A production of South Carolina E.T.V.

(Mary Long) This is White Point Garden on The Battery in Charleston.

This area was heavily damaged on September 21, 1989, when Hurricane Hugo struck this city.

"The rain began to fall in torrents.

"The wind seemed to blow from all directions.

"Huge masses of water were flung vi olently in every quarter.

"The rain was accompanied by claps of thunder, "the noise of which was almost drowned "in the roar of the storm.

"Within 30 minutes, more destruction was wrought in Charleston "than has been known for years.

"The trees on White Point Garden stood the storm, "as they have stood every storm, that has occured in Charleston, since they were planted.

with the loss, however, of numerous limbs and branches."

That Charleston "News and Courier" article vividly describes the wrath of Hugo, but it's not about Hugo.

It's a description of a storm that occurred here in August of 1885, over a century ago.

Natural disasters are not new occurrences to Charleston.

This city has faced many and survived... survived because, well, in this city, one is aware of being surrounded by much more than a political and economic infrastructure.

Charleston is its people.

It was built on and has survived through faith, love, and the unyielding human spirit... "The Spirit of Charleston."

♪ ♪ [bluesy instrumental version of "Summertime"] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ In 1950, Mayor R. Goodwin Rhett said, "It is almost impossible for anyone "in whose life a place of residence is but an incident "to appreciate the feelings the people of Charleston "have for their city.

"It is no incident to them.

"It is part and parcel of their lives.

"It is the home of their forefathers.

"Its welfare is ever present in their thoughts and prayers.

"Its glories and misfortunes "have been theirs and their forebears for generations, and they love and they cherish the name of Charleston."

So today, as many others have done before them, the people of Charleston restructure their lives and rebuild their city as they face this latest disaster.

♪ It seems that the earliest history of Charleston was affected by natural occurrences.

In 1629, Charles I of England granted Sir Robert Heath a charter to establish a settlement in the New World.

In 1630, Heath launched an expedition.

His ship was the "Mayflower," the same ship that had taken the settlers to Plymouth ten years earlier.

Here is the first example of how nature changed the course of history for Charleston.

The "Mayflower," heading for the Carolina coast, met many storms and unfriendly winds, and it was blown northward and landed in Virginia.

Heath abandoned his idea, and it would be 40 years before another attempt at colonization would be made.

♪ [twangy, bluesy guitar music] ♪ In 1665, Charles II of England invalidated the grant of Sir Robert Heath and made a new charter for eight men who had helped him regain his throne.

They were named Lords Proprietors of the vast Carolina lands and were commissioned to found a settlement.

In 1669, the Lords Proprietors commissioned and provisioned three ships, the "Carolina," the "Albemarle," and the "Port Royal."

The ships sailed in August, but they soon found that nature was not about to make their mission easy.

♪ [no audio] [footfalls] In Barbados, a hurricane struck the small fleet, and the "Albemarle" was destroyed.

The settlers were transferred to another ship called the "Three Brothers."

Leaving Barbados, another storm hit, and the "Port Royal" ran aground and was wrecked in the Bahamas.

Those settlers were placed aboard a small sloop.

Sailing to the Carolinas, the terrible storm hit.

The "Three Brothers" disappeared and was considered lost.

Finally, buffeted by all the elements of nature, the "Carolina," followed by the sloop, entered Carolina waters.

They dropped anchor at Bulls Island.

After conferring with Indians there, they entered Charleston Harbor in April of 1670, sailed up the Ashley River, and began the first permanent settlement in the Carolinas here at Albemarle Point, so named in honor of the eldest of the Lords Proprietors.

Later the name was changed to Charles Town in honor of Charles II.

Approximately one month later, on May 23rd, the "Three Brothers" limped into Charleston Harbor and added her settlers to those here at Albemarle Point.

She had been beset by all the elements, attacked by Indians and Spaniards, yet through sheer determination and courage, she had reached her destination.

That spirit of faith and determination, which saved the little colony on the banks of the Ashley, sustains the modern city today.

[no audio] In 1672, the Lords Proprietors ordered that three sites be selected for colonies.

One was to be at the existing community of Charles Town.

The second was to be at the junction of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers, here.

It was called Oyster Point or White Point because of the large number of white oyster shells which extended from the tip of the peninsula.

The third settlement was to be on James Island.

