Charleston Neighborhood Study

This essay will explore the lived experiences of residents of the Green Street, Charleston, SC neighborhood in three parts:

1. Mapping the neighborhood and its history of growth and development during the first half of the nineteenth century. This will examine the built environment, the growth of the College of Charleston, and the demographics of households over this time period.

2. “Remapping” the neighborhood. This will consider the ways the built environment facilitated or created obstacles to social relationships. This will look closely at spaces of work, including the mixture of free standing and attached kitchen quarters and other out buildings across the neighborhood as well as who worked and lived in these spaces. Documents recording furniture and other objects in these spaces help us think about how these objects facilitated human behavior.

3. Recentering this remapping. This will explore questions such as: How might we begin to think about how these spaces and the movement of people and interactions within the spaces look and feel from the perspectives of enslaved persons living at 19 Green Street? From the perspectives of free people of color living on Green Street and nearby streets? What do these spaces and the built landscape tell us about power and privilege?