Year-round events keep the Charleston area buzzing. Music and tempting aromas fill the air. Witness world-renown performances at Spoleto, get a taste of our heritage at a small town oyster roast or discover the find of a lifetime at an antique show. With so many events taking place, you'd better mark your calendar now.
South Carolina planter’s enthusiasm for horse racing will be the focus of a special exhibit at the Edmondston-Alston House opening February 7th and continuing through July, 2008. The exhibit, The Races! The Races! Charleston’s Gala Race Week, will emphasize the popularity of horse racing in Charleston during the 18th and 19th centuries, and tell the history of this most important social season.
South Carolina Planters were known for raising and racing thoroughbreds. In 1734, a group of Carolina gentlemen founded the South Carolina Jockey Club, the earliest known club of its type in the United States. The breeding of thoroughbred horses was a common pursuit of wealthy plantation owners, including Arthur Middleton and Colonel William Alston.
From the early 18th century, members of the Alston and Middleton family were actively engaged in horse breeding and racing. Colonel Alston, father of Charles Alston who owned 21 East Battery, was one of the premiere breeders of thoroughbreds in South Carolina and one of the founders of the Washington Race Course, known today as Hampton Park. Race Week was the highlight of
the season for the very social and sports minded planter families in Charleston. People came from all over the country to enjoy the festivities.
Among the many interesting racing items on display will be 18th and 19th century silver racing trophies, a nineteenth century oil painting of the famous race horse Albine, and a hand-sewn jockey uniform made by a slave seamstress at the Alston's Fairfield Plantation. Visitors may also view sketches, published in 1840, of a match race at the Washington Course by Charles N. Newdegate, a nineteenth-century English caricaturist. An unusual equestrian item of interest, a mahogany and brass measuring stick that was used for measuring a horse’s height will also be on display, as well as silver racing trophies.
Guided tours of the Edmondston-Alston House are $10. The Race Week Exhibit can be enjoyed by visitors at no additional charge. Tour times are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday and Monday 1:30 p.m. to
4:30 p.m. For more information, please call (843) 722-7171.
02/02/2008 - 07/31/2008
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