Charleston's Name (Charles Town, Clendenin, War: land, rated, area)

[Al G]

How did Charleston get it's name?
A person, a place or something else?

[Carnilmo]

Educated guess (per Wikipedia) goes like this: Colonel George Clendenin owned the frontier land on which a good chunk of the city now sits when the area's first permanent settlement, Fort Lee, was built in 1787. It is assumed that Col. Clendenin called the area "Charles Town" after his father, Charles. It was then shortened to "Charleston" to avoid confusion with another Charles Town, Virginia (that town is also now in West Virginia). The Virginia General Assembly incorporated the city as "Charleston" around 1793.

[Caden Grace]

Originally Posted by Al G

How did Charleston get it's name?
A person, a place or something else?

Charleston was named for Charles Clendenin who was born 1712 in Scotland. He fought in the Revolutionary War and eventually died at Fort Lee (the first to die there) and was buried in its Rose garden. The Fort used to be where the intersection of Brooks Street and Kanawha Boulevard meets in the present day. The Fort was torn down long before that when the city first started to grow. His body was never located and some believe it is under the pavement of the boulevard. There is a plaque in his honor there.

His family later settled Clendenin West Virginia north of Charleston on the Elk River.

Charleston was named by Charles' son George.

[CRWMSPPGH]

I was hoping it was named for King Charles of England or something more romantic LOL