Although this settlement was begun and named James Town and New Town, it soon failed.

The settlers were from New York, and they came to Carolina to escape their taxes and hard winters.

Now, isn't it interesting that over 300 years ago Northerners were coming to South Carolina to escape their high taxes and harsh winters?

[seagulls cawing] In 1680, the settlement on the Ashley was moved to White Point.

It was felt this site was superior to Albemarle Point, as it was more defensible against Indians and marauding Spanish ships.

That was indeed true, because the waterfront of the Cooper River offered excellent dockage for ships of trade, and the harbor was easily defended.

However, there are some things against which there is no defense.

In the three years between 1697 and 1699, it seemed as though the young settlement would falter and die.

♪ The first occurrence to threaten Charles Town was a smallpox epidemic.

Charles Town was a port city and so was susceptible to any disease brought ashore by the many sailors who visited the city.

In 1697, a smallpox epidemic occurred, evidently brought ashore by an infected sailor.

Within weeks, entire families had been killed.

Things might have settled down rather rapidly if another terrible event had not occurred.

Within that three years, an unknown plague struck the cattle of the city and the surrounding area.

Now the livestock, which was so necessary for the proper nourishment of the colonists, was destroyed.

[vehicular noise] [indistinct chatter at market] In 1699, following the cattle plague, the people of Charles Town were afflicted with a terrible yellow fever epidemic.

Yellow fever was the most horrible and feared disease that could affect the Lowcountry.

People didn't know it was caused by a pesky mosquito, but they knew it was a terrible and quick disease.

The stages of yellow fever are threefold.

First it affects the liver and causes the eyes and skin to turn yellow.

With the jaundice, the "yellowing of the skin," came an excruciating pain and a high fever.

The pain would be in the head and back.

Finally, as the yellow fever reached its final stage, it caused rupturing of the tissues of the throat and lungs so, in its final moments, there was a violent hemorrhaging through the mouth.

People knew this would come in the summer and in early August.

They also knew there was no cure for a person afflicted with it, and there was no hope.

It was said of that epidemic of 1699, "The town was thinned to a very few persons."

♪ [twangy guitar music] That year, while yellow fever ravaged the city, a hurricane struck.

Water rose to the second story of some houses.

Outside the harbor before the hurricane was the ship "Rising Sun."

When the congregation of the White Meeting House on the site of the Circular Church realized Reverend Archibald Stobo was aboard, they invited him to come preach a sermon.

While he was here, the hurricane struck.

The "Rising Sun" and all abroad were lost.

Reverend Stobo remained in Charles Town and became one of the leading clergymen.

♪ At this time was the first of similar disasters which would repeat throughout the years.

A series of fires ravaged the city and caused untold damage.

Because the houses of Charleston were so close together, the city was in constant danger of fire, which could devastate whole city blocks in a matter of minutes.

♪ With the colonists beset by smallpox, yellow fever, cattle plague, a great hurricane, and destructive fires all in three years, it looked like they would never reach the 18th century.

But the colonists, who carved their settlement out of wilderness, were not about to let it go.

They'd developed pride in and love for their surroundings that was seldom equaled.

They buried their dead, rolled up their shirtsleeves, and began rebuilding... a scene that would be occurring many times in the next three centuries.

♪ The 18th century was a period of rapid growth.

Immigrants came to the colony from England, Barbados, and France.

South Carolina offered unlimited opportunity to those willing to brave the journey and risk the dangers of a new land.

By 1720, Charleston was the fourth largest city in America.

It rivaled New York, Philadelphia, Boston in commerce and shipping.

It was favored by England because of its loyalty to the Crown and its strict adherence to English law.

However, by mid-18th century, these views changed as the sons and daughters of South Carolina, feeling they suffered undue oppression, rose and threw off the suffocating cloak of British rule.

[vehicular noise in background] While the 1700s were among the most progressive for Charleston, they were also among the most difficult.

Nature, seemingly bent on destroying the city, struck repeatedly.

At one time, five French privateers entered the harbor, hoping for easy capture because of little resistance.

The city was at its lowest ebb due to smallpox.

They gave Governor Johnson one hour to surrender.

Johnson called on Colonel William Rhett, who would become famous by capturing the pirate Stede Bonnet.

Rhett managed to gather enough ships and drive the invader from the harbor.

