Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture Discussion Group => Topic started by: Karl Jensen on April 18, 2022, 07:32:48 PM
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Since the PGA Tour was at the Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina this past weekend, I thought it would be fun to make this post.
Below is an article published in the July 1923 Scribner's Magazine that was written by golf great Chick Evans. The article discusses the South Carolina Golf Club of Charleston, SC in the late 1700s. The article transcribes SC newspaper articles of that time reporting the SC Golf Club had a clubhouse on Harleston's Green and noted three officers. They were James Gairdner, President; William Blacklock, Vice-President and William Milligan, Secretary and Treasurer.
I was amazed to be able to find the graves online of these early American golfers. See the grave photos below. No surprise they were all Scotsmen. See also below images for the Harleston Green location in old Charleston and a modern day Harleston Green scotch whisky bottle label.
18th Century Golf in America by Charles Evans Jr., Jul 1923 Scribner's magazine
(https://i.imgur.com/6hroMsr.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fbKe1hO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ePMrk7n.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FukJndo.jpg)
James Gairdner grave, Summerville Cemetery, Augusta, GA
(https://i.imgur.com/5YZInJM.jpg)
James Gairdner death notice, 30 Aug 1830 Charleston, SC Courier newspaper
(https://i.imgur.com/xVXcYSK.jpg)
William Blacklock grave, Freer Family Cemetery, Johns Island, Charleston County, SC
(https://i.imgur.com/BUf9LI1.jpg)
William Blacklock death notice, 26 Feb 1816 Charleston, SC City Gazette newspaper
(https://i.imgur.com/3Z6xNQ4.jpg)
William Milligan grave, Kirkbean Parish Churchyard, Kirkbean, Scotland
William Milligan Esq. late of Charleston, South Carolina who died in his passage home in September 1810 aged 43 years.
(https://i.imgur.com/ThYfEBE.jpg)
Harleston Green location, Charleston, SC
(https://i.imgur.com/pxjMhz8.jpg)
Harleston Green Scotch Whisky
(https://i.imgur.com/IYhQmeR.jpg)
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Wow. Awesome post.
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Chick Evan's 1923 article about early golf in America in the late 1700s suggests that the Dutch game of Kolf Bann aka Kolven was involved in Charleston, SC's early golf history. Not so, from the below two newspaper articles you can see that the Kolf Bann that Mr. Evans mentions was a distinct game unto itself. It was played in a walled court known as a kolf bann by teams of two with one ball and two posts in the ground at each end.
Kolf Bann announcement, 27 Mar 1790 Charleston, SC City Gazette newspaper
(https://i.imgur.com/dRVVT29.jpg)
Kolf Bann sale, 17 May 1800 Charleston, SC City Gazette newspaper
(https://i.imgur.com/xiaeaAT.jpg)
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Great finds Karl. They are fun reads. Thanks for the work and research.
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Given that kolf was played on ice, it must have been a damned short season in Charleston
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This is the earliest mention of the South Carolina Golf Club of Charleston, SC that I found online. It comes from the 1793 South Carolina and Georgia Almanac by William Waring of Charleston. I don't have an original image but this is the transcription. Under the general heading of "Societies Established in Charleston" occurs this listing:
Golf Club Formed 1786.
Dr. Purcell - President.
Edward Penman - Vice President.
James Gairdner - Treasurer and Secretary.
Below is a portrait and death notice for Rev. Henry Purcell D.D. of Charleston, SC. He served as the first President of the South Carolina Golf Club. Born in England in 1739, he graduated from Oxford University in 1763, Henry Purcell came to Charleston in 1770 as rector of Christ Church. He was a chaplain to the Second South Carolina Regiment and then to the First Regiment, Purcell served as judge advocate general for South Carolina and Georgia in 1778. He was a member of the St. Andrews Society, joining in 1792. Rev. Purcell died 24 Mar 1802 and was buried in Saint Michaels Church Cemetery in Charleston.
Putting faces to names brings history alive. I wonder if the good Rev. kept the Sabbath and refrained from a round of golf on Harleston's Green?
BTW, Vice President Edward Penman died in London in 1817.
Rev. Henry Purcell portrait, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
(https://i.imgur.com/L9pGKEx.jpg)
Rev. Henry Purcell death notice, 27 Mar 1802 South Carolina State Gazette and Timothy's Daily Advertiser
(https://i.imgur.com/j9Ax2Tf.jpg)
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Can someone show on a recent aerial where Harleston Greens would be today?
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Can someone show on a recent aerial where Harleston Greens would be today?
Blake,
I would guess it wasn't far from the William Blacklock house that still exists today in Harleston Village in Charleston. See the two Google Maps links I have provided below that you can then click on aerial views.
Karl
https://www.google.com/maps/place/William+Blacklock+House+-+College+of+Charleston/@32.783037,-79.9394577,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x480464e2d4c63bbb!8m2!3d32.7829933!4d-79.9394326
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Harleston+Village,+Charleston,+SC/@32.7804692,-79.9495225,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88fe7a6babfdaec7:0xa450bcfebd73e476!8m2!3d32.7789906!4d-79.940256
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Harleston Green was mentioned in a Feb. 1917 American Golfer article.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/cc435/snilsen7/Harleston_s_Green_-_American_Golfer_Feb._1917.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://photobucket.com/u/snilsen7/a/acf16c8f-790e-4e37-bce1-74b1fd7e6a8b/p/1c58af2b-26a5-45c5-a6b3-82efe2307590)
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This website claims the Harleston Green was on a pasture in the vicinity of Pitt and Bull Streets.
https://charlestonempireproperties.com/harleston/
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Harleston Green was mentioned in a Feb. 1917 American Golfer article.
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/cc435/snilsen7/Harleston_s_Green_-_American_Golfer_Feb._1917.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds) (https://photobucket.com/u/snilsen7/a/acf16c8f-790e-4e37-bce1-74b1fd7e6a8b/p/1c58af2b-26a5-45c5-a6b3-82efe2307590)
Sven,
I found the location of Harleston's Green from the below 1858 report and projected it onto a Google Map using Calhoun St. as a northern boundary that is stated in your snip.
Karl
Report of the Committee of the City Council of Charleston, upon the epidemic yellow fever, of 1858
(https://i.imgur.com/J97d4hu.jpg)
Harleston Green location, Google Maps of Charleston, SC
(https://i.imgur.com/h4HfMle.jpg)