Charleston Horse Power: Equine Culture in the Palmetto City

Book excerpt: A fascinating history of the cultural, social, and economic impact of working equines in Charleston, South Carolina Visitors to Charleston can catch glimpses of the city's equine legacy--in the form of carriage houses, narrow streets, repurposed stables, and the many horse-drawn carriage tour companies that recall Charleston's history. Charleston Horse Power seeks to make this hidden history visible by exploring how horses have and continue to shape Charleston's unique cityscape. With thorough research, absorbing storytelling, and captivating photographs, author Christina Rae Butler takes readers back to an equine-dominated city of the past, in which horses and mules pervaded all aspects of urban life. She describes carriage types and equines used over time (both privately owned animals and those in the city's streets, fire, and police department herds), regulations for animals and their drivers, horse racing culture, and Charleston's equine lifestyles and architecture. Through stories of carting goods, human transportation (such as private carriages, taxis, and hacks, ), animal power in industrial settings, and other labor ably performed by equines, Butler immerses the reader in the world of Charleston's working equine. Her discussion of slavery and equine culture--previously excluded from studies of working animals in northern cities--is an important contribution. Butler studies the people who made their livings with horses and mules--from drivers, grooms, and carriage makers, to farriers, veterinarians, and trainers--and captures the social, economic, and cultural history surrounding Charleston's equine economy. Charleston Horse Power is a fascinating book for urban historians, historic preservationists, general readers, and Charleston visitors interested in discovering a vital yet often overlooked aspect of the city's past and present.