BIRTHPLACE OF MASONRY, _Broad and Church Streets_: Charleston has the oldest lodge of Ancient Free Masons in this country. Chartered by the Grand Lodge in England in 1735, Solomon’s Lodge, No. 1, was organized in October, 1736. Its communications were held above the old Shepheard’s Tavern, northeast corner of Broad and Church Streets, now the home of the Citizens and Southern Bank, successor to the Germania Savings Bank. The site is of interest also in that here was instituted the mother council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry in May, 1801, the significance of which is recognized by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, its headquarters in Washington. THE IZARD HOUSES, _110-114 Broad Street_: Some time before 1757 the Izard House in Charlestown was built. It remained in the Izard family a hundred years and since then has been in the possession of the family of Judge Mitchell King. Next door to the west, Ralph Izard, in 1827, began the erection of a house for his daughter, who sold it in 1829 to her brother-in-law, Colonel Thomas Pinckney. It was later acquired for the Bishop of Charleston. The Most Reverend Emmet Walsh, sixth Bishop of Charleston, has residence here. It is but three doors from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. JOHN RUTLEDGE’S HOUSE, _116 Broad Street_: The war in which the Cherokee Indians were humbled had not been decided when this house was built in Charlestown. It became the home of John Rutledge, known as the Dictator, second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President of the independent Republic of South Carolina as the Revolution was breaking, he was clothed by the Assembly in 1780-82 with dictatorial powers; he was then Governor. The house, built in 1760, was the residence of Robert Goodwyn Rhett, former Mayor of Charleston, former president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, chairman of the board of the People’s State Bank of South Carolina. As guest of the Rhetts President William Howard Taft was entertained in this house. CYPRESS GARDENS, _On the Coastal Highway_: Twenty-three miles north of Charleston, on the Coastal Highway (United States No. 52) Benjamin R. Kittredge has developed the Cypress Gardens. A cypress swamp, dark, mysterious, witching, has been shaped into an attraction of great power. To enjoy the Cypress Gardens to the full the visitor should use a boat. In their seasons the azaleas on this property are gorgeous, and in late spring the show of lotus is exquisite. Mr. Kittredge more than twenty years ago acquired the Dean Hall property, an old-time plantation on the Cooper River, from James Petigru Carson, grandson of the eminent lawyer and Unionist, James Louis Petigru.