Charmed by Charleston Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Washington Monument

Mills had previously designed the Washington Monument in Baltimore. The Washington monument in Washington, DC, was built from 1848 to 1885, interrupted by the "Late Unpleasantness" and Mills' death. Additionally, he designed the U.S. Treasury building, the Old Patent Office (both in Washington, DC) as well as a variety of other works including private homes, bridges, hospitals, colleges, and breakwaters.

Answer: Italy

This seventeen-day festival has everything from traditional classics to experimental performing arts. It is held annually in late spring, offering about one hundred different performances during that period.

Answer: George and Ira Gershwin

The Docke Street Theater burnt down four years later, in 1740. The Planter Hotel, built on the same site in 1809, was remodelled in the 1930s, and reopened in 1937 as the Dock Street Theater.

The famous "Catfish Row" actually does exist in Charleston, but the real name is "Cabbage Row". The film version starring Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier is sadly being blocked from further viewing by the Gershwin and the Goldwyn estates because of dissatisfaction with the film.

Answer: True

Sitting in Charleston Harbor, Ft. Sumter originally belonged to the Union forces. Ft. Sumter fell to the Confederate forces after 34 hours of fighting on April 12-13, 1861. The fort was rebuilt after the Civil War.

Answer: Palmetto logs and sandbags

The Palmetto and sandbag combination turned out to be a superior defense, as those building materials were sufficiently soft to absorb the shells hurled on the colonists by the British forces. Perhaps that is one reason that South Carolina is the "Palmetto State".

Answer: Madison Square Garden

Dating back to the 1680's, the Magnolia Plantation is the oldest major garden in the United States. The Audubon Swamp Garden is a 60-acre blackwater cypress preserve and home to many native flowers, waterfowl, and alligators. Begun in 1741, the Middleton Place gardens are the oldest formal (landscaped) gardens in the United States and took about 100 slaves ten years to complete.

Henry Middleton was once president of the Continental Congress. Madison Square Garden is somewhere else - way up north I think - and from what I hear, doesn't even have a single azalea or camellia!

Answer: rice

Indigo and cotton were also important crops of the South Carolina "Low Country". In fact, the first cotton export came from Charleston in the form of a shipment of seven bags, worth about $875, shipped to England in 1748.

Answer: It was melted down and cast into a cannon.

This cannon was the first made by the Confederacy for use in the "War of Northern Aggression". There remains one on display at the Confederate Museum, in Charleston. A replica of the "Best Friend" can also be seen in Charleston.

Answer: Button Gwinnett, signer of the Declaration of Independence

Button Gwinnett was from Georgia and was, in fact, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He is believed to be buried in Savannah, Georgia. St. Philip's is also known as "The Light House Church" because its tower once contained a beacon to aid in guiding ships into Charleston harbor.

Answer: A duelling club

Your author wonders how the members handled "hanging chads" in their elections! I hope you have enjoyed this little tour of historical Charleston. When your author lived there, he was told that the war that existed in America in the early 1860's should not be referred to as the "Civil War" since "there was nothing civil about it"! Therefore he has dished up a few alternative phrases that have made their way through the Charlestonian dialect and sprinkled them throughout this quiz.