Red: valor and bravery

White: purity and innocence

Blue: vigilance, perseverance, and justice

 

 

                           QUICK FACT FRIDAY

 

 

As the 2021 Hurricane Season begins, the Mount Pleasant Historical Commission is highlighting the epic hurricane season of 1911. That year’s season was extremely active, producing six officially recognized tropical storms and hurricanes as well as three tropical depressions. The third hurricane of that season made landfall in the Lowcountry at the end of August, destroying crops, farmland and fishing facilities. According to the stories recorded by a local historian, the storm raised water to hip level, brought down trees, blew down houses, and nearly destroyed Friendship AME Church. It was also reported that, in total, 17 people were killed and an estimated $1 million (1911 USD, or $26.32 million in today’s dollars) in property damage in Charleston was incurred as a result of the hurricane. The Our History section of the Town of Mount Pleasant website recounts the following story of the storm as told by Julia Welch Hamlin who farmed 800 acres on Snee Farm Plantation:

 

Image Credit: Frank Moore, 2005

 

 

 

 

As you know, every year in May, local preservation groups, state historical societies, and business and civic organizations across the country celebrate Preservation Month through events that promote historic places and heritage tourism, and that demonstrate the social and economic benefits of historic preservation. With both May and Historic Preservation Month wrapping up, the Mount Pleasant Historical Commission would like to highlight an important preservation effort.  

 

Image Credit: Charleston Library Society staff member