Lafayette Trail historic marker unveiled

A Lafayette Trail historical marker was officially unveiled Sept. 17 at the front of Charleston Southern University’s campus on U.S. Constitution Day.

The event marked the commemoration of General Marquis de Lafayette’s overnight stay at the home of Ralph Izard March 13, 1825, on what is now the Charleston Southern University campus. Lafayette returned to the U.S. for a tour in 1824-1825. 

CSU President B. Keith Faulkner welcomed visitors to the campus and said, “Lafayette’s legacy is deeply tied to freedom and the role that education provides in preserving it. He believed, as he once said, that young people were the hope of the country and that hope rests on teaching the science of freedom. That vision resonates with us at Charleston Southern University where our livelihood is dedicated to the preparation of students to lead lives of learning, leading and service all grounded in faith, truth and liberty.” 

Faulkner said, “We are grateful to the Lafayette Trail and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation for making this marker possible. It is a meaningful and significant reminder not only of our campus’s connection to American history but also of the enduring role of universities in shaping the future of freedom.”

Julien Icher, president of The Lafayette Trail Inc., said, “In 1825 Lafayette basically validated, like he had done in the Revolution, the exceptional nature of this country and Americans looked to him as this providential hero that was sent as I said to validate the American experiment. We have to continue that political discourse of Lafayette’s belief in America, and when we can do that on the campus of a university, we take advantage of that.”

Dr. Brian Miller, CSU professor of history gave a brief history of Lafayette’s time in American. When Lafayette arrived in America, he was 19, the age of current college students. He went on to serve as a vital part of the American Revolution. 

Miller said, “As America approached its 50th birthday, Lafayette, the last surviving revolutionary major general, wrote to President James Monroe expressing his longing to revisit the happy shores of an adopted country.” It was during this tour that he visited the Izard home. 

The land where Charleston Southern sits is connected to the Revolutionary War through the Izard family, who owned the land from the late 1600s into the mid-1800s. Ralph Izard III, who was in Europe when the American Revolution broke out, was asked to serve the Continental Congress as a diplomat and worked to seek France’s help in the war. It was during this time that he met Lafayette.

The historical marker was donated by The Lafayette Trail, Inc., to CSU with funding from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. The Pomeroy Foundation is the nation’s leading funder of historical markers with nearly 2,900 grants awarded across 49 states and Washington, D.C. The Lafayette Trail marker is located at the front of campus outside the Hunter Center.

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