A walk in an old, historic neighborhood where time stands still in Daydreaming on the Porch

There are fields of dreams and also “neighborhoods of dreams,” places real and remembered where the golden age of childhood plays out in endless summers. And after that the passages of life for the individuals and families who live there for any length of time. For neighborhoods are the focal points of entire towns and cities and suburbs. And old neighborhoods are the most interesting of all.

There is such a historic neighborhood, called Hampton Park Terrace, not far from where I live and adjacent to Hampton Park, which has a long and fascinating history of its own. It was the site of a plantation in the late 18th century, a horse racing tract, a Union prisoner of war camp during the Civil War, and the location of the 1901 South Carolina Interstate and East Indian Exposition, a World’s Fair style year-long event. 

The park contains an abundance of live oaks as well as other old oak trees and gardens full of flowers year-round. I like to walk in the park and take pictures, and sometimes I’ll walk in the adjacent neighborhood and photograph houses, objects and scenes that interest me and stir my imagination.

The area was developed starting in the early 20th century. In doing some research on this neighborhood, I came across a fascinating article by a local historic preservationist entitled, Hampton Park Terrace: Charleston City’s Beautiful Neighborhood.

In it she wrote this: *…By 1915, almost half of the 251 lots had sold, and nearly 200 houses had been built by 1922. The neighborhood was located on the streetcar route, allowing residents to easily commute to work, and real estate ads boasted, “no more desirable location for a home could be imagined-close to the river, away from the noise and bustle of the city, on the Rutledge avenue [trolley] car line and close to the King street car line, bordering Hampton Park, beautiful now and to be doubly beautiful when plans now being worked out are completed, within sight of the Ashley River with its fresh salt breezes, and the whole area high and dry, sixteen feet above low water mark.”

Houses are situated on large lots along tree lined streets, and come in a range of plans and styles from Four-square Arts and Crafts, to late Queen Anne Victorian, bungalows to Colonial Revival, and even a few diminutive Freedman’s cottages along Huger Street…*

It’s so nice to step back in time while walking in this neighborhood and imagine what it was like living there in the days when you could take a trolly car downtown to visit the F.W. Woolworth dime store or buy a new pair of shoes at Kerrison’s Department Store. All gone now, but I remember visiting those stores in the 1960s and Woolworth’s before it closed in the mid-90s.

In summer, the pink, purple and white blossoms of numerous crape myrtle trees add bright colors to the summer streetscapes. In Spring there are azaleas, and in winter camellias.

There’s a settled, peaceful feeling about this old neighborhood. I get the same feeling when I drive through historic small towns in the South. There are the Main Streets and downtowns to explore briefly, then, if time permits, a drive in the historic residential districts surrounding the downtown, often full of old Victorian and Queen Anne style houses, much as you can see today in Hampton park Terrace, plus an eclectic mix of other styles.

The suburbs can’t compete with these enduring old neighborhoods, full of history with many touches of Americana. Through the lens of nostalgia, it seems like these historic neighborhoods in small towns and larger cities embody a more innocent age. Compared to the present, this may be true to some extent. Regardless, one can always imagine it to be so.

Hampton Park Terrace Neighborhood, Charleston, SC

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