Miles Brewton House spikes remain from the 1822 city panic

In the months following the summer of 1822, the owners of this house bolted a row of outward-facing iron spikes to their front fence. This device is known as a chevaux-de-frise, a French term for a line of spikes designed to stop an advance by men or horses. While most of these iron defenses across Charleston were eventually removed and melted down for artillery during the Civil War, the spikes at 27 King Street remain in their original position.

The installation of the spikes followed the discovery of a planned rising led by Denmark Vesey. Vesey was a free carpenter who had purchased his own freedom, and he was accused of organizing an insurrection among the enslaved population of the city. The plan was betrayed before it could begin, resulting in the trial and hanging of Vesey and 34 other men. In the aftermath, a wave of fear led the wealthy residents of Charleston to fortify their homes. Spiked ironwork became a sudden fashion in the early 1820s, reflecting a white population that remained frightened long after the immediate danger had passed.

The house behind the fence was built between 1765 and 1769 for Miles Brewton, a merchant who drowned at sea with his family in 1775. The architect Ezra Waite designed the building, which is considered one of the finest Georgian houses in America. After Brewton's death, his sister Rebecca Motte inherited the property. It has remained in the same family for over two centuries, though it was twice seized by military forces.

British commanders Clinton and Rawdon used the house as their headquarters during the occupation of Charleston from 1780 to 1782. Decades later, in 1865, Federal officers took over the building for the same purpose. Between these two military occupations, the owners added the iron spikes to the perimeter to keep out the people they held enslaved.