Castle Pinckney Guardians — volunteers all — have been working hard since last year to clear the interior of Castle Pinckney in Charleston Harbor in preparation for archaeological work at the historic site.
They worked again Saturday morning, March 15.
Three Guardians, using their boats, transported 14 other Guardians from the Carolina Yacht Club to Castle Pinckney on Shute’s Folly at 9 a.m. and back to the yacht club at 2:30 p.m. once they had completed their work. The workday was shortened due to deteriorating weather conditions.
“We continued clearing soil and debris from the old concrete floor of the warehouse that was once located on the south side of Castle Pinckney,” explained Castle Guardian Matthew Locke, who regularly leads groups of Castle Pinckney Guardians to work at the site. “We also assessed the condition of a partly flooded cistern, one of two at the site, that is located beneath where that warehouse once stood.”
Last year, the volunteers began clearing the thick overgrowth of plants and weeds that had almost overtaken Castle Pinckney. They piled tons of the overgrowth within the center of the fort and burned the overgrowth on Nov. 4, 2024.
Since then, the volunteers have used shovels, rakes, gas-powered blowers, buckets and worn-out a wheelbarrow clearing several inches of soil and debris from the structure’s interior. Some, using pruning sheers, have continued to trim the Palmetto Trees at the site.
Cliff Roberts, who recently co-authored a new book on Castle Pinckney with Matthew Locke, uses his mobile phone to show an area of the fort depicted in an historic photo.
Two cisterns were installed at Castle Pinckney around 1901 to capture rainfall and hold water transported to the site from the mainland.
The first cistern, located under the porch the Lighthouse Keeper’s house on the west side of the Castle, was probably used by keeper’s family for drinking water and other purposes. The second cistern, located beneath the warehouse, which measures 24 feet in length, 10 feet in height and 8 feet in width, probably supplied workers at the Lighthouse Depot the water they needed for cleaning and other work-related purposes.
“We used a 10-foot-long 4′ X 4′ wood pole, and determined that the depth of water in the cistern was about six feet,” Locke said. “We also estimated that that the cistern, when full, would have held about 12,000 gallons of water.”
National Flags of Ireland and France Fly Over Castle Pinckney
Castle Guardians usually lower and raise flags whenever they work at Castle Pinckney.
“We lowered the South Carolina Flag, and hoisted the National Flag of Ireland while working at Castle Pinckney this past Saturday,” Locke said. “We raise the Irish Flag every year to commemorate St. Patrick’s Day, the religious and cultural holiday that is held on March 17, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 to c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. We also raised the flag to recognize the important role Irish men and women have made in the history of Charleston and the Lowcountry.”
The National Flag of France
John Mahoney and another volunteer visited Castle Pinckney on March 18 to lower the Irish Flag and replace it with the French Tri-Color Flag to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Marque de LaFayette’s visit to Charleston on March 15, 1825. LaFayette, the hero of the War of the American Revolution, returned to tour the United States during 1825.
Castle Pinckney’s Interior Changes Significantly
“We accomplished a significant amount of work this past Saturday morning, clearing soil and debris from most of the floor where the warehouse was located,” Locke said. “We also cleaned dirt and years of plant growth from the top of the brick reinforcement wall that was built on the eastern side of Castle Pinckney to provide extra protection for the fort’s powder magazine. The thick roots of the plants, growing between the cracks and crevices of the handmade bricks, were causing significant damage to that section of the castle.”
The condition of the Castle Pinckney’s interior has changed significantly since last year.
“Large sections within the fort — previously covered waist-high in plant growth and several inches of dirt and debris — are now clear for the first time in my memory,” Locke said. “We’re continuing to manage the growth of plants in other areas of the Castle to prepare for further archaeological maintenance work this coming fall.”
Volunteers will probably visit Castle Pinckney again before nesting season begins for coastal birds in early May.
“We want to complete the clearing of the warehouse floor, which we almost completed that past Saturday, and finish clearing the top of the reinforcement wall near the magazine,” Locke said. “We also want to continue to assess the warehouse cistern, and open and assess the castle’s other cistern.
“Finally, with help from our archaeologist, John Fisher,” he added, “we want to inspect the active archaeological sites within Castle Pinckney to ensure that they are secured and protected from birds during the nesting season.”
“Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Castle Pinckney!”