A look inside 20 South Battery: Historic Charleston home featured in PBS docuseries

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The cast and crew of a new PBS docuseries that’s exploring Charleston in a new way are celebrating the premiere of the masterpiece they’ve worked so hard on.

The pilot episode for “America: The Land We Live In” aired in March, but there’s more on the way.

The show’s host tracks down historic spots that were illustrated in one of the nation’s earliest travel guides titled “Picturesque America” and the concept of the show is to celebrate the history and beauty of historic places.

Winston Churchill painted inside the house. Governors, senators, mayors, generals, luminaries, and secret societies all met within these walls over the course of a century.

Oh, the stories we would hear if the walls of this stately manor at 20 South Battery could talk. Well, some of them kind of do.

The decades this mansion has seen are recounted through Dr. Jack Shaeffer, something of a translator for the home.

Dr. Schaeffer is a native Charlestonian but acquired 20 South Battery a few years ago. He remembers playing as a little boy in White Point Garden, staring up at the looming mansion, referring to himself humbly as a steward of a property with life that pre-dates us all.

This home was featured in that travel guide, Picturesque America, back in 1872 when William Cohen Bryant – one of the most famous American poets ever – stayed there.

He wrote about the mansion’s library in the New York Evening Post, describing the aristocratic men and women dancing in the ballroom downstairs.

We asked Dr. Schaeffer if he loved history. He says he loves Charleston and encourages everyone to watch the new show and connect with our past.

“So, we got this book, we got this show, we have all the people that were on the show including Drayton Hall Plantation that has been here since the 1600s… all of this fits. This is who we are. You look all over this world, there is no place like Charleston, South Carolina.”

In fact, that book, the travel guide that features this home, Picturesque America, can be found in the home’s ballroom.

“Picturesque America” is a treasure map of sorts to riches of a bygone era. The home is decorated with period items and artifacts, priceless chine, precious carvings, and even two resident ghosts.

Everything has a story – many of which will be revealed during this new PBS special.

A premiere party will take place at the mansion this Sunday and a donation will be made to the Preservation Society, which was actually founded at 20 South Battery.

The property underwent a massive renovation in 2020. Located at the back of the property is an 11-bed boutique hotel where visitors can experience some of the magic and history firsthand.