One little-known Charleston anecdote is the fact that the founder of the Morse Code, Samuel Finley Breese Morse, lived briefly in Charleston as a successful portrait artist. Morse was born, ironically, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was called “Finley”, never Samuel. He moved to Charleston in 1817, setting up shop as an artist on King Street, where he wrote to friends back home that he could make a fortune in a few years. Finley had long been a student of art, studying at the Royal Academy in London in the early 1800’s and among his works was a memorable portrait of President John Adams. During his two-year stay in South Carolina, Morse was very popular as an artist, and prospered in a city that was among the wealthiest per capita in America based on wealth from cotton exports.
From 1819-1839, Morse traveled the world as an artist, and came into contact with creators of two stunning inventions. The first was Frenchman Louis Daguerre, whose images from exposure to light were the basis for photography, and who Morse helped propel into prominence with published accounts of the revolutionary daguerreotype process. The second was American Charles T. Jackson and Leonard Gale, whose concepts of electromagnetism led to Morse’s patent of the telegraph, and creation of the famed Morse Code in the 1840’s.
Today, Charleston’s City Hall is blessed with an original Morse portrait of President James Monroe, commissioned by city council during Monroe’s visit in the Spring of 1819, when Morse was at the height of his popularity as an artist in the city.
Morse Code Charleston Style
