Legareville, South Carolina

Dateca. 1875

Artist Portia Ashe Burden Trenholm (ca. 1813-1892)

OriginAmerica, South Carolina, Charleston (probably)

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsframed: 28 7/8" x 52 1/4" unframed; 24 x 46 7/8" (60.9 cm. x 119.1 cm.)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1935.102.1

DescriptionA large number of two-story, white summer houses with green shutters, black roofs and porches perched on the shores of a body of water. There are white picket fences dividing houses and all are seated among tall pine trees with long bare trunks and little foliage at their tops. Water has marsh and sea grasses growing in clumps near shoreline and the water is darker green to right side where channel is deeper. See a sailboat with men in lower right corner. Two substantial looking houses near left foreground with long narrow walkway leading out into the water from them and a tiny rowboat with three people in it leave the end of the dock. The island that the houses are on is connected to the group of houses in the center of the painting by a bridge. Another long walkway leads off the mainland to a smaller island to the right. See sandy beach. There is a house on that island. Upper left corner has pinkish clouds interspersed with blacker rather threatening clouds. Darker color of water of channel in lower right suggests the atmosphere created by clouds passing over and hiding the sun--colors generally various shades of blue-green enlivened by white of sail, houses and light blue water between the island in the foreground and the mainland.
Label TextThe town of Legareville was situated on John's Island in Charleston County, South Carolina. Trenholm's picture of the place shows its final development as a resort for various wealthy South Carolinians who came there during the summer months to take advantage of the cool sea breezes and escape the heat and malaria-carrying mosquitoes so prevalent inland. Her view shows John's Island at left and James's Island at right. The Stono River is featured in the foreground and Appapoola Creek is visible behind the community at the end of John's Island.

Legareville was named after the artist's great-grandfather, Solomon Legare, on whose plantation land the community was built and by whom the resort was started. Most of the families who either built homes or visited the island were related to the Legares. The town boasted some twenty-two houses, a store, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, and a schoolhouse by 1860.

The history of Legareville was short-lived, and today all that remains are a few foundations of houses and wells amid brush, pines, and water oaks. During the Civil War, the Stono River served as an alternate route to Charleston, whereby Union ships could avoid Fort Sumter at the entrance of Charleston Harbor. On December 25, 1863, the USS Marblehead attempted the route but was repelled by Confederate troops at Legareville. Continual attempts by Union ships finally forced Major John Jenkins, CSA, to burn the town to avoid capture and encampment there by the enemy. All of the village's buildings were burned on August 20, 1864.

Trenholm's view of Legareville probably was painted after its destruction and probably was based on sketches and her memory of summers. She incorporated a number of details such as the lattice railing along the dock at right, several small boats with occupants either rowing or sailing, and a variety of architectural features. The artist's concern with capturing the place and invoking the spring or summer season is further enhanced by the various shades of green paint used for foliage and grass, the blue colors of the foreground waters, and smaller details such as curtains fluttering in open windows.

Despite Trenholm's inability to render in correct, precise perspective, her Legareville is capably painted with the kind of concern for accuracy and ambience that only someone intimate with the subject could express.

ProvenanceThe painting probably descended through the family to Mrs. Y. F. Legare, who reportedly sold it to an unidentified Charleston, S.C., dealer; Holger Cahill; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller; given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.