 |
| Charleston Custom House, 6 seconds, Kodak 400VC |
On our trip to Folly Beach a few weeks ago we went into Charleston for a few hours to check out the market (needed some last minute Christmas gifts). I took the above photo of the city's U.S. Custom House, which is across the street from the market. The Custom House was started in the 1850s and completed in 1879 (the war interrupted construction for 10 years). It has a typically federal feel and reminds me of many of D.C.'s buildings. You can read more about it on the National Park Service's Charleston website.
The Nashville Custom House -- pictured below in a pinhole I took several years ago -- opened a few years later (1882) on Broadway. I think it's a prettier building but perhaps I'm partial to it because I grew up in Nashville. There's a rail station quality to it. In fact, Union Station, which opened in 1900 a few blocks down the same road is similar in many ways.
I'm curious, why does custom sometimes have an "S" on the end?
 |
| Nashville Custom House |
Herschel: If by Customs you mean the regulation of the flow of good in and out of a country, then I have never seen the word used without the 's' at the end of it. I am surprised to see that the Charleston Custom House does not use the 's'. Maybe it's a North/South thing . . .
ReplyDeleteEarl Johnson
Hi Earl. Thanks for writing. I've never heard of it without the "s" either. It was only while proofreading this entry that I realized the official names use just custom, which is why I asked about the S. The one in Nashville is listed on the Registry of Historical Places as the Federal Building and it doesn't look like they ever dealt with imported goods. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the holder of all knowledge (Wikipedia) a Custom(s) House was typically located in a city that either was on the coast or on a major river that had access to the coast. I suppose it's possible that boats could come directly from the Gulf up the Mississippi, Ohio, and Cumberland rivers to Nashville before having a friendly customs official collect taxes on its imported goods.
ReplyDeleteOh sure, had to go and ruin the intrigue.
ReplyDeleteI'm still wondering about s vs. sans s at the end of Custom(s).
I see Knoxville has a customs house, too. Since most inland cities were built along major waterways I'm guessing most have/had a customs house.
Followed here from ENlistserv. Beautiful pictures!!
ReplyDeleteAnon, thanks for taking the time to have a look and thanks for the compliment. Hope you have a good weekend.
ReplyDelete