Then in 1728 a hurricane struck.

This was immediately followed by swarms of mosquitoes.

So many colonists contracted the yellow fever that they died by the hundreds.

♪ [synchopated acoustic guitar music] Ten years later, in 1738, another yellow fever epidemic occurred.

In 1740, a fire damaged major buildings.

In 1748, a hurricane severely attacked houses and buildings along the waterfront.

Four years later, in 1752, another hurricane hit with great velocity.

In 1778, there was a major fire, which destroyed over 250 buildings here in the Church Street area.

It's thought it was set either by Tories or British sailors who sneaked into town.

It occurred mid-January, and it was so cold that the water, which was poured over rooftops to extinguish flames, froze into long icicles, which hung from the eaves of the houses.

♪ The 1700s went out and the 1800s came in in a blaze of glory.

At the turn of the century, a fire broke out in an alley northeast of Saint Philip's Church and quickly spread south to Broad Street.

A long-standing landmark, the Corner Tavern, here at the corner of Broad and Church was destroyed.

It had been the favorite meeting place for Charleston's famous sons.

One historian said that more decisions concerning the future of South Carolina in the mid-1700s were made at the tavern over a mint julep than in official halls of government.

♪ [vehicular noise] ♪ The second Huguenot Church, located on this site, was destroyed in the fire, and the second Saint Philip's Episcopal Church, on the site of the present building, was also ablaze.

It was saved by a slave who was also a sailor.

He climbed the bell tower and ripped the blazing shingles off with his bare hands.

For his courage in saving the church, he was given a sum of money, a fishing boat equipped with nets, and his freedom.

♪ ♪ For 130 years, the people of the city faced disease, hurricanes, and raging fires, and survived.

One is compelled to ask why... what was it that made them face disaster after unending disaster and rebuild?

Perhaps part of the answer can be found in the writings of William Gilmore Simms.

"Disaster so terrible and frequent "might well have discouraged "the hope and enterprise of the infant city.

"But the people of those days "were possessed of an admirable elasticity of character, "and after each momentary shock, "they shook themselves free of its terrors "and resumed their toils with a vigor which had so often saved them from even harder fortunes."

♪ ["Summertime"] But was the ability to overcome hardship, as evidenced by those early settlers, the only trait that allowed their later descendants to succeed?

I think part of the answer lies in the words of a visitor to Charleston from Naples, Italy.

"For the first time in this country, "I saw in the face and heard in the voice "real love for a place.

"In New York, it is money.

"In Washington, all seek career.

"Here is different.

"In Charleston is love of church, of city.

"Charleston is the first place in America I visit where people love the city itself."

♪ ["Summertime"] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ By this time, Charleston had faced all the major offenses nature had to offer and persevered.

But the worst is yet to come.

♪ ♪ [no audio] ♪ [twangy guitar music] We have seen how Charleston and her people suffered during the first 130 years of her existence.

We have seen how the elements which control nature seem to have aligned against mankind to force him from these shores.

We have seen the people overcome and rebuild.

Wouldn't it be fascinating to stand on Broad Street in a thriving city in the early 1800s and talk to the average passerby?

Would they tell us of struggles to overcome disease and disaster, or would their conversation take an entirely different line?

Regardless of whatever they said, we would understand a great pride in and love for this city, which was unequaled anywhere in America, and we would walk away from the conversation knowing, regardless of what was to come, Charleston was on these shores to stay.

♪ Over the years, Charleston tried to build up East Bay with a strong seawall.

It was constantly reinforced and solidly built of palmetto logs.

Just when it looked as if the city had succeeded, a hurricane with gale-force winds occurred in 1804 and totally destroyed it.

When the wall was rebuilt, it was constructed of stone, and the high battery that you see today was completed in 1854.

♪ Except for a few fires, the dreaded yellow fever, and an occasional storm, the early 19th century was kind to Charleston.

But in 1835 a tragedy, which had earlier been averted, came to its grim conclusion.

The steeple of Saint Philip's Church caught fire, and there was no brave sailor to save it.

In a letter from that time, we understand the frustration of the onlookers as they watched that beautiful structure succumb to flames.

"The least exertion, one good head, "might have saved that noble building.

"Nothing was done, however.

"They watched it burn to ashes.

"The steeple caught first.

