Charter Day 2024 Award Winners

Posted: April 23, 2024

2022 Charter Day Award Ceremony at First Baptist Church.

Each April, Historic Charleston Foundation (HCF) commemorates its 1947 founding by honoring extraordinary contributions in preserving Charleston’s irreplaceable historic built environment and cultural character. This year, we are honored to celebrate the following individuals and organizations who are instrumental to the past, present and future authenticity of Charleston and the Lowcountry. Awards include the Stoney Craftsmanship Award, the Whitelaw Founders Award, and the Joseph H. (Peter) Advocacy McGee Award. In addition, HCF will recognize two incredible members of our community with a special recognition award to honor their years of dedication to Charleston’s historic gardens. Reserved for only the most special occasions, this year the Foundation will also present Charter Day’s highest honor, the Frances R. Edmunds Award, to an integral Foundation staff member for the past 45 years. The Foundation invites the community to celebrate these Award Winners on Thursday, April 25^th at 6 pm for the Awards Ceremony at First Baptist Church immediately followed by a reception at the Nathaniel Russell House Museum.

2024 Award Winners include: Joe Faust, the Old City Jail, Kevin Eberle, Taveau Church, the Beefield Community and Lowcountry Land Trust, Martha Zierden, Bob and Donna Cox and for 2024, the Frances R. Edmunds Award to Mr. Minh Nguyen. Read more about each award and recipients below.

The Stoney Craftsmanship Award recognizes craftspeople who have kept alive Charleston’s tradition of excellence in the building trades.

Award recipient:

• Joe Faust – HCF is pleased to present the Stoney Craftsmanship Award to Joe Faust for his excellence and dedication to furthering the traditions and crafts in stucco plaster and masonry repointing. Joe Faust began learning on the job in carpentry as a teenager, and following the Charleston tradition, local older skilled tradesmen helped hone his skills and understanding of lime plaster, lime stucco and lime mortar. At the age of 22, Joe began to work on his own and today, he is a master of his craft. Most notably, Joe Faust is the expert called in to work on invaluable historic properties including First Scot’s Presbyterian Church and its plaster repair and Milford Plantation’s stucco and brick repair. HCF continues to call on Joe and his expertise for complicated stucco repairs on easement properties including 48 South Battery, 55 Society Street, and 54 Tradd Street.

The Whitelaw Founders Award recognizes individuals, groups, or government entities that actively engage in the long-term preservation of important buildings and places.

Award recipients:

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  Old City Jail, 21 Magazine Street ca. 1893, courtesy of Margaretta Childs Archives Collection

  Old City Jail, 21 Magazine Street – HCF is pleased to honor Old City Jail, LLC with a Whitelaw Founders Award for the rehabilitation and excellent stewardship of the Old City Jail. The Old City Jail at 21 Magazine Street served as the county jail from its construction in 1802 until 1939 and was home to a variety of infamous inmates. In 1822, the jail imprisoned several hundred enslaved and free African Americans following the discovery of Denmark Vesey’s planned uprising and Vesey himself spent his last days in the tower before his execution and today, the jail is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After the jail’s decommission in 1939, it remained vacant for 60 years until the American College of Building Arts and later, Landmark Enterprise began extensive rehabilitation for adaptive reuse as a mixed-used property. This included the rehabilitation and repair of approximately 100 masonry window surrounds with the historic jail bars left carefully in place, deteriorated stucco, brick repointing, and a stair and elevator tower were added in the rear to enhance accessibility while historic fabric and finishes were maintained wherever possible.

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  Kevin Eberle stands next to 5 Sheppard Street near completion of renovation, 2024. Post and Courier.

  Kevin Eberle – HCF is pleased to honor Kevin Eberle with a Whitelaw Founders Award for the restoration of 5 Sheppard Street. Charleston law professor, historian and active voice in the City’s preservation community, Kevin Eberle began a wholesale restoration of 5 Sheppard Street, a vacant 19^th century Freedman’s Cottage after he was the lone member of the public to stand alongside preservation organizations to appear at a meeting of the BAR to oppose its demolition about two years ago. When the BAR rejected demolition, Kevin saved every possible piece of the house and made as few changes to the layout as possible to preserve the very thing that made the house historically important in the first place and removed and restored everything from the wood flooring, mantels, and bricks. Kevin’s work is an example to the community that historic preservation is attainable and the BAR’s preservation requirements are not unreasonably burdensome.

• Taveau Church – HCF is pleased to award Preservation SC and The Taveau Legacy Committee with a Whitelaw Founders Award for their exceptional collaboration, rehabilitation, and stewardship of Taveau Church. Located in the Berkeley County Sacred Corridor, Taveau Church is the only landmark associated with Black History in the Cooper River Historic District which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Constructed in 1835, Taveau is a rare surviving rural, frame antebellum church and was a worship home for Black Methodists until the 1970s and the community remains active to this day. In 2022, the Taveau Church was in danger of immediate collapse until Bill Fitzpatrick, Taveau’s Board Chair, Preservation SC and a letter to the editor from Cynthia Gibbs became an inspirational example of collaboration of many partners for a successful and meaningful preservation project. Although work is not complete, immediate collapse is no longer a threat and when the historic church is fully restored, it will take its rightful place within the Berkely County Sacred Corridor for workshop, weddings, and as the place to share the history of Black men and women who worked the land and workshopped in its sanctuary.

