The Confederate Home......Mary Amarinthia Snowden's Legacy of Sanctuary

The Confederate Home, 62 Broad Street

     Perhaps you have glimpsed this stately Victorian building as you hurried along Broad St. It sits solidly along the street known for law offices and business buildings. Yet, if you simply hurried by, you missed the gift inside -- the sanctuary of retreat, reflection and safety that has marked its history and its story.

       Built in 1800 by Gilbert Chalmers, the building does indeed border Chalmers St. as it fronts Broad St. In the beginning it was the home of Chalmers' daughter and her husband, Gov. John Geddes, and it bore witness to the political entertaining that was an integral part of the office they represented. Many prominent citizens were hosted here, including President James Monroe in 1819. In 1834, the property was sold to Angus Stewart and became the Carolina Hotel. In the years preceding the Civil War, the U.S. District Court was held on the second floor. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, in a pronouncement and action that must have been dramatic at least, Judge Andrew Gordon Magrath closed the courtroom with the words, "The Temple of Justice is now closed".  From 1861 until February of 1865, the Confederate court met here.

     The heart of the story of the Confederate Home begins in 1867 when Mary Amarinthia Snowden and her sister, Isabell, saw a need that they longed to fill. Their goal was to provide a home -  a sanctuary if you will - for mothers, widows and daughters of Confederate soldiers. The old Carolina Hotel on Broad Street was the object of their attention. With seven other like-minded women and one Huguenot minister, they began meeting in earnest at the Snowden home. In the years immediately following the war, Charleston was struggling on every level....from economic impossibilities to physical devastation. Fund-raising was challenging at best. There was only one dollar in the coffers for the Confederate Home and it had been contributed by a Baltimore widow!  The Snowden sisters mortgaged their own home in order to pay the rent on the Carolina Hotel ---and set it on the road to accomplishing the vision that Mary Amarinthia had held. The education of young women was not a high priority in the general public during those lean years; however, for the young women who came to be a part of the Confederate Home, education was a critical means to a better life and a better community. By 1900, The Confederate Home became known as The Confederate College and was chartered by the state. Many instructors, including Dr. Charles Vedder, pastor of the French Huguenot Church, taught the young women at The Confederate College - and did so without benefit of salary.

Courtyard of The Confederate Home

          Today, The Confederate Home fulfills a purpose not far removed from the one Amarinthia Snowden envisioned -- one of sanctuary for women, reflection for artists and education for the greater good - and a promise of a better life. The dormitories have been converted to apartments and fifteen older and economically-challenged women call this place home. In addition, fifteen studios provide space for Charleston's artists and writers to reflect and create. The old courtroom is used for lectures and other events and young couples have said their wedding vows in this place that once gave hope and promise to young women of a different era.