Name/Title
Adger's Wharf (General)Entry/Object ID
ADGERS.GEN.001Scope and Content
Originally developed ca. 1735. Named after the 19th century shipping magnate James Adger. Streets are mostly paved in cobblestone and comprise the 18th century location of Ancrum's and Motte's Wharf and later Greenwood's Wharf, originally united by William Crafts and Nathaniel Russell around 1800 and then sold to James Adger in 1842. The house at 90 East Bay is a rare 18th century survival of these wharf buildings, despite notable changes to its windows and first-floor storefront in the 19th century. Its neighbors at 18 and 20 South Adger's Wharf had achieved their present forms by the mid-1830s. Between 1834 and 1861 the buildings at 4-16 South Adger's Wharf and 1-15 North Adger's Wharf contained cotton warehouses and factors' offices, and from here Adger's steamship lines provided weekly passenger transport to New York. Converted into residences and some offices beginning in the 1940s, the buildings retain their original masonry warehouse openings, now infilled with Colonial Revival style windows and doors. The former warehouse and factor space at 6-16 North Adger's Wharf served as cotton sample storage and offices as late as 1951. The granite foundations of Adger's Wharf are incorporated in that portion of Waterfront Park lying at the foot of these streets, adjacent to the Charleston Harbor Pilots Headquarters (Poston, Buildings of Charleston).
From Charleston Streets (website): Adger's Wharf is one of the several streets in the made land to the east of East Bay Street, which still carry the names of wharves. Adger's Wharf began its history as a "low water lot" (land exposed at low tide) belonging to Robert Tradd and situated across Bay Street (now East Bay) from his residence at Tradd and the Bay. Robert Tradd, a son of Richard Tradd and, according to tradition, the first English child born in South Carolina, died in 1731, bequeathing the "Water Lot" to Jacob Motte and his children. Motte was for many years the Public Treasurer of South Carolina and was also a prominent merchant, a sometime partner of James Laurens (brother of Henry Laurens). He built on Tradd's low Water lots a large wharf known as "Motte's Wharf" or "Motte's Bridge." Buildings on Motte's Wharf included a "scale house," where items were weighed, and which apparently was large enough for Motte to locate his office and store there after the great fire of 1740. North of Motte's Wharf, which later became known as Adger's South Wharf, was Greenwood's Wharf, which later became known as Adger's North Wharf. Greenwood, a British merchant in Charles Town, was one of the consignees of tea, taxed under the Tea Act of 1773.
File contains: newspaper articles (4/9/83 relating to permit allowing City to fill marsh site, 7/6/84 photo of the wreckage or pilot boat in 1911 near Adger's Wharf, 7/26-27/84 regarding new Harbor Pilots headquarters); copy of 1884 advertisement for James Adger & Co. (steamship company); copies of plats (1804, 1835); history of the wharf (by Samuel Stoney?, ca. 1950s?); history of Adger's Wharf from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; history of Adger's Wharf (Patricia McKee, 2013).Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
ADGERS.GEN.Source or Donor
Adger's Wharf (North and South)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
South Adger's Wharf, Ancrum's Wharf, Motte's Wharf, Streets--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 File FolderArchive Notes
Finding Aids: Index to Property Files
Level of Description: FolderLocation
Location
Shelf
Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Notes
PF Box 1Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
ADGERS.010.1, ADGERS.016.1, ADGERS.018.1, ADGERS.GEN.002, ADGERS.GEN.003, ADGERS.GEN.004, ADGERS.GEN.005, ADGERS.GEN.006Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), p. 53-54
Lowcountry Digital Library (search Adger's Wharf and Adgers Wharf)Interpretative Labels
Label Type
Online CatalogLabel
Originally developed ca. 1735. Named after the 19th century shipping magnate James Adger. Streets are mostly paved in cobblestone and comprise the 18th century location of Ancrum's and Motte's Wharf and later Greenwood's Wharf, originally united by William Crafts and Nathaniel Russell around 1800 and then sold to James Adger in 1842. The house at 90 East Bay is a rare 18th century survival of these wharf buildings, despite notable changes to its windows and first-floor storefront in the 19th century. Its neighbors at 18 and 20 South Adger's Wharf had achieved their present forms by the mid-1830s. Between 1834 and 1861 the buildings at 4-16 South Adger's Wharf and 1-15 North Adger's Wharf contained cotton warehouses and factors' offices, and from here Adger's steamship lines provided weekly passenger transport to New York. Converted into residences and some offices beginning in the 1940s, the buildings retain their original masonry warehouse openings, now infilled with Colonial Revival style windows and doors. The former warehouse and factor space at 6-16 North Adger's Wharf served as cotton sample storage and offices as late as 1951. The granite foundations of Adger's Wharf are incorporated in that portion of Waterfront Park lying at the foot of these streets, adjacent to the Charleston Harbor Pilots Headquarters. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston)
From Charleston Streets (website): Adger's Wharf is one of the several streets in the made land to the east of East Bay Street, which still carry the names of wharves. Adger's Wharf began its history as a "low water lot" (land exposed at low tide) belonging to Robert Tradd and situated across Bay Street (now East Bay) from his residence at Tradd and the Bay. Robert Tradd, a son of Richard Tradd and, according to tradition, the first English child born in South Carolina, died in 1731, bequeathing the "Water Lot" to Jacob Motte and his children. Motte was for many years the Public Treasurer of South Carolina and was also a prominent merchant, a sometime partner of James Laurens (brother of Henry Laurens). He built on Tradd's low Water lots a large wharf known as "Motte's Wharf" or "Motte's Bridge." Buildings on Motte's Wharf included a "scale house," where items were weighed, and which apparently was large enough for Motte to locate his office and store there after the great fire of 1740. North of Motte's Wharf, which later became known as Adger's South Wharf, was Greenwood's Wharf, which later became known as Adger's North Wharf. Greenwood, a British merchant in Charles Town, was one of the consignees of tea, taxed under the Tea Act of 1773.
File contains: newspaper articles (4/9/83 relating to permit allowing City to fill marsh site, 7/6/84 photo of the wreckage or pilot boat in 1911 near Adger's Wharf, 7/26-27/84 regarding new Harbor Pilots headquarters); copy of 1884 advertisement for James Adger & Co. (steamship company); copies of plats (1804, 1835); history of the wharf (by Samuel Stoney?, ca. 1950s?); history of Adger's Wharf from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; history of Adger's Wharf (Patricia McKee, 2013).Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
March 31, 2004Updated By
sferguson@historiccharleston.orgUpdate Date
May 24, 2023