The Historic Charleston Foundation (HCF) has clarified who would be eligible to buy the Nathaniel Russell House after an earlier message suggested the foundation would consider selling the historic property to a private buyer.
“We made some unfortunate commentary about privatizing the property as the most viable outcome,” HCF President and CEO Winslow Hastie recently told the Charleston City Paper. “That was way too premature.”
The HCF voted Nov. 30 to sell the 215-year-old house at 51 Meeting St. as part of a strategic plan to chart a new path for the foundation in the next three to five years. The foundation also owns the Aiken-Rhett House, but it has no plans to sell that property at 48 Elizabeth St.
In a statement posted Dec. 19 on the HCF’s website, Hastie and foundation board chair Anne Blessing, said the board “will fully prioritize viable and legitimate options for keeping the house a publicly accessible historic site. … We will do everything we can to meet the objectives of the Foundation and the community.
“The process of transitioning the museum and its collection will be a patient, ethical, and deliberate one — throughout which we will engage with experts and the broader Charleston community,” according to the statement.
Potential sale brings concerns
Preservation and decorative arts consultant Allisyn Morgan of Charleston said, “It’s critical that the private option is completely off the table and the expectation to make a handsome profit off this is removed.”
The initial announcement to sell the Nathaniel Russell House sparked a protest that led to a petition that has so far collected more than 7,000 signatures, Morgan said.
The initial announcement was viewed as “a betrayal to the scholars and researchers, academic programs, staff and donors” who work and volunteer at the property, she said.
The reaction, Hastie said, was a pleasant surprise for him and the HCF board members.
“We value people rising up and being passionate on this issue,” he said. “That is what our organization is all about. Trying to engage the public around a wide variety of issues. This has been a valuable exercise, albeit painful, to have this community wide dialogue around the value of these sites.”
The petition urged the HCF to pause plans to sell the house museum to a private buyer. But Hastie noted, “That assumes there is a process in place that needs to be paused. The only decision that was made by the board was that we were going to sell the Nathaniel Russell House.” No decision was made, he emphasized, on price, buyer or timeline for a sale.
Hastie said he hoped the updated statement “will calm people’s nerves. There is only so much we will be able to accomplish, but my hope people will have a clearer understanding of our intentions.”
Since the announcement to sell the house, Hastie said, the foundation has been approached by groups “with interesting concepts, and we are going to discuss those in-depth with various groups and institutions.” He said he couldn’t provide details.
A legacy of slavery
Rhode Islander Nathaniel Russell moved to Charleston in 1765 where he was engaged in the sale of enslaved West Africans before and after the American Revolution. In the spring of 1808, Russell, his wife, and their two teenage daughters, moved into the house with 18 enslaved men and women.
“There is so much left to uncover, to study and educate on the lives of the enslaved through this historic house museum,” Morgan said. “It’s an active archeological site.”
Slave Dwelling Project founder Joseph McGill Jr., said Russell’s connection with the slave trade “is getting lost in the debate over the sale of the house.
“I would venture to say [Russell] was one of the largest purveyors of enslaved Africans in South Carolina,” said McGill, a history and cultural coordinator at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. “People want to talk about the physical building and place a value on that, but when you talk about the stolen labor that it took to create all of that [wealth] people aren’t as eager to engage in that discussion.”
McGill said research at the Nathaniel Russell House is showing the presence of the enslaved ancestors and where they lived.
“Any sales comes with risk of disrupting the interpretation of the ancestors’ stories,” he said. “It took a lot for the foundation to get to where they are in telling the stories of enslaved people. I hope a new owner is also as committed to telling a complete narrative.”
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