Charleston's oldest park restored for grand opening (2024)

Created in 1769, Charleston’s oldest public park is older than America.

Hampstead Mall was named after a posh British park in suburban London, and 18th century newspapers advertised it as a clean, grassy, haven of shade trees and flowers, a refuge for prosperous planters and merchants wanting an escape from Charleston’s muddy, noisy streets.

Over the centuries, Hampstead had a rocky ride — burned to the ground by soldiers, revived as a multiracial immigrants' neighborhood, beloved by a diverse and thriving working class then neglected and shunned as a crime-battered ghostly wreck.

But now, after years of diligent work, Hampstead has been restored to its unique beauty by a diverse coalition including hardworking neighbors, “garden angel” volunteers, St. John's Chapel Pastor Matthew Rivers, Second Saturday volunteers who cleared litter, the Eastside Garden Club, Charleston's Parks Conservancy and others. The activists won support from the city, the school district and nonprofits.

The grand opening will be celebrated on Aug. 1 at 10:30 a.m. at 10 East Hampton Square.

For years, one quad of the park owned by Charleston County School District had a locked chain-link fence around it to protect students. The fence made the quad inaccessible to neighbors.

Now, that fence has been replaced by elegant gated wrought iron. Landscaping, public Wi-Fi and an amphitheater have been added as amenities. The gated quad will be open to the public when school is not in session.

Hampstead's rebirth is especially treasured by Mary's Sweet Shop owner Joe Watson. In 2019, the Eastside Garden Club lobbied the city to name a Hampstead pocket park at Amherst and America in honor of his mother, Mary, who founded her Black-owned restaurant adjacent to Hampstead in 1958, the Jim Crow era. She borrowed $800 from Friendly Pals, a benevolent group, to open her restaurant with her husband.

Her restaurant became a community center and remained one when she transformed her grill into a sweet shop and convenience store where school kids would flock to buy treats and absorb her mentoring.

Joe Watson runs the store today and follows in his mother's path as a community leader.

Eastside resident Steve Bailey, a Hampstead restoration volunteer, calls Watson "the heart and soul of the neighborhood."

And his usual early morning to-do list reflects his role as a neighborhood leader.

"I drive a few people to work because they don't have cars and the bus can't always get them to work on time, then I talk to some folks who need work," Watson explains. "Some people having a hard time just need to talk plans through with someone who's been here a longer time."

Watson said he loves seeing a new generation of children playing basketball in the park and running under the shade trees, clambering over the playground.

Hampstead had some bad breaks in the 18th century.

Revolutionary War-era documents describe how American forces defending the Hampstead area in 1769 had not completed fortifications to protect it from invading British Army Gen. Augustine Prevost. The South Carolina defenders worried that the posh new houses blocked their view so the homes were ordered to be burned to the ground. Homeowners were given a few hours to remove whatever belongings they could.

The Hampstead area was reborn as a 19th century working-class suburb with a diverse population of Black and White immigrant merchants and skilled laborers, seeing businesses like candle making, slaughterhouses and stores.

By the 1850s, streets were still unpaved and the park's neighborhood lacked running water, sewerage and streetlights, according to “Between the Tracks: Charleston’s East Side During the Nineteenth Century.”

The turning point came in 1897 when street trolleys began serving Columbus Street, one of theboundaries of Hampstead park. Streets were paved with red brick for automobiles.

But jobs moved out instead of into the Hampstead neighborhood.

By the 1960s, crime rates plagued longtime merchants who began leaving the Eastside. Bailey researched and wrote about that demoralizing time. One grocer was firebombed and another grocer was robbed in daylight by a man with a crowbar.

The neighborhood was losing residents. The Watsons stayed.

And now his store buzzes with customers greeting each other, chatting, making plans.

Charleston's parks director, Jason Kronsberg, who is trained as a landscape architect, told The Post and Courier that Hampstead would continue to face challenges— though different than the ones that came before—including irrigation during the current drought. Staff horticulturists have selected a palette of plants that will bloom in the city's tropical summers and chilly winters.

"It's a lot to keep up with," Kronsberg said. "We're getting better at it."

He credits Bailey and his coalition of neighbors with landing a $12,000 grant from AARP and "going door to door to raise funds" in helping move restoration forward after the pandemic hit the city's parks budget.

There is still work to be done before Hampstead is a true community center, neighbors say.

Megan Flower organizes the "litter walks" each month to rid Hampstead of trash that could be hazardous to small children, like liquor bottles and broken glass, She sees public drinking in the park as a recurring problem. Flower hopes that neighbors will gather together to organize events in Hampstead like coffee hours, daylight Halloween celebrations and neighborhood picnics that will help residents feel that the park is truly an amenity for them.

"Last year, I noticed there were more children trick-or-treating than ever, and that makes me very hopeful," she said.

The quadrant belonging to CCSD has been using its new amphitheater for students to listen to speakers. But Steve Hamer, who oversees CCSD facilities management, said it could very well be used by local musical talent.

"I was a band geek myself back in high school," Hamer told The Post and Courier. "I can see people listening to a concert while enjoying an ice cream cone or bottle of Coke there."

And if those future neighborhood concerts materialize, Watson will be ready with ice cold drinks, yummy snacks and a neighbor's welcome for all. Nowadays, he still takes care of customers who bought snacks and got advice and encouragement from his mother when they were kids — but they're now adults bringing their grandchildren to play in Hampstead.