Second-generation preservationists save the city
By Peg Eastman
Prior to the construction of the Ashley River Memorial Bridge was built, West Ashley was comprised of the first Carolina settlement at Albemarle Point, still extant plantations used primarily for hunting and tourism, farmland and a flourishing black township known as Maryville. The only way to cross the river was by boat. The handsome bridge was built in memory of South Carolina’s soldiers who died in the First World War; it was dedicated May 6, 1926.
The bridge provided vehicular access to those traveling south en route to Meggett, Ravenel, Rantowles, Edisto Island and beyond. West Ashley remained relatively undeveloped until after the Second World War, when the area was gradually transformed into a suburban community of subdivisions, shopping centers, gas stations, restaurants and lots of automobiles to support this growth.
Meanwhile, James Island, Charleston’s most urban sea island, Folly Beach, Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island continued to accessible either by boat or by driving over the Ashley River Memorial Bridge and turning onto the two-lane Folly Beach Road that crossed Wappoo Cut using the outdated Intercoastal Waterway bridge. Predictably, the growing number of vehicles resulted in traffic bottlenecks that were exacerbated when the bridge malfunctioned.
By the time Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard, Jr. took office in 1959, commuter traffic was horrendous. In addition, the unincorporated suburbs desired the amenities and services offered by the city of Charleston. James Island alone comprised of the Country Club, Riverland Terrace, historic Fort Johnson, Lawton Bluff and other communities, so to increase revenue resolve the ever-worsening traffic problems, the city began a campaign to annex nearby developments, and the mayor announced that a James Island bridge was needed, which seemed reasonable.
In 1966, the city engaged a consulting firm which prepared maps of a new bridge over the Ashley River that was to be terminated at the junction of Broad Street and Lockwood Boulevard with a James Island freeway that would carry heavy traffic to the north area. The County Planning Board made some modifications and presented their concepts as the Downtown Traffic Plan. Consultants Wilbur Smith & Co. incorporated this plan into the county-wide Charleston Area Transportation (CHATs) Plan for the State Highway Department, which was approved by local governments and official became the Highway Department’s plan.
For Charleston, the approved plan envisioned Wentworth and Beaufain Streets as one-way roads running to and from the bridge. On James Island, the freeway would extend all the way out to Folly Beach. There was just one flaw: The grand design omitted a James Island expressway to the North Area. To solve this, there was to be an extension of Lockwood Blvd into to I-26 and an Inner Belt Freeway cutting through several subdivisions in West Ashley. Worse still, the once-simple bridge concept had become such a Gordian knot that the mayor was forced to suggest that the planners add a bridge ramp on Broad St. despite it being one the most historic streets in the country (readers are invited to read Broad Street and Beyond by Eastman and Stockton to discover this for themselves).
Sadly, the planners had not considered the destruction of much of the historic peninsular city, particularly impacting on Harleston Village. No residential area could have survived the volume of traffic predicted for Wentworth, Beaufain, Ashley and Rutledge and the shortcuts on Montagu, Bull, Barre, Gadsden and Pitt Streets. Broad and Tradd Streets would have also experienced increased usage. To make matters worse, residents of West Ashley protested the proposed freeway that would cut through their area. A tunnel was between the peninsula and James Island was even considered but ultimately turned down due cost estimates. In other words, the CHATs Plan created as many problems as it solved, and amid the outcry, state officials presented modified freeway plans.
Predictably, the Preservation Society of Charleston lost no time protesting the downtown location of the proposed bridge: The Harleston lands were the legacy of Affra Harleston and John Coming to Affra’s nephew John Harleston and his descendants. The Village of Harleston was subdivided into lots in 1770 by surveyor W. Rigby Naylor, also the architect of the Old Exchange Building. Harleston Green, as it was also called, was sparsely developed for many years but eventually was home to many wonderful mansions. Discharging bridge traffic into this historic area would have meant widening the streets, destroying the intrinsic value of a neighborhood with buildings of architectural interest, Charleston’s greatest asset to the tourist trade.
Historic Charleston Foundation and some of Charleston’s most dedicated preservationists joined the battle, among them Nancy Dinwiddie Hawk, Jane Lucas Thornhill, and Elizabeth Jenkins (Liz) Young. In 1967, volunteers such as Joan Ball whose home on Beaufain St. was opposite Colonial Lake (popularly known as “The Pond”) rode around on a bicycle circulating petitions. News and Courier columnist, W.H.J. Thomas wrote a series of “Do You Know Your Charleston?” columns on individual houses in Harleston Village, emphasizing the irreplaceable losses that would be incurred if the bridge plan was consummated.
Gedney M. Howe filed an appeal on behalf of peninsula residents and preservationists with the State Highway Department. City Council decided to fight Howe’s challenge, and realtor Fred Wichmann, a James Island resident who served on the County Planning Commission, campaigned vigorously for the bridge.
By June of 1972, the James Island Connector plans had been redrawn with a terminus on Calhoun St. after bitter controversy. The proposed cut through the Yacht Basin was squashed due to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s policy of restricting highway projects that affect recreational facilities. Looking at Lockwood Dr. and the yacht basin today, one would never guess the controversy it took to save Charleston’s venerable west side historical neighborhood. The James Island Connector opened on September 4, 1993, providing a route off of James Island that did not require crossing a drawbridge.
However, the grand plan has never been completed: The James Island connector stops on Folly Road, while the Mark Clark Expressway now ends on Route 17 South (Savannah Highway), and the battle rages on — following the failure of legal appeals, funding for the Mark Clare Expressway completion is up for voter approval on the November 5 ballot.
My appreciation to Robert Stockton, Lish Thompson, Vereen and Dick Coen, Laura Wichmann Hipp, Langhorne Howard, Catherine Jones, Elizabeth Parker and Jane Thornhill Schachte for contributing to this article. My apologies to Michelle Seay whose name was inadvertently left of the drawing she did of the Charles Pinckney house featured in my August article.
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.
