Hibernian Society, Charleston, SC

While in Charleston the week of this past St. Patrick’s Day to present to the Ft. Sumter Civil War Roundtable, I made a pit stop with my brother at the Hibernian Society, where he is a member. The organization is a society, not a club, and is not affiliated with the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH). A National Historic Landmark, the Hibernian Hall was completed in 1840, and hosted the Stephen Douglas faction of the Democrat party in the convention of 1860. The building suffered some damage from direct hits during Federal shelling of the town during the war – renovations sometimes turn up evidence.

Hibernian Hall facade (Wikipedia)

Hibernian Hall in 1865 (Wikipedia)

We entered the Hall from the members entrance:

A quick tour of the interior:

The rotunda

The reception all decked out for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day dinner. Check out the harps on the chandelier.

The Society gives back to the community. Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco translates roughly to Not unaware of suffering (bad things), I learn to help the miserable (the unhappy) (from Virgil’s Aeneid)

Now for a Bull Run connection. Remember Captain James Conner, of the Washington Light Infantry, Co. A, Hampton’s Legion, a Bull Runner whose grave I visited in Magnolia Cemetery?

It turns out, Conner was president of the Hibernian Society from 1871-1874. His portrait hangs with all the other past presidents.

You can read some of Conner’s Bull Run correspondence here, here, and here.

Conner’s portrait once displayed in the South Carolina state house