The Old Charleston Musuem at Cannon Park

Whenever I walk through Cannon Park with my camera, I invariably stop to take another picture of the four remaining Corinthian columns that once graced the entrance to the old Charleston Museum.  Although this structure caught fire sometime in the late 1970s or early 80s, the city decided to let the columns stand. (In case anyone's wondering, the building was empty when it burned and its contents had already been moved to the "new" museum that's still located at the corner of Mary and Meeting Streets.)

I always wondered what this structure originally looked like.  Finally, thanks to an article written by Post and Courier writer, Robert Behre, on Sunday, August 26th, titled "Preservation Remains Big Business Here," I have a better idea.

It seems that a woman named Frances Benjamin Johnston traveled to Charleston during the mid-1930s to photograph "endangered Southern architecture." Ms. Johnston's pictures are now part of the Library of Congress archives, and the old museum is included in this collection.


My favorite photo is posted below. It's taken facing west from across the street on Rutledge Avenue.

 Frances Benjamin Johnston

I usually shoot from the opposite direction, or from the western edge of the park, looking east.