John Linnaeus Edward Whitridge Shecut was born to Huguenot parents in Beaufort, 1770.   His father, Abraham Shecut, and his mother, Marie (Barbary) Shecut, had fled the religious persecution of France to settle in Switzerland, only to be lured across the Atlantic by South Carolina's reputation as a safe haven for French Protestants.  In 1779 they resettled again, perhaps prompted by the upheaval of American Revolution, to the capitol of Charles Town.  

Little is known of Shecut's early years, other than that he was fortunate to have as a friend of the family one of that's era most celebrated physicians, Dr. David Ramsay.  Under Ramsay's tutelage Shecut studied medicine.  In his early adulthood he left Charleston to attend the College of Philadelphia.  For unknown reasons Shecut returned back to Charleston at the age of 21, without having secured a degree. 

The lack of an M.D. did not prevent his practice of medicine, and he was still referred to as Dr. Shecut.   He was one of the first physicians in  Charleston to experiment with the use of electricity in treatment of diseases, fevers, melancholy, and a host of other ailments.  Shecut also dabbled as an apothecary; owning drug stores on King and Queen Street.  

Most medical practitioners of that period expressed some level of interest in the field of botany.  Shecut was no exception; botany developed into one of his most enduring passions.  In 1806 his Flora Carolinaeenis, or a Historical, Medical, and Economical Display of the Vegetable Kingdom according to the Vegetable Kingdom according to the Linnaean or Sexual System of Botany was released.   This was intended to be a comprehensive catalog of plants, which would also outline their medicinal properties, and would yet remain usable to the layman.


In 1819 Shecut reflected;
  
"In 1806, conceiving an era favorable to botany, the author complied andpublished ...a series of numbers on botany entitled 'Flora Carolinaeenis',in honor of his native state.This work was honored with a numerous patronage, and was continued to the completion of a volume of seven numbers; at which he was compelled to relinquish the undertaking with the loss of twenty months close devotion to its progress, and also, of 1800 dollars and upwards."

Shecut made have found a popular audience, but the professional reviews were less than kind.  One acidic reviewer found Shecut's writing "ponderous." A later medical reviewer was much kinder.  Dr. Gee, in the early 20th century, expressed admiration at the scope of Shecut's project, calling it one of the most extensive works on S.C. plant life ever published. 

Shecut had a wide range of interest, including literature, history and geography. This is evident in a 1819 medical treatises, in which he opens with a systematic overview of Charleston, creating one of the first tour guides of  the Holy City.  He was also a driving force for the S.C. Homespun Society, an early but short-lived cotton plant along the Ashley River in Charleston.  In 1813 Shecut helped to organize the influential Antiquarian Society of Charleston, later the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina; an organization dedicated the collection and preservation of natural history specimens. 

Shecut died in Charleston in the year 1836.   While the name John L.E.W. Shecut may be faintly remembered in the 21st century, his influence can been clearly seen in the successive generation of doctors, botanists and even tour guides who refer to and study his work.

Map of Expo grounds. 
From Archive.org

  After many weeks of hard labor the Sunken Garden was finally completed.  The crew, foreman and architects who had worked on this project had much to be proud of.  They had scooped out a bare slab of Charleston soil to create something that could truly be called a work of art.    A three foot deep lake, oblong in shape, and fed by springs of natural water, ringed the garden.  This new lake was surrounded by low wall decorated with statuary in the shapes of seashells, fish and other nautical designs. At the center of the lake was a small island covered with flora.   The architect in chief had called for the island to be "vivid with flowers of the richest splendor."

Evidently his vision had come to pass for a newspaper correspondent who visited the island wrote that "A refined taste is manifest in the plants and flowers (many rare exotics) already flourishing, and gives promise of rare beauty, diversified, yet harmonious."  Knowing it would be a popular destination, as well as a centerpiece, four bridges arced over the water to allow easy access and prevent crowds.  A dome-roofed bandstand stood a short distance from the head of the lake and gave visitors a chance to look back and reflect on the majesty of the Sunken Garden as a whole.

Yet, as beautiful as it was, this was just a small part of a larger affair. A city once stood on the banks of the Sunken Gardens in Hampton Park.   It was called the Ivory City, named for its stark white plaster facade of its' three main buildings, the Cotton Palace, the South Carolina Building, and the Palace of Commerce.   These massive structures were "Palaces" in name only; they were made not made of stone, but of wood and a mixture of plaster and cement called "staff", which was then painted white.

