Invasion Alert?

Agriculturalists throughout South Carolina are on the lookout for an invader poised to breach the state's borders: the Spotted Lantern Fly (Lycoma delicatula). This tiny but destructive insect was first detected in Pennsylvania a decade ago, probably having arrived with hardscaping materials imported from Asia by one of that state's landscaping businesses. A voracious eater of leaves and bark, the lantern fly is now widespread on the eastern seaboard, including all of New England and south to Virginia, and has recently been found in North Carolina. It poses such a threat to vineyards, fruit orchards and cash crops that "if you see it, squash it" campaigns are common throughout the eastern United States.

Lantern fly eggs hatch in the spring

The lantern fly has not yet been detected in South Carolina, but Clemson's Department of Plant Industry expects it's only a matter of time before the insect will have an effect on South Carolina's peach fields and the state's fledgling viticulture efforts. It's especially worrisome at this time of year, when larva begin hatching. By mid-summer, they've reached the adult stage when their destructive foraging becomes most noticeable. The sap the insects excrete while dining on the bark of fruit trees, grape vines and hardwoods like walnut, birch and maple causes a black mold to form on leaves, inhibiting photosynthesis and attracting bees and wasps with its high sugar content.

The lantern fly isn't actually a fly, but a plant hopper favoring as a host another invasive species, the tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), widespread especially in the South. One method to control lantern fly populations is to destroy any such trees near planted fields. A variety of insecticides can prove temporarily effective, and some farmers have fought back with yet another non-native insect, the Praying Mantis, which feeds on lantern flies.

Although South Carolina remains free so far of the bugs, Clemson and the state's agriculture department urge residents to be on the lookout and report any sightings. You can find more information here about the insects and how to report them.

The Other Independence Day

This month marks the third national observance of Juneteenth, celebrated on the 19th to mark the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation by Union troops to enslaved Americans on June 19th, 1865 in Galveston, Texas. Although Lincoln's Proclamation had officially taken effect two years earlier, the end of slavery came at different times in different parts of the Confederacy as the War Between The States wound down.

It wasn't until Union General Gordon Granger and his troops reached Galveston, at the farthest reaches of the former Confederacy, that Gordon announced "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."

Texas later became the first state to officially declare the day a state holiday, in 1935; by the civil rights era, all fifty states had some kind of observance of the day. But it didn't become a federal holiday until 2021, when President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law, making the day what many began to label as the country's second Independence Day.

The IAAM on Gadsden's Wharf

Juneteenth is particularly resonant for the Lowcountry and for Charleston, where an estimated 100,000 enslaved captives were herded from slave ships at Gadsden's Wharf. The wharf was built in 1760 by merchant and landowner Christopher Gadsden, who used enslaved labor for his vast rice plantations despite being a member of the Continental Congress and its dedication to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" which, to men of those times, did not apply to Blacks. Despite a Congressional ban on the slave trade which took effect in January of 1808, human beings continued to be bartered and sold at Gadsden's Wharf for another fifty years.

Today, the Wharf is the site of the soon-to-open International African American Museum, while a variety of Juneteenth celebrations mark the holiday all over the Charleston area, ranging from readings of the Emancipation Proclamation and the singing of traditional spirituals to music, dancing and outdoor dining. Check out Lowcountry Juneteenth Week.

The Other Rainbow Row

Charleston's colorful Rainbow Row, always a popular stop on the city's tourist routes, is especially significant during this month's Gay Pride celebrations, for Charleston has long had an active LGBTQ+ community. Charleston College archivist and librarian Harlan Greene has been writing about the Holy City's Queer history for some years now, and even created an interactive map of the noted places and people who contributed to the city's often inclusive, but sometimes not, atmosphere.

Armisted Maupin

Among Charleston's famous but closeted gay residents was writer Armisted Maupin, author of the San Francisco-based "Tales Of The City." But before Maupin settled on the West Coast and came out, he worked as a reporter in Charleston for The Post And Courier, living in the South Of Broad neighborhood and keeping his sexuality firmly under wraps. He often cruised The Battery, then a popular pickup spot for gay men, and told an interviewer many years later that he was still angry with himself for taking so long to come to terms with who he was.

Laura Bragg

Chalmers Street was the home of Laura Bragg (1881 - 1978), the first woman to lead the Museum of Charleston or any publicly funded museum, for that matter. Although not openly lesbian, Bragg was rumored to have had several affairs with other women, and was a friend and mentor to many of the city's gay men and women. Her "at homes" were a much-sought after invitation, and Bragg was cited by many of her guests for her emotional support as well as for encouraging their artistic careers.

Dawn Pepita and John Paul Simmons

One of the city's most colorful personalities was Dawn Pepita Simmons (1937 - 2000), who was born in England as Gordon Hall but moved to Charleston in the early 1960's and became one of the country's first transexuals with pioneering sex reassignment surgery at Johns Hopkins University in 1968. Simmons settled on Charleston's Society Street and, testing the city's tolerance level of the time, married a young black man. Scandalized Charleston society forced the couple to move their wedding from St. Phillips Church to the pair's home, where wedding presents piled in the driveway were firebombed and reduced to a heap of ashes. Firemen swept the debris into the street, and the next day the city's white Chief of Police served the couple with a fine for obstructing the roadway.

John Ziegler (right) and Edwin Peacock

One of the last surviving members of Charleston's more closeted gay history was John Ziegler (1912 - 2015) who with his life partner Edwin Peacock (1910 - 1989) owned The Book Basement on College Way, for many years a cultural touchstone for the city's arts community. The couple were active supporters of both the city's gay subculture and its broader artistic community, serving as a link between the two. A year before he died, at the age of 103, Ziegler told the Charleston City Paper "Everybody accepted us. We just lived our lives like everyone else."

Thanks to Harlan Greene and The Charleston City Paper for background material for this post.