To sell the Old South,

one begins with a World’s Fair

to “showcase the charm”.

In winter 1901-1902, Charleston hosted a World’s Fair to jumpstart its tourism industry after rice production had slowed. Despite its attempts, the fair was economically unsuccessful for the city. The twentieth century also witnessed many major developments for the Charleston peninsula.

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Make land where lies sea,

Early on, Murray Boulevard was infilled to create a seawall, road, and new housing along the southwest end of the peninsula. Towards the end of the century, Waterfront Park was developed along the southeast of the peninsula, as well as the Ravenel Bridge connecting Mount Pleasant to Charleston.

Develop boulevards and

Throughout this century, several major hurricanes left their mark on the land, including a 1911 hurricane (which initially halted work on the Murray Boulevard expansion project), Hurricane Gracie (1959) which caused a “storm surge of nearly 9 feet” in the Charleston Harbor, and Hurricane Hugo (1989), a category 4 hurricane which set the record for the deadliest and most costly hurricane South Carolina had seen (estimated 6 billion dollars of damage) (Watson 1997). Regardless of the repeated warning signs provided by the raging storms, the landscape continued to be reproduced in man’s image and redeveloped for the sake of making a profit from land that does not exist. In accordance with Locke’s principles of private property, developers claimed ownership of the wetlands by laboring over it, forcing it to metabolize to serve man’s wallet.

create history. 

Meanwhile, Charleston’s tourist industry began to boom around the 1920s as the city made use of its historic artefacts for show, such as Revolutionary relics, antebellum houses, Civil War landmarks like Fort Sumpter, and plantations and gardens that transported visitors to a bygone era of the Old South. Important to the growth in tourism was Charleston’s “long, unspoiled beaches and marshes; water-related activities such as swimming, sunbathing, boating, and excellent fresh and saltwater fishing; beautiful scenery; and a pleasant climate with warm, moist summers and moderate, dry winters.” (Mitchell 2016)