 To promote Charleston, and to prove to the world that the Holy City had survived the physical and economic devastation wrought by  such events as the Civil War and the  Earthquake of  1886  it was decided to host an Exposition.  The official title was the South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition.   The Exposition ran from the end of 1901 to early 1902, and by most accounts, it was considered a financial failure.  Yet, this  display of industry did manage to attract some new businesses to the area.  Perhaps the most tangible benefit is one of Charleston's most beloved recreational spots - Hampton Park.  After the Expo folded, much of the area remained a public park, and although the original design for the Sunken Garden, except for the bandstand, is no longer visible, Hampton Park remains a fitting tribute to the spirit of endurance shown by Charleston in 1901.          

Hampton Park Bandstand. 
From The Library of Congress.

Image from Library of Congress.

Basket weavers near the Four Corners of Law and on the Market are some of the last practitioners of a tradition nearly as old as Charleston itself.  In the city's early days African- Americans could be seen pacing the streets or camped out along the busy city intersections hawking their wares.

Before the Civil War some of these mobile vendors were enslaved, forced to sell goods on behalf of their masters.  The more fortunate of this group were given permission to sell from their own plots and allowed to keep the profits for their own benefit.  Another minority, the freedmen, without a storefront of their own, turned to street vending as a way to make ends meet.  

After the Civil War necessity dictated this tradition continue. Entire families took up the craft.  Some members would go out in a collection of small craft dubbed "The Mosquito Fleet" to bring in fresh seafood, which was later sold in stalls or out of carts.  Other vendors, like the ones pictured on this 1879 photograph, coaxed their goods out of the earth and sold it using nothing more than baskets and their voices.  

This remarkable image captures what appears to be three generations (likely a grandmother, mother, and two siblings).  Balanced expertly atop the heads of the women are baskets woven in the West African tradition, probably made of local sweet grass. Two of the baskets are filled with what clothing.  In a 1963 newspaper feature Ms. Mary Sparkman gave her readers insight on how such heavy a heavy load, usually upwards of 70 lbs.  was managed; these baskets "rested on a protecting nest of cloth, twisted and coiled into a sort of thick, flat turban."  The young boy in the group carries a bundle of kindling cinched together atop his head.

With limited opportunities after emancipation a number of newly-freed African American families turned full-time back to the long-established profession of street vendor.  Often, the children would carry this set of valuable entrepreneurial skills with them into adulthood, imparting it onto the next generation.  Modern supermarkets and improvements in refrigeration in the early 20th century heralded the end of this class of street vendor.

Still, glimmers of the old profession can be seen in Charleston.  Besides the basket-weavers, there are family-operated stalls in the Market, children on bicycles selling sweetgrass flowers to tourists, and the occasional vegetable or fruit truck still can be spotted on the byways or roads on the surrounding islands.    

 

Joel Roberts Poinsett.
From the Library of Congress.

Taxco, Mexico-December, 1828- One tradition holds that Joel Roberts Poinsett was out on a walk when he first noticed the unusual plant.  This bright shrub grew wild, right along the road he traveled.  It had colorful red appendages that appeared to be leaves at a first glance, but closer examination revealed that they were altered enough to be identified as bracts.  Clustered in the center of these bracts, were numerous small yellow flowers, known as cyathia.   This exotic plant seemed out of place.  The mountainous area near Taxco was famous for its silver mines, not for its native flora. 

Another version of this story takes place a few years later in the church of Santa Prisca in Taxco .  His first glance of the strange plant was along the altar inside the church.  Yet another account, also in a different year and different part of Mexico notes that Poinsett had previously noticed the plant because of its use by locals in various events or celebrations. 

 
Regardless of which story is true, this much is factual.  While in Mexico in the early 19th century, Poinsett saw the plant and took some cuttings.   It is from these cuttings that the flower made its’ appearance in the states.  In 1829, the plant debuted at the Exposition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to much acclaim.   Of course it was given a proper English botanical name Euphorbia pulcherrima.  By 1835 it was better known as Poinsettia pulcherrima in honor of the man who had exported it to the U.S.  
 