"One wet blanket could have extinguished it, "but though there were hundreds of sailors in port, "nobody thought of sending a few up to the roof "to smother that spot of flame.

"That one spot spread, weaved slowly round, "and finally burnt the church to the ground "without one single effort having been made to save it.

Poor Mr. Gadsden, the rector, fainted when he saw it."

Three years later, in the spring of 1838, one fourth of the city of Charleston burned.

But that was not the worst that would strike the city.

♪ [no audio] The night of December 11, 1861, eight months after th e bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston braced for war.

Although residents didn't know it, they had much more to fear than the threat of Yankee invasion.

The conflagration that would sweep the city began on a Cooper River wharf at the end of Hasell Street, northeast of the City Market.

It was very windy, and embers from a cook fire caught a quantity of hay ablaze on the wharf.

Within minutes, it was out of control.

There were no able-bodied men in the city.

They were either at war or training in camps.

There was no hope of stopping the fire.

Flames caught by the gusty winds leaped into the air from building to building.

The fire passed just north of Saint Philip's Church, which had been recently rebuilt, and passed southwest all the way to the Ashley River.

The first building destroyed was the Pinckney mansion on Colleton Square just north of the City Market.

It had been the home of Charles an d Eliza Lucas Pinckney.

Towering flames rushed down Broad Street, destroying the hall of the Saint Andrew's Society.

When it crossed Meeting Street, the Circular Congregational Ch urch designed by Robert Mills was reduced to rubble.

Next door, the newly completed South Carolina Institute Hall, site of the signing of the Ordinance of Secession, was completely destroyed.

The Cathedral of Saint John at the corner of Broad and Legare was completely gutted, leaving only an empty shell.

Emma Holmes, a parishioner of Saint John's, recorded the event in her diary.

"Throughout that awful night, "we watched with weary hours at the window, "and still the flames leaped madly in demonic fury.

"Now the spire of our beautiful cathedral is wrapped in flames.

"There it towered above everything, "as arch after arch fell in, "and still the cross glittered and burned high over all.

"At 5 a.m. the city was wrapped in a living wall of flame fr om the Cooper to the Ashley."

Unfortunately, the congregation of Saint John's had let its fire insurance lapse one week before the blaze.

[no audio] Another visitor to the city stood watching during that long night.

As flames soared nearby, General Robert E. Lee stood on the second floor balcony of the Mills House and watched as over 540 acres were destroyed.

When the fire finally burned itself out on December 12th, a curtain of black, drifting ash hung over the city like an ominous shroud.

Over one third of Charleston lay in smoking ruins.

[no audio] ♪ ["Summertime"] In 1865, at the end of the War Between the States, much of the city of Charleston lay devastated.

The great fire of 1861 and four years of Yankee bombardment had nearly reduced to rubble all the efforts and accomplishments of almost 200 years.

The morale of the city was at the lowest level it had ever reached.

And for those 200 years, a planter system of society and measure of values had developed in Charleston and throughout South Carolina.

And when the war ended, that world ended.

♪ ♪ [no audio] For the city of Charleston, the years after the great fire and the War Between the States represented a new beginning.

The last 200 years were gone, and a whole generation of Charlestonians must rebuild not only their city, but a new set of beliefs and values.

The people of Charleston had survived many natural disasters and overcome.

But the latest disaster, which along with the great fire had almost destroyed their city, was the pestilence of war, and this was entirely within the control of man.

It would never happen again.

Although some planters, like General Wade Hampton, exerted a great deal of influence, the efforts to overcome these latest setbacks would belong to the common man.

In the late 19th century, the farmers, the merchants, the artisans, the laborers would be the architects of the future.

New directions and new ideals soon would heal the wounds of war, but nature was not about to stop her attacks.

On August 25, 1885, a hurricane, the likes of which had never been seen before, struck.

Ships were sent ashore and wrecked.

The seawall by East Battery was pounded into rubble by the violent waves.

White Point Garden was flooded.

Numerous buildings along the waterfront were simply blown away by violent winds.

The gilt ball and weather vane on Saint Michael's plunged 190 feet to the sidewalk, just as it did over a century later during Hugo.

The storm was devastating, but the spirit of Charleston remained intact, for, as the city was in a struggle to recover, the small town of Washington, Ohio, was destroyed by a tornado, and the people of Charleston were the first in the country to send assistance.

People of Charleston must have felt they had been visited by every disaster known to man, but they were about to have a new experience.

♪ [twangy guitar music] ♪ It is August 31, 1886, a year after the great hurricane.

It is a hot, humid night, and citizens are resting at home or sitting in the local tavern to escape the high temperature.

Many are safely in bed.

A young English chemist, Robert Alexander, is strolling down Meeting Street.

He stops here at Number 34 Meeting and takes out his pocket watch in order to check the time.

It is 9:51 p.m. As he returns the watch to his pocket, he feels a tremor beneath his feet, as if the very earth is twisting.

He looks around and sees the walls of surrounding buildings beginning to shake as if buffeted by high wind.

Quickly he looks up!

The last thing he sees is the parapet of this house as it plunges toward him.

The last thing he hears is a tremendous roar.

Then he is lost to darkness.

Within a moment, Robert Alexander became one of 76 casualties of the earthquake of 1886.

Had it occurred earlier while the people of Charleston we re actively engaged outdoors, the number of casualties would have been staggering.

As it was, most were home and thus somewhat safe.

The terror-stricken people who rushed outside were killed by falling debris from the collapsing buildings.

The shock lasted between 35 and 40 seconds.

It was described by a reporter from the Charleston "News and Courier."

"Without a moment's warning, "a subterranean roar was heard.

"Buildings shook from garret to cellar, "the fearful noises growing louder and louder, "buildings swaying like trees in a storm.

"Then came the crack of tumbling houses, "and simultaneously, mingling with those notes of horror, "came the shrieks and wailings "of frightened women and children.

"A second tremor shook the city 8 seconds later, "bringing even greater physical damage "as many buildings had been weakened by the first shock.

"Throughout the city buildings collapsed, "walls fell in tangled masses of rubble, and frightened people rushed everywhere."

Another "News and Courier" writer, Carl McKinley, described the terror.

"At this moment is heard again the low, ominous roll, "already too well known to be mistaken.

"It grows louder and nearer, "like the growl of a wild beast approaching prey.

"Tall buildings blot out the stars.

"Shattered cornices and copings, "the tops of the frowning walls, "lie piled to the center of the street.

"It seems a touch now will send the broken masses "down upon the people below, "who look up at them and shrink together "as the tremor passes under them.

"The mysterious reverberations swell and roll along like infernal drumbeats summoning them to die."

♪ Many of Charleston's buildings fell during the earthquake.

Almost every other structure was damaged in some fashion.

The building to escape with the least damage was the Fireproof Building, which native son Robert Mills, America's first architect, had designed to be almost earthquake-proof.

Charleston lay in ruins, and the most intensive cleanup and rebuilding ever required was undertaken by her staunch citizens.

♪ ♪ Evidences of the earthquake exist today.

Massive pillars and a Greek portico, which fronted this house at 13 East Battery, fell into powder with the force that struck that night.

They were never replaced.

In 1893, seven years after the earthquake, a great hurricane struck.

Hundreds died as a wall of water swept the Lowcountry.

Although destruction was everywhere, the irreverent humor--part of the spirit of Charleston-- was shown by a Charlestonian who mentioned the 300 people from Savannah who were visiting.

He said it was a shame they visited at that time "because all they saw of the city was what flew past their windows in chunks."

The great hurricane of 1893 would be remembered in history as the worst that had ever struck... that is, until September 21, 1989, when Hugo vented its wrath upon Charleston.

[no audio] There is a vibrancy in this city that cannot be crushed by the most destructive forces of nature.

It is an abstract idea that cannot be touched... honor, courage, and pride in a unique heritage that began on the Ashley River over 300 years ago.

It is in the pride and craftsmanship of the imposing man-made structures that surround us.

Nature has had no effect on the men and women who gave life to those structures.

Charleston is and has always been its people... those men and women, preservationists of the past and builders of the future, who today refuse to let their city and their heritage fade.

The ravages of time cannot erase the accomplishments of three centuries.

Writing in 1875, Arthur Mazyck, a native of Charleston, described his city of yesterday... and even more appropriately, today.

"Beautiful as a dream, "tinged with romance, "consecrated by tradition, "glorified by history, "rising from the very bosom of the waves, "like a fairy city created by the enchanter's wand...

Charleston."

