MYSTERY PHOTO:  Something is under construction, but what?

Got any idea what and where this is?  Hint:  It’s in the tri-county area.  Send your best guess – plus your name and hometown – to editor@charlestoncurrents.com.  In the subject line, write: “Mystery Photo guess.” (If you don’t include your contact information, we can’t give you credit!)

Last issue’s mystery

The June 25 mystery photo (“Where it looks like Halloween all of the time”) showed Philadelphia Alley in downtown Charleston. A few people guessed neighboring back streets, but everyone who entered knew it was a Charleston alley – a navigational feature that seems to have evaporated in modern subdivisions.

Thanks to all who guessed … and hat’s off to those who correctly identified the photo: Stephen Yetman and Matthew Hubbard, both of Charleston; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Brian Hedden of North Charleston; Archie Burkel of James Island; Kristina Wheeler of West Ashley; and Chris Brooks of Mount Pleasant.

Burkel noted that the alley runs along The Footlight Players’ theater between Queen and Cumberland streets “and is one of the most haunted passage ways in Charleston..”

Wheeler said despite the alley’s spooky history, she enjoys strolling down the alley, which is “rumored to be the only place within the original walled city that you could hide from the churches of the holy city – never was sure about this, since St. Phillip’s is so close”

Graf provided more context gleaned from the Charleston County Public Library:  “On 7 October 1810, a large fire raged from Church Street on the west to East Bay Street to the east, and ranging from Amen and Motte Streets (now included in Cumberland Street) as far south as Broad Street.  News of the Charleston fire traveled northward, and by the end of October the city learned that the citizens of Philadelphia were gathering funds for the relief of Charleston’s sufferers.

“By mid-November the intendant (mayor) of Charleston acknowledged receipt of $6,000 in aid from Philadelphia, and by the end of the month a further $2,000 arrived.  On 30 January 1811, Charleston’s City Council passed an ordinance to assess and compensate property owners for the purpose of widening and opening the streets where the fire took place.  This ordinance also formally changed the name of Kinloch’s Court to Philadelphia Street (not Alley).  The proceedings of City Council from this era do not survive, however, so it is not possible to determine how this street’s new name was selected.”

Send us a mystery:  If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!)   Send it along to  editor@charlestoncurrents.com.