Exchange and Provost

Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon
Exchange and Provost in 1977
Location E. Bay and Broad Streets, Charleston, South Carolina
Coordinates 32°46′31″N 79°55′38″W / 32.77528°N 79.92722°WCoordinates: 32°46′31″N 79°55′38″W / 32.77528°N 79.92722°W
Built 1767
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Georgian
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 69000160
Significant dates
Added to NRHP December 17, 1969[1]
Designated NHL November 7, 1973[2]

The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, also known as the Custom House, and The Exchange, is a historic building located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

It was built from 1767-1771 as the Royal Exchange. The first cupola was damaged by a hurricane in the early 1800s, the second deteriorated before the Great Earthquake of 1886, and the third was not placed until 1981 when the building opened as a museum.[3]

According to the National Park Service: "[T]he structure has served as a customhouse, mercantile exchange and military prison and barracks. The building was badly damaged by Union artillery fire during the Civil War and the great earthquake of 1886; it was repaired after each occasion."[2]

In 2012, a study was completed of the building's use as a British prison during the Revolutionary War. Soon after taking control of Charleston in 1780, the British started housing prisoners in the Exchange, but not exclusively in the "dungeon". The investigation was able to document at least 120 prisoners held in the Exchange, but there were many more whose identities could not be discovered. The facility was not exclusively used for Colonial prisoners, and at least some British soldiers were held there too.[4] The Building housed the South Carolina convention to ratify the United States Constitution in 1788, and was the site of many of the events in George Washington's week-long stay in Charleston. The building continued as an Exchange until the 19th-century, when it also became a post office. During the 19th-century, the postmaster defended the Exchange's shipment of abolitionist pamphlets from angry Charlestonian rioters. In the American Civil War, the building remained a Confederate post office, but was hit by several shells during the war, and thus abandoned. In 1913, the building was granted to the Daughters of the American Revolution, who have preserved it ever since. In World War I, the building served as the army headquarters of General Leonard Wood and the United States Lighthouse Service—the latter having been in the building since the late 1800s. In World War II, the building not only served as a USO facility and canteen for troops, but served as the Coastal Picket Station for the Sixth Naval District of the United States Coast Guard. In 1965, the Half-Moon Battery, a 1698 fortification, was discovered underneath the building.[5]

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.[2][6]

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History summary is there.[7]

The Customs House, seen here in 2013, stands at the foot of Broad Street in Charleston, South Carolina.

Old Exchange Building

The Old Exchange Building is owned by the South Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who operate guided costumed tours that include all three floors of the building. The Provost Dungeon once had animatronic figures that tell stories of pirates and colonial days, but these animatronics have been supplanted by personal dungeon tours by docents.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Exchange and Provost". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  3. ↑ "A Restoration". Charleston News & Courier. Sep 11, 1884. p. 8. Retrieved Nov 14, 2012.
  4. ↑ Hicks, Brian (August 20, 2012). "New history of the Provost Dungeon uncovered". Charleston Post & Courier. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  5. ↑ Andrus, Taylor. Charleston's Old Exchange Building: A Witness to American History. The History Press. pp. 1–100. ISBN 9781596290464.
  6. ↑ Charles W. Snell (January 9, 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: The Exchange and Provost / The Exchange" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying two photos, exterior, from 1972 PDF (32 KB)
  7. ↑ "Exchange and Provost, Charleston County (E. Bay & Broad Sts., Charleston)". National Register Properties in South Carolina listing. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 2008-03-03.

External links