The 18th and 19th Century came to life through Ruth Miller

Last Monday it was a late night, I had been tired from my day but Ruth Miller spoke and ran the tiredness away. As she talked about the 18th and 19th century in Charleston I couldn't help but be interested in all the facts I had never heard of about Charleston.  Mr. Harwood came up in front of the class to introduce Ruth saying, "Ruth is a consultant for All Things Charleston and the Lowcountry". He also stated Ruth used to be a tour guide for Charleston, an educator, and historian. She wrote the books "A Short History of Charleston" and "The Old Dog".

Ruth Miller, the fascinating tour guide and book author

Ruth captivated the whole class during her hour-long presentation on the history of Charleston during new colonization. Ruth is very intrigued by graves, as she would like to say "Graveyards can be pictures of history". She talked about many themes in history from different centuries. 

Ruth spoke on how there was lots of sand down in Charleston therefore, it was harder for graves to be made. This caused the Charlestonian people to buy their graves from New England. Ruth said that back then "New England had the nicest headstones" because there is a lot of rock up in that area.  She may be biased though because she is from New England. 

Ruth engrossed the class with some background about how the College of Charleston came about. She said that boys were sent over to England to be educated but when the war started in England the boys could not be sent over, thus creating The College. 

Ruth then went on to talk about all the churches that were created in Charleston saying, "only 7 people are needed to establish a religion". She went into incredible detail over each of the new religions that had been established at this time. Some are Huguenots (French Protestants), Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and many more. Some churches that still are located in Charleston from these original religions are Bethel Methodist Church, Circular Congregational Church, First Baptist Church, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Unitarian Church. 

It was a delightful and educational experience having Ruth come and talk to the class. I enjoyed the new information she shared and the knowledge that she brought. I would definitely recommend her as a personal tour guide if you wanted an incredibly knowledgeable woman to walk you around Charleston.