65 www.ReadMPM.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.MountPleasantPodcast.com beautiful homes in large part made at plantations like Boone Hall by the enslaved who dug clay from the ground and packed it into molds that would bake in the sun before being set into a kiln to harden. By the 19th century, the art of brickmaking had become a booming industry, with the enslaved labor force producing the materials that would be used across the Lowcountry to build pathways and structures such as Fort Sumter, churches, chapels, homes and even their own quarters. Post-Civil War, after emancipation was granted, the brickmaking industry ground to a halt. Within the confines of the economic devastation that followed the bloodshed, Lavelle Tulla said that large portions of the plantations were then turned into working tenant farms with freedmen renting land on seven to 10-year work contracts, paying small amounts each week and helping farm the larger plantation, so that they could eventually own a tract of land. These freedmen, according to Lavelle Tulla, lived in vernacular or simple and unadorned cottages, erected either by the plantation owner or built by their own hands. By the close of the 19th century, the pendulum swung back in the opposite direction and the economy began to prosper once again, throwing the architectural fabric of Mount Pleasant, incorporated as a town in 1837 and named after the 67-acre plantation owned by Charleston city treasurer Jacob Motte, into rapid transformation. Along with developing industry, said Lavelle Tulla, people from other parts of the country started moving to the area, bringing with them wealth and spurring the construction of more grand dwellings on large pieces of land in varying architectural trends, such as Colonial and Neoclassical Revival styles. By the 20th century, according to Lavelle Tulla, transportation and the Industrial Revolution allowed for the import and manufacturing of various building materials such as stone, metals and mass-produced brick. Reflecting nationwide patterns, this led to an evolution of residential subdivisions and modern abodes in the suburbs, such as ranch houses, and by mid-century and more recently, the urban seashore allure referred to as coastal contemporary found across Mount Pleasant from the Old Village to Daniel Island. As Lavelle Tulla said, with extensive growth and development, we’ve lost so much architecture in the outlying areas beyond the peninsula. But, she continued, if you look closely enough, there is still evidence of our history in the landscape. Take, for example, the grand oaks framing the entrance of Snee Farm, once the passageway leading from the allée to the plantation house of Charles Pinckney. Trenches dating to the Civil War are still visible along Christ Church Road and U.S. Highway 17. Old farmhouses are tucked inside subdivisions and the remnants of a fortified Civil War battery named Fort Palmetto is hidden within the Oyster Point neighborhood where the old bricks peer out from the dirt along the pathway. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss the freedmen cottages along Long Point Road outside of Boone Hall that are disappearing behind the facades of new houses and strip malls. With its four-lane highways, stop lights and streetlights, countless subdivisions, neighborhoods and strip malls, Mount Pleasant’s historical landscape features are always the first to go, said Lavelle Tulla. Thankfully, we have historic preservationists such as Lavelle Tulla, who humanize the people and the stories behind the old buildings so that they can be restored and rehabilitated to their full glory, sustaining a past that our present and future will never forget. www.CarolinaRealEstatePodcast.com | www.TopTenHomesSold.com | www.readMPM.com
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