Wicked Charleston : The Dark Side of the Holy City

by Jones, Mark R.

• ISBN13: 9781596290761
• ISBN10: 1596290765
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-30
• Publisher: History Pr

Summary

A beautiful Southern city distinguished by its opulent homes, towering church steeples and hospitality, Charleston, South Carolina, has long been associated with the genteel side of Southern living. However, beyond the outward appearances that most people associate with Charleston, there is another side that most visitors and residents would dare not believe is part of the very fabric from which the city's history was woven. Wicked Charleston: The Dark Side of the Holy City, by local resident and tour guide Mark R. Jones, opens the door to the dark alleys and seedy characters not often associated with the Charleston of today. From the sexual escapades of an original Lord Proprietor and the comings and goings of the most notorious pirates, to secret brothels and nightclubs, Jones leads the reader back to a time when "drinking, eating and whoring with more than fifty wenches" was perhaps more common in the Holy City than one may imagine.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS	7	(4)
PART ONE: MT, DRINK AND BE MERRY EARLY CHARLESTON
CHAPTER ONE: THE MERRY MONARCH	11	(14)
King Charles II— The Merry Monarch
Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper the Greatest Whoremaster
Addicted to Rum
Judge Trott Two Cases: Witchcraft and Murder
CHAPTER TWO: THE SWEET TRADE AND FREE LOVE	25	(16)
The Odd Couple: Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet
The Odder Couple: Anne Bonny and Mark Read
America's First Free Love Religious Cult: 1724
CHAPTER THREE: THE HOLY CITY	41	(22)
Marching Toward Freedom—The Stono Rebellion
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Colonial Debauchery
Lowcountry Gullah and Root
PART TWO: PETTICOATS AND PROSTITUTES ANTEBELLUM CHARLESTON
CHAPTER FOUR: SODOM AND GOMORRAH OF THE SOUTH	63	(22)
Swimming in a Swamp of Sin
David and Martha Ramsay—Intertwined Lives and Deaths
A Message to Hell Lovely Lavinia
CHAPTER FIVE: THE DENMARK VESEY CONSPIRACY	85	(16)
Charleston Conditions
A Boy Named Telemaque
The Plot
The Trial
CHAPTER SIX: THE CODE OF DISHONOR	101	(12)
General Daniel Edgar Sickles Eminent Scoundrel
Fools in a Duel: Settling Affairs of Honor
Notable South Carolina Duels
Code Ditello: The Rules of Dueling
AUTHOR'S NOTE	113	(4)
APPENDIX: 1718 PIRATE EXECUTIONS	117	(2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY	119	(6)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR	125