Cabbage Row, 89-91 Church Street

Description:

Photograph of Cabbage Row (or Catfish Row) located at 89-91 Church Street with the Heyward-Washington House (87 Church) partially visible on the far left. The 1928 Charleston City Directory lists both buildings as vacant.

Both structures were built during the Revolutionary War era and consist of three stories each, connected by a central arcade with the ground floors set up for commercial enterprises. At one time, they were used as tenements and after the Civil War housed mostly African American families of freed enslaved people who would sell cabbage directly from their first floor windowsills - hence the name, Cabbage Row. Du Bose Heyward used this setting for his novel, "Porgy" and changed the name to Catfish Row.

• Title: Cabbage Row, 89-91 Church Street
• Photographer: Johnson, George W., 1858-1934
• Date: 1928

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• Collection: Photograph Collection
• Object Name: Charleston Buildings
• Object Id: MK 2920a
• Address: 89 Church Street

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