Porter's Lodge

Entryway to the College and the Cistern Yard

Completing the design of Cistern Yard, this symbolic entrance to the College has also housed janitors, student clubs, and faculty offices. Its arches welcome incoming students and community members to campus and usher new graduates out at the end of commencement.

The building was constructed in 1850-51 during renovations and additions that re-oriented the College’s main building towards George Street. Prior to these additions, this side of the campus had been a space for privies and a firehouse. Architect and College of Charleston trustee Edward B. White designed a new portico for the 1828 building and lowered the tall brick wall that had surrounded the campus, making the new portico visible to passersby.  After the Lodge was constructed, the College janitor was asked to keep his firewood and laundry out of the main alcove and to get rid of a cow that grazed Cistern Yard. The former backyard, now enclosed by a fence rather than a wall, was further transformed by the attractive proportions of the Porter’s Lodge, with arched entryways and iron gates. White’s design resulted in a cohesive, elegant green space that framed and complemented the substantial Main Building, later renamed Randolph Hall.

Today, faculty offices occupy the top floor of Porter’s Lodge, but these rooms were originally living quarters for a custodian, or “porter,” in the parlance of English universities that the College wished to emulate. Long-serving janitor John Cahill lived in the Lodge for almost 50 years, including the Civil War years when a horse-drawn fire engine was stored in the Lodge. Cahill was later commended by the College for remaining at his post during the bombardment of Charleston.

In the 20th century, the Lodge ceased to house a janitor, but was periodically used as a space for student clubs and a dormitory. The Lodge was sometimes referred to as “the guard house,” but the janitor was often called upon to guard the College from the hijinks and vandalism of its students, rather than intruders, according to janitor Robert Matthews. During a brief period in 1918 when the College doubled as a barracks while students trained for the military, Matthews also served in uniform as an orderly. Interviewed for the 1930 yearbook, he stated that the horseplay of male students became more restrained once women began attending the College.

In earlier decades, Porter’s Lodge offered a visual statement of welcome to those who belonged, while also declaring that this enclosed, tranquil park was set apart for College use. In Lemon Swamp and Other Places (1983), a memoir of growing up in a middle-class African American family, Mamie Garvin Fields recalls walking past George Street as a young girl in the early 1900s. She and her sister peered through the gate at the campus, which was “full of pretty flowers,” but they were interrupted by a white boy shouting, “Scat! N_____, what you doin’ ya?” The frightened girls ran across the street, where a kindly woman selling candy comforted them, explaining,“Chillun, dat ain’t for we.” This painful memory reflects the College’s past as an exclusionary, white-only institution, but Fields recalls another prophetic remark by the candy-seller, who told the girls, “Someday you chillun will go right ya to get schoolin, just like dat po’ buckrah who talked to you so mean.” The College, which desegregated in 1967, now strives to be inclusive rather than exclusive, welcoming all into a space once reserved for sons of Charleston’s white elite. Mamie Garvin Fields, who became an influential educator and community leader, was welcomed into the College posthumously: the papers of Mamie Garvin Fields are housed in the College’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.

Although the campus now extends well beyond the Cistern Yard, Porter’s Lodge remains the symbolic threshold into and out of the College. Its gates  usually remain open except during special events. The College’s spring commencement concludes with graduates processing out onto George Street through the Porter’s Lodge, passing under a triumphal arch and a Greek inscription that translates as “Know thyself.”

Audio

Audio version of this essay The audio version of this essay was voiced by Joy Vandervort-Cobb, associate professor of theatre at the College of Charleston.

Images

Porter’s Lodge by Night
Porter’s Lodge by Night The Greek inscription on the doorway translates as “Know Thyself.” Courtesy of the College of Charleston.
Circa 1930s view of Porter’s Lodge
Circa 1930s view of Porter’s Lodge In the background is Randolph Hall, and in the upper right corner, the Charleston Orphan House (demolished in 1953 by Sears, Roebuck Co.) The College provided scholarships for a few boys from the Orphan House. Courtesy of College of Charleston Libraries, Special Collections.
Porter’s Lodge, circa 1930s
Porter’s Lodge, circa 1930s Women enter Cistern Yard through the Lodge gate. Courtesy of College of Charleston Libraries, Special Collections.
Robert Matthews, Head Janitor
Robert Matthews, Head Janitor Matthews began working for the College in 1901. A Spanish-American War veteran, he also wore a uniform during World War I, when the College doubled as a barracks while students trained for the military. One of his duties during this period was awakening students living in Porter’s Lodge and “The Shack” on Green Street. Matthews, when interviewed for the 1930 yearbook, stated that the horseplay of male students became more restrained once women began attending the College. He also recalled nights when some students used the Lodge as a place to frighten or entertain passersby, using a simulated ghost, made of cardboard and a sheet, that they hung from the windows. Matthews retired from the College in July 1947 and passed away less than two months later. Courtesy of College of Charleston Libraries, Special Collections.
Porter’s Lodge and playground of Bennett School, circa 1930s.
Porter’s Lodge and playground of Bennett School, circa 1930s. In the 1930s the campus did not extend across George Street. Cistern Yard walls were the boundary and Porter’s Lodge was the main gate. Courtesy of College of Charleston Libraries, Special Collections.
Mamie Garvin Fields, 1913
Mamie Garvin Fields, 1913 This photo of Fields was taken a few years after she and her sister had been told to “Scat!” when they looked through the Porter’s Lodge gates. On that day, a candy-seller across the street comforted the girls, telling them that African American children should go to Shaw School because the College “ain’t for we.” Fields did attend Shaw, then earned her college degree in 1909 from Claflin College in Orangeburg. She had a long career teaching on Johns Island and James Island and was also an influential clubwoman who successfully advocated for adult education and daycare for children in the Charleston area. She wrote her 1983 memoir Lemon Swamp and Other Places in collaboration with her granddaughter, Karen Fields. The papers of Mamie Garvin Fields are housed in the College’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.
Convocation 2019
Convocation 2019 Convocation opens the academic year. New C of C students have just submitted their first assignment – on the year’s College Reads! book selection – and have attended a small-group discussion. In this photo, C of C staff cheer students on as they approach Cistern Yard, where the President, faculty, and student leaders are waiting to welcome them to the C of C family. At a future Spring Commencement, students will exit proudly through this same doorway. Courtesy of the College of Charleston.
Faculty Office, 2009
Faculty Office, 2009 Dr. Catherine Holmes (English) works in her office in Porter’s Lodge. Courtesy of the College of Charleston.
Founders’ Day, 2020
Founders’ Day, 2020 This marker was installed in 2020 as part of the College’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of its founding in 1770. Courtesy of the College of Charleston.
Know Thyself
Know Thyself Translated from Greek as, "know thyself", this inscription adorns the central arch of Porter's Lodge. Courtesy of College of Charleston.
2019 Graduates Exit Through Porter's Lodge
2019 Graduates Exit Through Porter's Lodge Family and friends photograph graduates dressed in their Commencement finery as they emerge from Cistern Yard. Graduates wear white; those who earn special distinction also wear medals or tassels. Some students pictured here wear brightly colored stoles from their Nia Rite of Passage Ceremony for graduating African American students. Courtesy of the College of Charleston.

Location

66 George St., Charleston, SC, 29424

Metadata

Julia Eichelberger, “Porter's Lodge,” Discovering Our Past: College of Charleston Histories, accessed March 28, 2024, https://discovering.cofc.edu/items/show/8.