Each of my walking tours of historic Charleston includes passing St. Michael’s Anglican Church in the famous South of Broad area. This structure, finished 9 years before Ludwig von Beethoven was born, has survived artillery fire during the Revolution and the Civil War, as well as earthquakes, hurricanes and fires. Ironically, some of its worst damage came on St. Michael’s Day, September 29th, 1938, when a tornado sent the slate rood heavenward. The joke since then is that it took God more than a century to get into the church, and only did so when St. Michael lifted the roof.
