Lowcountry restaurant in an 1888 Victorian house on Queen Street, named for a friendly neighborhood dog and reported haunted by Zoe St. Amand, a schoolteacher who lived in the home into the 1950s.
72 Queen Street, Charleston, SC 29401
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Lowcountry fine dining; entrees typically $25-45; brunch and bar menus available
Access
Limited Access
Historic Victorian house with porch steps; some seating areas have limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · 1888 Victorian residential architecture · Long-time home of the St. Amand sisters, both Charleston schoolteachers (early-mid 20th century) · One of Charleston's longest-running Lowcountry-cuisine restaurants (since 1976)
The structure at 72 Queen Street was built in 1888 as a single-family Victorian residence in Charleston's then-genteel French Quarter neighborhood. Like many Charleston homes of that era it was multi-story with deep porches suited to the Lowcountry climate.
The house's most enduringly remembered residents are the St. Amand sisters — Zoe and Elizabeth, both schoolteachers — who lived in the house in the first half of the 20th century. According to Charleston historical accounts collected by ghost-tour operators and SCETV, Elizabeth passed away in 1945, and Zoe, by then in her later years, withdrew further from public life and ultimately moved to a nursing home. She died in 1954.
In 1976, restaurateurs Bobbie Ball and Caroline Perkins purchased the property and converted it into a restaurant. The name 'Poogan's Porch' comes from a stray dog who appeared on the front porch during the renovation and effectively adopted the new establishment; Poogan reportedly lived on the porch until his death in 1979 and is buried in the front garden.
The restaurant has operated continuously since 1976 and is one of Charleston's longest-running Lowcountry-cuisine establishments. The original two-story Victorian frame is largely intact, with porch dining added in the 20th century. Poogan's Porch has been recognized regularly by national food publications and is a staple stop on the Charleston culinary and ghost-tour circuits.
Sources
The principal apparition reported at Poogan's Porch is that of a small, elderly woman in long dark dresses and wire-rimmed glasses, identified by Charleston ghost-tour operators and Scares and Haunts of Charleston as Zoe St. Amand. According to South Carolina ETV's 'Ghosts and Legends' segment, restaurant staff have reported encountering her since the building opened as a restaurant in 1976, frequently in places associated with her domestic life — the upstairs hallway and the rooms that were once bedrooms.
A recurring pattern, reported by Ghost City Tours, is that diners encounter Zoe in the women's restroom and assume she is an elderly customer; only on leaving the restroom or seeing a historical photograph in the restaurant do they realize the woman they spoke to did not appear to anyone else. Another common report is of a figure visible on the porch from the street, which then is not present when staff look.
Secondary phenomena reported by staff include doors that swing open or closed on their own, place settings moved between turns, and the sound of footsteps from the upper floor when no one is upstairs.
The Zoe St. Amand attribution is folkloric and rests on the documented fact that two schoolteacher sisters of that name occupied the home through the 1940s; the connection between the apparition and the historical Zoe rests on storytelling tradition rather than primary-source evidence.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Sit for a Lowcountry-classic meal (shrimp and grits, fried chicken) in a restored Victorian house where staff routinely report unexpected sightings of a former resident schoolteacher.
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