney’s Meeting Street mansion will be continued in September.
A Charlestonian by birth, Margaret (Peg) Middleton Rivers Eastman is actively involved in the preservation of Charleston’s rich cultural heritage. In addition to being a regular columnist for the Charleston Mercury she has published through McGraw Hill, The History Press, Evening Post Books, as well as in Carologue, a publication of the South Carolina Historical Society.
My appreciation to Robert Stockton and Lish Thompson for contributing to this article.
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