Featured Projects | Sunrise

Featured Projects

The Sunrise Carriage Trail is one of the Charleston Land Trust's special projects. Continuious community involvement and support make the trail one of the most visited Land Trust properties. To see our full property inventory click the button below.

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Vision

The Sunrise Carriage Trail ----
a forested haven within Charleston,
a protective environment for plants and birds,
a quiet place of beauty for walking and contemplation,
---- where history is preserved and honored.

Adopted February 23, 2005, and revised March 16, 2005

For more information about the Carriage Trail, and links to minutes of meetings concerning management of the Carriage Trail, visit:

Carriagetrail.org

Preservation

The property surrounding the Trail, nearly 12 acres, was donated to the City of Charleston by the Farmer, Cline and Campbell law firm when the firm purchased and renovated Sunrise Mansion. It is maintained and improved by the City, thanks to a generous bequest by Richard and Celeste Ayre. The Ayre Fund is administered by the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation. The Charleston Land Trust and its Carriage Trail Subcommittee manage the Sunrise Carriage Trail to preserve it as a forested haven, a protective environment for plants and birds, and a quiet place of beauty for walking and contemplation, where history is preserved and honored.

Carriage Top of Carriage Trail

Shrine Top of Carriage Trail

Along The Trail

A personal monument on the Carriage Trail was erected by Governor MacCorkle. It is a shrine to honor his beloved daughter, who died in an auto accident in 1926 at 35 years of age. A simple inscription at the base of the shrine reads: IN LOVING MEMORY OF ISABELLE MacCORKLE. Following his own death in 1930, the governor’s ashes were interred in the memorial behind a stone that bears his name and relevant dates


Governor MacCorkle

In his autobiography MacCorkle revealed that, while excavating the carriage road, “I dug up the remains of two women, one a blonde and the other a brunette,” which he reburied nearby. Unable to determine their identities, he consulted Captain John Slack, a former Union soldier and local historian who claimed that Confederate forces encamped along the Kanawha River in 1862 had captured two female camp followers suspected of being Union spies. After being convicted by a drumhead court martial, the unidentified women were marched up the hollow, shot, and buried. MacCorkle accepted this version of events and erected the existing stone.

Carriage Trail Monument Carriage Stone

Send Us Your Photos!

We want to see pics of everyone out enjoying The Land. We would love to post your pictures when we get them! Email us at landtrust@cityofcharleston.org!

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Check this out!

From the Charleston Daily Mail: Council approves consulting firm for Bicycle Trail Master Plan... Click Here

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