Get ready for “Spooky Season” with a lecture about everyone’s favorite Gothic author, Edgar Allan Poe, and a dramatic reading of his works!

This after hours event will feature an illustrated lecture by Dr. Scott Peeples titled “Poe and the Charleston Literary Renaissance.” Dr. Peeple’s talk will focus on Charleston’s embrace of Edgar Allan Poe, and the lore that surrounds his year stationed at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. Scott Peeples is a professor of English at the College of Charleston. He has written three books on Poe, most recently The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City (Princeton Univ. Press, 2020). Dr. Peeples is a past president and honorary member of the international Poe Studies Association, and he serves on the board of directors of the Richmond Poe Museum and the editorial board for the Edgar Allan Poe Review.

Dr. Peeple’s lecture will be followed by a dramatic reading by local guide and raconteur Randy Johnson of some of Poe’s most beloved works. Randy Johnson is a native-born Charlestonian. He spent his childhood exploring the ruins of Fort Moultrie and Johnson, where he developed a deep appreciation and respect for the utterly and profoundly sublime. Randy is now a recovering attorney and devotes his time to conducting ghost walks for Bulldog Tours. He is a lifelong Poe enthusiast and has self-published two works, one titled Charleston Eagle: The Butcher’s Temple and the other titled The Baptist Mystic (a gothic tale set in Magnolia Cemetery).

Tickets are $15 per person and seating is limited (40 people maximum), so don’t wait to register!

Dr. John Navin
Professor of History, Coastal Carolina University
Author of The Grim Years

This presentation will be based on Professor Navin’s 2020 book, The Grim Years, 1670-1720: Settling South Carolina, published by USC Press. He will discuss the shameless profiteering, corrupt trading practices, exploitation and abuse of Native Americans and enslaved Africans, and other outrages that contributed to widespread suffering. This talk will feature some new information and insights that were not included in the original work.

Register for tickets on Eventbrite below. The organizer will send a Zoom meeting link via email closer to the event.

Nicole Isenbarger, RPA
Archaeologist
Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site

Nicole Isenbarger provides an overview of the ongoing excavations at Charles Towne Landing and the varied approaches being employed to reveal new evidence of the development of the town, experimental agriculture, early architectural styles, commerce, and local industry. These findings illuminate the labor of the enslaved Africans, indentured servants, and colonists and their role in shaping Carolina into a thriving colony.

Register for tickets on Eventbrite below. The organizer will send a Zoom meeting link via email closer to the event.

Dr. Jon Marcoux
Director, Research Labs of Archaeology; Chair, Curriculum in Archaeology; Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Dr. Jon Marcoux presents a portrait of the Native American cultural landscape that existed across the Lowcountry at the founding of Charles Towne in 1670. His Zoom lecture draws primarily upon the archaeological research that has been conducted in the region over the last fifty years.

Register for tickets on Eventbrite below. The organizer will send a Zoom meeting link via email closer to the event.

John Hiatt
Lead Interpretive Ranger/Park Historian
Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site

Historian John Hiatt takes us back to the very beginning as we explore the turbulent period that produced England’s Carolina colony. He will chronicle the events that led up to the founding of the first permanent settlement of European origin in South Carolina.

Register for tickets on Eventbrite below. The organizer will send a Zoom meeting link via email closer to the event.