| The earliest native people in the Columbia area probably lived by
hunting mastodon, mammoth, and the other cold-adapted mammals. Thousands
of years later, the area was dominated by a civilization that cultivated
rich bottomlands and built villages and ceremonial centers on high bluffs
overlooking river floodplains. Unfortunately, European diseases brought
by early explorers decimated native populations. Our understanding
of the Native American way of life in the 18th century is largely based
on accounts from English travelers. Perhaps the most significant
feature, for purposes of understanding the history of the garden, is their
use of fire to clear fields. Once fire removed large trees, a variety
of secondary growth moved in. Thus, by the time Europeans settled
the Columbia area, the landscape was hardly "untouched." The exact
nature of alteration to the land now occupied by the garden is unknown,
of course, but it is reasonable to assume that the diversity of plant life
encouraged by the varied topography and the presence of a spring attracted
both human and animal foragers.
In the latter half of the 18th century, the land upon which the garden now sits was part of the plantation holdings of James and Thomas Taylor. In April 1786, a two-square-mile area was purchased from the Taylors in order to construct a new capital city for South Carolina. The first sale of lots began in Charleston in September 1786, but when legislators from Charleston first arrived in Columbia in 1790 they were disappointed in the new seat of government, which seemed to be "little more than a pine barren wilderness." The land changed hands several times during the 19th century, with ownership passing from the Columbia Academy, a preparatory school for young men, through several farmers. However, the steep slope and the wet area created by the spring probably discouraged active utilization of the land now occupied by the garden, and preserved the "original" vegetation. The Rembert Development Company bought the land in 1910 and gave the section surrounding Rocky Branch Creek to the city to be used as a public park (now called Maxcy Gregg). Although the northwest corner of the 50-acre tract would eventually become the A.C. Moore Garden, in 1910 this area was not a part of the section to be developed as a park. At least two houses were built on the future A.C. Moore Garden property. One was occupied between 1914 and 1959 by residents as varied as several professors of the University of South Carolina, the state news editor of the Columbia Record, and the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. The remains of two staircases and an old retaining wall are the only structural evidence of this house found in the garden today. (They can be seen near the Pickens Street entrance, in an area without large trees.) The other house was probably located higher on the hill, where Patterson Hall now stands. Cultivating an Idea The creation of the A.C. Moore Garden begain in 1936 when University of South Carolina Professor E.C. Coker addressed members attending the annual meeting of the University of South Carolina Alumni Association. He announced the possibility of the University acquiring about six acres of land to be used as a botanical garden. Coker and his committee, consisting of Dr. Baker, then president of the University, Dr. Derrick, and Dr. Sumwalt, promoted the garden by saying that it would have an educational pupose. According to the 1936 minutes of the alumni association meeting, they planned "to develop on this land a botanical garden in which native plants, trees, shrubs, and herbs of South Carolina would be planted and labeled." The educational value of the botanical garden was to extend beyond the University as well. Professor Coker projected that the garden would be "useful to all South Carolina citizens interested in our native flora, especially the garden clubs and school organizations." In the prospectus of the garden, Professor W. E. Joy, Jr., chair of the Department of Biology in 1936, noted that, "One of the services which a university can render the public is the proper display of objects of interest and educational value...and botanical gardens are, in effect, botanical museums." Margaret Babcock Meriwether published an article in the January 1940 edition of the Garden Club of South Carolina's Bulletin that described the new botanical garden in detail. The hillside portion was called the Moore Shrubbery Garden, in honor of Professor A.C. Moore. Trees added to the slope by the garden club and others included tulip trees, poplars, sweetgums, and chestnut oaks. Meriwether described the lower levels of the garden as unshaded and noted that much grading and soil building were done on this section at the time of her article. The Palmetto Garden Club "gave 50 loads of swamp muck to fill one large hollow" and planted it with a collection of all the native South Carolina hollies. Meriwether also mentioned a spring-fed "pool" in her description. The University completed excavation of the pond in 1938 and stocked it with fish. Located at the bottom of the slope, the pond, now much larger than in 1940, is still a feature of the garden today. According to Meriwether, the "swampy bed around the pool" was planted with sweet myrtle and bay, live oak and willow, decorative grasses, pitcher plants, reeds, and cattails. A group of pond and bald cypresses, junipers, and cedars were growing near the pond, as was a group of palmettos grown from seed. The School of Pharmacy (now the College of Pharmacy) helped develop yet another section called the "drug garden." It was located acreoss Blossom Street from today's garden and displayed some of the most useful plants in ancient and modern medicine. More recent additions include a memorial "reflection" garden and tree identification signs. Many of the original plantings in the garden have disappeared, as the University's needs changed and natural succession occurred. Canopy trees grew larger and shaded more of the ground, and new plants appropriate to changed conditions have been added. The garden has served its multiple purposes with varying degrees of success. The garden has been used as an educational tool by faculty in a variety of disciplines. As Professor Coker predicted, it attracted the attention of both garden clubs and school groups. Such groups have been instrumental over the years in planting, maintaining, and recording the history of the garden. |