Item No. 5435322

An incredibly rare menu from the Charleston Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, dated April 28, 1861—just two weeks after South Carolina forces fired upon Fort Sumter. The hotel and its famous fourteen-pillar colonnade are depicted in a wood engraving over the name of the proprietor, D. Mixer. The menu indicates it was for the “ladies’ ordinary,” meaning it belonged to the ladies’ dining room at a time when it was fashionable for men and women to dine separately. It features favorites like mock turtle soup, lamb pie, and fricandeau of veal, with numerous vegetable and dessert options. On the verso is the hotel’s wine list, with many fine imported madeiras, liqueurs, and champagnes that would soon become scarce with the U.S. Navy blockade of southern ports.

The menu was in the papers of John S. Wilson, a state representative from Chester District and captain in the 1st South Carolina Cavalry. It is identified near the bottom edge as having been produced by local printers Harper & Calvo. It measures about 6 1/4” x 10 1/8” and has several small stains, perhaps from coffee or tea. Creased where originally folded.

The Charleston Hotel, opened in 1839 on Meeting Street, was one of antebellum Charleston’s most prominent landmarks, renowned for its massive classical colonnade and as a gathering place for the city’s political, social, and military elite. The building suffered heavily in the Great Charleston Fire of December 11, 1861, which ravaged much of the downtown district, leaving the once-luxurious hotel badly damaged and contributing to its decline during the war years.