[no audio] [footfalls echoing] Here in the Old Exchange Building enveloped by the past, one can almost feel the presence of those who once graced this building.

The very walls seem to whisper names like Middleton, Drayton, Rutledge, Lafayette, Moultrie, Marion, Washington, and many more.

And yet there are the people whose names we don't find in the history books, people who passed through here day by day from colonial times to the present.

One can feel their presence.

They remain a part of this city.

[footfalls echoing] [no audio] You can see them today walking down Broad Street.

And as you look into their faces, one is moved to say, This is Charleston.

Their love for their city is as evident today as it was 300 years ago.

They weep freely over the loss of anything that is Charleston, yet they maintain that spirit which has sustained them through the years.

Their intense love of life and ability to face any disastrous event in a humorous, accepting fashion prompts one to say that this is also Charleston.

(male speaker) One, two, three, four.

♪ ["The Charleston," composed by James P. Johnson] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Program captioned by: CompuScripts Captioning, Inc. 80 3.988.8438 ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [no audio] Charleston, South Carolina is a fabulous place, a city that has kept in touch with its history through the preservation of important landmarks.

When you visit, you'll be amazed at how well past mingles with present.

Behind its well-preserved, older appearance, it's a modern, living city.

Citizens here are proud to be part of its continuing history.

Hi, I'm Chuck Smith.

I'll introduce you to people who are working hard to make Charleston's past an important part of our future.

♪ [classical string music] There are several reasons to visit Charleston.

One might be Spoleto, the annual celebration of the performing arts.

But perhaps the best reason is Charleston is a living mo nument to an earlier America.

Through the years, the city has ma naged to keep some of its 17th- and 18th-century charm through preservation of historic buildings and landscapes.

Even in early days, there was a sense of preservation, as indicated by the Latin inscription on the old seal of the city... "She protects her buildings, laws, and customs."

But it hasn't been easy.

The city has been ravaged by war and nature.

However, many feel the greatest threat to Charleston will always be the threat of progress.

(Jonathan Poston) It was in about 1929 that Standard Oil culminated a series of property purchases of key corner lots in the old, historic district in Charleston.

With those purchases, they demolished a number of historic buildings.

On this particular location, they removed three late-18th/ early-19th-century houses-- um, houses, commercial buildings-- that were on this site at 108 Meeting Street.

At the intersection of George and Meeting Street a few blocks north, they took down an even more significant dwelling, that of Gabriel Manigault, constructed about 1800.

The people of the city were very much enraged by all this.

(Smith) The gas stations were built and became the catalyst for change.

In 1930, the Charleston City Council began studying zoning, which resulted in passage of a zoning ordinance and the creation of the Historic District.

This was the first such or dinance in the United States.

With it came the establishment of a board of architectural review.

Current chairman is Will Evans.

It's the board you love to hate.

You love it because it's there when your neighbor goes to do something inappropriate.

You hate it when you have to go there because it's telling you what you can do.

Very often we have to come to grips with that problem.

I think most everyone agrees it's a good thing that the board is there to protect buildings, to hold onto the historic fabric and feel we have, the patina we have, to make sure things are done in the proper way, and to give guidance.

(Smith) Although Charleston established the historical zoning ordinance and Board of Architectural Review, hundreds of would-be historic structures were lost during the 1930s and '40s.

The ordinance protected only a fourth of what we know as the Historic District.

Charlestonians began to move aggressively towards rehabilitation of older areas.

The Ansonborough neighborhood would have been a candidate for the wrecking ball had it not been for the initiative of Frances Edmunds.

(Frances Edmunds) I looked around at that neighborhood and just thought, If you save this neighborhood, it would spread out.

And then we thought about the rehabil--or the-- what is it--revolving fund for refinancing the houses.

That's how it all started.

It took us a long time.

(Smith) Little by little,the Ansonborough neighborhood was saved, and Frances Edmunds' me thod of using a revolving fund for purchasing houses and saving whole neighborhoods was copied by preservation groups all over America.

Although there were some notable victories, there were still some undeniable defeats.

While the Ansonborough neighborhood was being saved, other significant structures were demolished, like the old Charleston Hotel.

One of Charleston's better-known tour guides, Elizabeth Young, remembers the building well.

When you see something like the Charleston Hotel taken down and lost forever-- the most beautiful building with 14 gorgeous columns, and they said it was deteriorating.

