A Stroll Through Washington Park

Washington Park, Meeting Street

       

          Washington Park, sometimes called Washington Square, is a green oasis of great, moss-draped oak trees, located at the corner of two of Charleston’s most historic streets: Meeting and Broad. A beautiful wrought iron gate at each entrance welcomes you into a tucked away part of Charleston and invites you to slow down, rest, and enjoy this bit of retreat from the heat of the day and the noise of the city.

       This area was developed as a park as early as 1818, but it was not until October 19, 1881 that Washington Park was dedicated in honor of George Washington, who visited the city in 1791, and in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of General Cornwallis’ surrender to General Washington at Yorktown. Only five years later, the park became a virtual tent city housing many of the thousands left homeless after the great earthquake of 1886. The earthquake struck a little before 10:00 PM on August 31, 1886 and has been estimated as having an intensity of 7.3 on today’s Richter scale. Aftershocks kept the frightened citizens out of buildings for weeks and the earthquake demolished or damaged countless homes and historic buildings in Charleston. It is said that the quake was felt as far away as Canada!

Statue of George Washington

            Facing the Meeting Street entrance, the statue of George Washington, for whom the park was named, is the most recent addition to the statues and memorials in the park. More than 100 years after Washington Park was dedicated, Mayor Joe Riley appointed General William Westmoreland to chair a committee to raise funds for a statue of George Washington to be placed in the park that bears his name. The statue, created by sculptor, John N. Michel, was dedicated on Dec. 14, 1999.

Washington Light Infantry Monument

The obelisk at the center of the park is the Washington Light Infantry monument and is dedicated to the soldiers of the Washington Light Infantry who fought in the Civil War. This impressive four-sided monument was dedicated in 1891 and reads in part, “This shaft commemorates the patience, fortitude, heroism, unswerving fidelity to South Carolina, and the sacrifices of the Washington Light Infantry in the War Between the States, 1860-1865. One company in peace; three full companies in for the war.”

P.G.T. Beauregard Memorial

           Just a few steps away from the Washington Light Infantry statue is a marker honoring P.G.T. Beauregard, commander of the Confederate forces in South Carolina. A few steps from this marker and mounted on the rear wall of the park, is a prayer composed by Ellison Capers who was an Episcopal Bishop and a Confederate soldier.

In keeping with the Confederate theme, facing the Broad Street entrance to the park is a bust of Henry Timrod, known as the poet of the Confederacy. Henry Timrod was born in Charleston in 1829 and this memorial was erected, according to the marker, “with the proceeds of the recent sale of very large editions of the author’s poems by the Timrod Memorial Association of South Carolina”.

Bust of Henry Timrod

       Other notable monuments in Washington Park include a marker honoring Francis Salvador, “the first Jew in South Carolina to hold public office and to die for American Independence” and a marker to Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, mother of President Andrew Jackson, given by the Rebecca Motte Chapter of the D.A.R. The inscription reads: “In memory of Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson.......who gave her life in the cause of independence while nursing Revolutionary soldiers in Charles Town and is buried in Charleston.”


        A stroll through Charleston's earliest park is a microcosm of the history of the city herself. From tributes to Revolutionary War heroes and heroines, to Civil War history, to a statue of an eighteenth century leader dedicated on the eve of the 21st century, Washington Park offers not only rest and respite, but reflection as well.