CHARLESTON. A port of entry and an im portant commercial centre, the largest city in South Carolina and the eounty-seat of Charles ton County (Map: South Carolina, D 4). It ia seven miles from the oeean, on a low penin sula formed by the Ashley and Cooper rivers, which unite in a brimil bay affording an excellent harbor, 130 miles by rail from the State capital, Columbia. and 82 miles northeast of Savannah, tins Charleston is a city of great historic and scenic interest. with pieturesque houses sur rounded by pleasant gardens. and with some ir regular and narrow streets. In the southern part of the city are White Point. Garden, a finely Nvooded park. containing the Jasper Monument and a bust of William Gilmore Sims, and the Battery, a popular promenade commanding a view of the harbor. The corner of Broad and :Meeting streets is the site of the /)1111-house, post-office. and city hall, the last containing a coi lection of historie relics and portraits. Other prominent buildings are Saint Michael's Church, opened for worship in 17111. the Itoinan Catholic Cathedral, Saint Philip's Church (Protestant Episcopal), the custom-house of white marble, the .Nlemminger Normal School, and the Thom son Auditorium. The city has a valuable library of 20,000 volnines (subscription) dating from the year 1748; and a number of charitable institu tions. the more notable of which are the city hos pital. Charleston Orjhan House, Elision Home, and Home for :Mothers. \\*blows, and Daughters of Confederate Soldiers. As an educational centre. Charleston is the seat of the College of Charleston, founded in 1785; South Carolina Medical College: South Carolina Military Academy, which known for the part its students played in 1861 in the Civil War; Porter :Military Academy: and Avery Normal Institute for colored students. The city main tains a well-equipped system of public schools. dating from 1810, and comprising primary Rad grammar schools, and a girls' high or normal school, in which are enrolled over 5000 pupils. About, $00.000 is devoted annually to the educa tional department. Monuments of William Pitt and .John C. Calhoun, and a bust of Henry Tim rod, the poet, are among the objects of interest. Outside of the city are found several resorts at tractive on aeeount of popular amusements and for natural beauties: Chivora Park, four miles beyond the city limits on the Cooper River: Isle of Palms, north of Sullivan's Island. and di rectly on the ocean; :Magnolia Gardens, 12 miles distant on the Ashley; and Sullivan's Island, with a fine beach for surf bathing. 'Magnolia Cemetery. three miles north of the City Hall. is
a beautiful spot, with fine trees, shrubs, and flowering plants.
The harbor, landlocked and one of the safest on the coast, has been so improved since the con struction of jetties as to admit large vessels, the depth of water on the bar at mean high water being. over 29 feet. \Vest of the channel is a lighthouse with a (lashing light at an ele vation of 133 feet. The harbor defenses include Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island—where the Federal Government, at an expenditure of over $500.000. is making extensive improvements de signed to render the artillery post at that point one of the most completely equipped in the I'nited States—and Fort Sumter. The other forts, well known in history, are now abandoned. The United States Navy Department has decided to transfer the naval station at Port Royal, S.C., to Charleston. An admirable site on the Cooper River. about seven miles from the city, has been secured, and plans requiring an outlay of several millions of dollars have been adopted for the constru•tion of au extensive and well-appointed 1111V y-ya rd.
The city has about nine miles of water-front, most of the wharves lying on the Cooper River. Good transportation facilities, by rail and water, form a feat•ure of its equipment as a commercial centre. The Clyde Line connects Charleston \\lilt New York. Boston, and Jacksonville, and freight steamers go to important foreign and domestic ports; the Atlantic Coast Line. Southern, and Plant. System railways afford railroad communi ea th In the early years of the Nineteenth Century • Charleston was the chief cotton port in the ('nited States, and down to 1860 it held third place among the cotton-receiving ports. Since the Civil War, however. the Charleston trade has de veloped but slowly. and during recent years the export trade has been declining. In 1901 the total exports amounted to $7.084.215, and imports to $1.477.719. Besides cotton exports (value in 1901, $6,72.8,665) there are large exports of rice. phos phates. fertilizers. lumber, and naval stores. The Militia trade has been slowly advancing and there is an important wholesale and jobbing trade with cities of the interior. Large quanti ties of fruit and early vegetables are shipped to Northern cities. Charleston. though known rather as a commercial centre, is the seat of con siderable industrial interests, the prineipal of which are the manufacture of fertilizers, and cotton-compressing. There are also extensive rice mills, carriage-factories, sash and blind factories, and manufactures of bagging. baskets, barrels, flour, lead. refined oil, beer, ice, et•.