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| St. Michael's Church, Charleston, SC |
Susan F. Craft
Author of The Chamomile, a SIBA Award-Winning Revolutionary War suspense, and of Laurel, a post-Revolutionary War suspense
The bells were cast in London and installed in St. Michael's Church in Charleston, SC, in 1764.
When the British took over the city during the Revolutionary War, they took the bells back to England. At the end of the war, a Charleston merchant visiting England bought the bells and shipped them home to America.
In 1823, cracks were found in some of the bells, and they were returned to London to be recast.
In 1862, during the siege of Charleston during the Civil War, the bells were moved to Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, for safekeeping, but Sherman's army set fire to the city. Only fragments of the bells were found and were sent to London once more, where the original molds still stood.
In February 1867, the eight bells were again installed in St. Michael’s Steeple and on March 21 joyously rang out, "Home again, Home again from a foreign Land."
To hear a group of master bell ringers from London ring the bells of St. Michaels, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25spIYJr4Ho
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| Shown
in this century-old picture, a chimer uses a clavier
device to strike clappers
against stationary bells. Chiming is now
performed
from a keyboard in the choir loft and by a programmed mechanism.
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Susan F. Craft's post-Revolutionary War suspense, Laurel, was released January 16. It's sequel, Cassia, will be released this September by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.
