The Wall home in Magnolia was a hub of community activity
If the walls of The Wall home on Anita Drive in the Magnolia neighborhood could talk there would be stories, and lots of them, for Lucy Ann Simpson (nee) Wall is known for her ability to craft a story with all the appropriate embellishments.
The Wall story begins with a marriage in 1938. James Augustus Wall married Lucy Ann Simpson and they began their married life in Anderson, S.C. Like many young people, they decided to move to the Lowcountry because of the job opportunities. Wall began working at the Charleston Dry Dock. He moved his family, which now included a son James (Jim) Wayman Wall, into St Andrews Homes onto Chase Street in the mid 1940s.
St. Andrew’s Homes was a war housing project developed in 1943 on land that was once the “Little Farm” owned by the Ravenel family. Jim nostalgically recalls his early childhood living in St. Andrew’s Homes. Sycamore Avenue and what is now St. Andrew’s Boulevard were dirt roads.
The Seaboard Airline Train would stop, block St. Andrew’s Boulevard and unload the prisoners of war so they could march back to the camp located on what is now Colony Drive. The children all attended Albemarle Elementary located at the corner of Sycamore Road and Magnolia Road (known then as Highway 61). There was a recreation hall and playground between Hamilton and Bear streets in St. Andrew’s Homes. The children would play baseball, football, and indoor basketball there.
The newspapers would be delivered to the hall for rolling and delivery to the various assigned routes. However, home ownership was a dream of every young family and in the early 1950s the Walls purchased a home in Leon Steinberg’s newly developed Magnolia neighborhood.
When World War II ended the jobs at Charleston Dry Dock were cut back. Wall decided to try his hand at the commercial shrimping business. He purchased a boat with a partner, Paul Pavlis, and docked the boat at Adger’s Wharf. This venture proved successful, thus the first boat was sold and two surplus Navy Liberty boats were acquired and repurposed into trawlers.
At this junction the operations moved to Jeff Thelning’s Wando Shrimp Co. on Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant. Jim recalls that he “hated” working for his father as a striker on these boats. He pledged to never set foot on a boat in his future.
Lucy ventured into her own career in retail working at J.C. Penny’s and Kerrisons in downtown Charleston and later at Condon’s in Ashley Plaza Mall in West Ashley. Jim remembers that his mother enjoyed her time in retail and once thwarted a shoplifter by utilizing the slingshot she carried in her purse.
James Augustus Wall passed in 1988. Lucy Wall recently celebrated her 106 birthday in her new home. In 2001, Jim retired from a 41-year career with Exxon. He and his wife, Joye, purchased a 50-year old boat, the “Sea Urchin” violating his pledge of never again stepping foot on a boat. After many years of a live aboard adventure, they have chosen to step back onto the land and into the family home on Anita Drive. Thus, the Walls remain firmly planted on Anita Drive in St. Andrew’s Parish, West of the Ashley. The life adventures and resulting stories continue to live on in the walls of their home.
West Ashley stories? Contact local author and historian Donna Jacobs at westashleybook@gmail.com.