Last year, Historic Charleston Foundation proudly created a new award named for Joseph H. (Peter) McGee, past HCF Chairman and notable preservation advocate. The Joseph H. (Peter) McGee Advocacy Award recognizes excellence in advocacy, community preservation and planning.

Award Recipients:

• Beefield Community, Lowcountry Land Trust – Located along Old Folly Rd, the Beefield Community became the second Charleston County Historic District thanks to the leadership of Mr. George Richardson, the President of the Beefield Community Neighborhood Association and descendant of the original families that banded together to purchase the 150 acres of land known as the “Bee Tract” to establish the rural community just after the Civil War. Despite this new recognition, Mr. Richardson had to continue to advocate for his community when a new development threated to construct 10 short-term rental houses in the middle of the community, but thanks again to Mr. Richardson’s leadership along with the support of the Lowcountry Land Trust, the community was able to acquire the development parcel through the Charleston County Greenbelt Program. Today, the once threated parcel will be protected with conservation easements and will be the first community gathering space for the residents of Beefield. We use this award to honor George Richardson, and recognize the support of the Lowcountry Land Trust, the Charleston County Greenbelt Program, and the South Carolina Battlegrounds Preservation Trust for this project and their exemplary work in this community-led preservation movement.
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  Martha Zierden, archaeologist

  Martha Zierden – HCF is pleased to honor Martha Zierden for her exceptional work in archaeology as an advocacy tool to advance the principles of historic preservation. For more than three decades, Martha Zierden devoted her professional working life to archaeological research as the Curator of Historical Archaeology for The Charleston Museum. Martha is the authority on the material culture of Charleston and Charlestonians and transformed how both archeologists and historians understand the history of the region by bringing archeology into the historic narrative. Her partnership with the Nathaniel Russell House and the Aiken-Rhett House has provided site-specific information that contributes to the public interpretation of the houses and their former inhabitants as well as providing data to help assemble patters in urban behavior essential to understanding Charleston. As a leader in the Mayor’s Walled City Task Force, Martha has drawn attention to the historical role Charleston’s defensive fortifications played during its first decades and in 2008-2009, Martha and her team completed archaeology and uncovered the location of the former wall under South Adgers Wharf and later performed archeology at the Revolutionary War Siege Line at the Aiken-Rhett House. In addition, Martha has been a staunch advocate for the role of archeology in Charleston’s historical narrative and after retiring in 2023, Martha leaves an immense legacy.

In 2024, the Foundation is proud to present a Special Recognition Award to

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  Bob Cox in the garden of the NRH

  Bob and Donna Cox – This year, HCF would like to recognize Bob and Donna Cox and their company, Landscapes Limited for their unwavering dedication to the Charleston community for 30 years. Bob has been maintaining the Nathaniel Russell House Garden and managing the garden volunteers for 25 years and thanks to Bob’s dedicated stewardship of the garden, thousands of locals and tourists have the rare chance to step inside this beautifully maintained residential style garden that makes our City such a special place in the horticultural world. Bob and Donna Cox exemplify Lowcountry culture and values and it is an honor to recognize them.

The Frances R. Edmunds Award for Historic Preservation is the Foundation’s highest honor and only presented on special occasions to recognize exceptional personal achievement in the field of historic preservation and service to our Mission Statement.

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  Minh Nguyen and his Rolls Royce

  Minh Nguyen – Historic Charleston Foundation would like to honor Mr. Minh Nguyen with the Frances R. Edmunds Award for his 45 years of work and dedication to Historic Charleston Foundations and the exemplary stewardship of the Nathaniel Russell House and hundreds of historic buildings throughout Charleston from our historic homes to revolving fund properties and everything in between. Minh’s story is unbelievable. After leaving his native Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, he spent time as a refugee on Guam before immigrating to the United States. In 1977, Minh was reunited with his brother in Charleston and was instantly welcomed into Charleston’s high society after meeting General William Westmoreland and Frances Edmunds. Historic Charleston Foundation is immensely grateful for Minh and his many years of dedicated work and we are proud to celebrate Minh as he retires on April 30, 2024 – exactly 49 years to the day after he left Vietnam for a new life in America. Minh has been featured in a variety of publications including Charleston Magazine in 2020.

The 2024 Charter Day Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, April 25 at the historic First Baptist Church with a reception immediately following. Award winners will be available for interview after the awards ceremony. For more information on the Awards Ceremony and Reception, visit our website HERE. Read more about the 2023 Charter Day Award Winners on our BLOG HERE.