Northeast Corner or Main and Taylor Streets
Site of Richland Lodge No. 39
Camden native Chapman Levy (1787 - 1849) was the first recorded Worshipful Master of Richland Lodge No. 39, a masonic order believed to have been originally housed in the Law Range erected in 1822. Admitted to the bar in 1806, Levy also served as a captain during the War of 1812 and as a state legislator for Kershaw County during multiple terms from 1812 until 1832. During the early 1820s he operated a brickyard near the Columbia Canal where 20 of his 31 enslaved laborers worked. He enjoyed a statewide reputation as an authority in dueling protocol and once unsuccessfully prosecuted Governor John Taylor's brother for murder. He left South Carolina in 1838 to form a law partnership in Mississippi with William McWillie, a future governor.
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Chapman Levy, circa 1835. Artist unknown.Image courtesy of Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries
