58 Tradd Street
Cleland-Wells House
This three-story stuccoed single house
was constructed circa 1760 by Charleston
physician Dr. William Cleland as a
residence for his son William. After
William's death the property was
purchased in 1778 by Scottish émigré
Robert Wells, the largest bookseller
and printer in the Southern colonies.
Wells and his son John used the first floor
and perhaps the cellar of this building to
publish a Tory newspaper, the South
Carolina and American General Gazette.
The Wells were banished from South
Carolina for their Tory sympathies under
the "Act for Disposing of Certain Estates
and Banishing Certain Persons." Their
house was confiscated by the sheriff and
sold at auction to a local gunsmith by
authority of the 1782 Act of Confiscation.
Marker is on Tradd Street, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