Today, Poinsettias have become synonymous with the Yuletide season.     The sales of this plant often outshine the total annual sales of any other flowering plant.  An estimated 60 to 70 million are sold annually, most of this in the weeks before Christmas.  In recognition of its’ popularity Congress has declared December 12 as National Poinsettia Day.    
 

Besides being an avid botanist, Charleston-born Poinsett was an important statesman.  He served in the House of Representatives, was the first U.S. Minister to Mexico during a tumultuous revolution, and acted as Secretary of War under Van Buren.  As an active Mason, he was involved in many Lodges and is credited with helping establish Freemasonry in Mexico .  Poinsett was also one of the founders of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts, a precursor to the Smithsonian. By the time of his death in 1851 he had a long distinguished career.  In tribute to his many accomplishments, a state park and many local landmarks bear his name. In 1989 he was further honored by being inducted in the S.C. Hall of Fame.

 
 Yet, his most public tribute seems to be his association with the plant he took back from Taxco .  What he would have thought of this irony can probably best be summed up by Poinsett himself.  He would often tell his friends traveling abroad to bring home a sampling of the indigenous flora with them; “If any one of these (plants) succeeds, then the tourist will be rewarded by a consciousness of having conferred lasting benefit to his country.”

December 25th, 1830.

It was approaching 8am Christmas morning in Charleston .  A large crowd of men, women and children, had left behind the warmth of their homes to stand out near the intersection of Line and King Streets.  They were clustered around the nearby station that housed the newest mechanical marvel of the age- a train.  It has been described as resembling an old fashioned wine bottle made not of glass, but of steel.  Its’ four and half ton body rested vertically on the rear of a four-wheel platform.   Hitched to this locomotive were two “pleasure cars,” ready to receive passengers.

  Back in November this engine had arrived in pieces transported from a foundry in New York .  After being assembled this metal behemoth had been put through the paces, its’ noisy, smoky, trial runs attracting a lot of attention from the inhabitants of the Holy City .  On Christmas Eve, the newspapers ran an announcement that the train was now ready to run, and invited the citizens their own chance to try this experimental mode of travel.
 
As it turned eight, last call was given, and about 140 brave souls stepped out of the crowd and boarded. They piled shoulder to shoulder into two passenger cars behind the locomotive, which sported a red and green paint job in keeping with the holiday.  A band of musicians assembled for the occasion played the passengers off as engineer Nick Darrell coaxed the train forward.
    
Only six miles of track had been laid.   On the inaugural run they were going to ride it one end to the next.  Jockey, a sports writer from New York , described his experience “On the wings of the wind at the speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles an hour, annihilating time and space and leaving all the world behind….”
 
In just over nine minutes they had traveled beyond the forks of the old State and Dorchester Road .  They stopped at San Souci to pick up a flatcar mounting a small cannon and staffed by a recruiting party of US troops. With their new guests the train made its’ triumphant returned to the station.   Jockey said of the return trip “(we) darted forth like a live rocket, scattering sparks and flames from either side, passed over three salt water creeks, hop, step and jump and landed us all safe at the end of the lines before any of us had time to determine whether or not to be scared.”  The train ran twice more on Christmas, carrying about 300 more passengers.  This gives it the distinction of being the first steam locomotive in the US to establish regularly scheduled passenger service. It seemed to have more than earned the name given to it by eager merchants “The Best Friend of Charleston.”

  More track was laid and more stations were built in the weeks after the Christmas run.  Unfortunately, on June 17, the Best Friend was destroyed in accident killing a rail worker and injuring several others.  This death would give the “Best Friend” claim to another first, albeit an inauspicious one, this would be the first fatality on an American railroad.  The accident was only a minor setback.  The railroad continued to grow and other locomotives were constructed all over the country.  A few years later the “ Phoenix ” was built, using pieces of the original Best Friend.

  Despite its’ brief life, The Best Friend has had museums devoted to it, and several replicas made of it over the years.  Lionel Toys even released a limited edition model of the train in 2007. A replica of the “Best Friend of Charleston” is now on in the S.C. State Museum in Columbia, another sits in the lobby of the Norfolk Southern Atlanta HQ in Atlanta .     
Image Above-Depiction of the Best Friend of Charleston.  From Archive.org