They only wanted to build a modern motel there.

We begged them to save the facade, but they did not.

When that went down, that in creased everybody's awareness of the worth of preservation.

Whether you like it or not, whether people who live here like it or not, Charleston is famous, and the real reason is because of these wonderful old buildings, and that is our stock-in-trade.

If you get interested in preservation, it gets in your blood.

If you've been born and raised in this city, the hold that you have with these old buildings just becomes really permanent, and it passes from generation to generation.

(Smith) Daniel Ravenel is the se venth generation of his family to live in this house built in 1796, one of oldest residential properties in the city to remain in the same family.

It is in the heart of Charleston.

Charleston is more like a village than a city.

We all know each other.

We walk these streets.

We don't drive them for the most part.

You want to live in a reasonable environment, in a place that's quiet.

We've got good city services, the crime rate is down, the economy is good, and we seem to be in a favorable position now.

You don't want to kill the goose laying the golden egg by overdoing it.

That's one of the big problems that Charleston's having to face and will have to face.

It's interesting that this is the success of preservation, that in holding to certain values of the heritage of this area over a 50-year period, all of a sudden people have wanted to capitalize on those cultural values.

Charleston now, because it has got a special quality, becomes very high-valued in the international marketplace.

At that point, we become a portfolio asset, something to be owned, but whether you plan to live here is the question.

The house may be someplace to house your collection, but is it the place you're going to house your family?

That challenge relates to increased real estate and speculative value of property in Charleston.

(Smith) The price of real estate is astronomical.

This is the Jenkins Mikell House, an impressive house currently on th e market for over $2 million.

But it wasn't long ago when you could have bought this for a lot less.

Ed Ball has been a real estate agent more than 40 years.

Thirty thousand for a house, when I started, was a good, full price.

On East Battery, I remember another agent beating me out on a house by $500 that sold for 51,000 instead of 51,500.

Now goodness knows what it would sell for.

It's overlooking the harbor.

Everything has gone up and up and up.

But I think, in the overall-- by-and-large overall picture, that preservation efforts have played a significant part in the increase in value, because they are these unique houses, there are only so many, and they're not making any more.

The demand keeps growing and growing as people find Charleston.

(Smith) As the demand for homes grows, so does the need for skilled craftsmen who can restore a house.

This is different than wo rking on a conventional home.

(Chris Fale) There's no comparison.

It just takes a long time.

If you're working on home construction, you do it and get out.

On this, it's always a surprise.

You never know what you're going to find.

You just have to deal with it.

People that have these buildings, they just want it done.

To a certain extent, they don't care how long it takes or what it costs.

They want it to last another hundred years.

And that's what this type of work is geared for.

Rehabs have to be honest rehabs.

It should be more of a sense of conservation as to what you're doing, rather than, um... some places, a restoration which is not as honest.

There's a wonderful quality in the city of patina and 300 years of history, which has to be preserved.

It can't be painted over.

It shouldn't be new.

There should be a sense of history as you walk down streets and look at buildings.

Hopefully Charleston will always hold to a residential focus, rather than becoming a museum city or an asset city so that, really, we don't have people who can live here and-- experience urban diversity, which means different people of different economic levels, different social levels.

That's what urbanity is about, and I hope it would never happen that we would lose our urban nature in the rush to capitalize on Charleston's attractive quality.

(Smith) As Charleston moves into the '90s, preservation of the past will become preservation of the future.

Keeping what is valued today intact can only bring a welcome destiny.

There will always be challenges.

However, understanding these challenges is a first step towards preserving a valued way of life.

I suppose the two greatest concerns that we have are development pressures, which can alter a historic area, whether it be urban or rural, by increasing development in the area... maybe not demolishing a historic building but altering its setting by adding other buildings, or by increasing the density of an area and changing its usage and changing its vitality and thereby altering the historic character.

Development pressure is a very significant issue for preservationists.

Well, it's a general observation in terms of what Charleston represents, but how that might be of value to people around the South-- in South Carolina or elsewhere-- is that all Charleston ever did was be actively interested in its own place, its local history.

People were interested to keep what was important here, and it's now become an international and nationally significant place.

The bottom line is, Charleston exercised common sense about the common place where common people lived.

That's all anyone has to do to maintain preservation in their own community.

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