The Murder of Dr. Chapman

A book about a real-life murder mystery at this location is The Murder of Doctor Chapman: The Legendary Trials of Lucretia Chapman and Her Lover, by Linda Wolfe (Harper Perennial, New York, 2005). A recent St. Charles parish bulletin talks of the history of the location. In the 1830s it was a school for children with speech impediments run by Dr. William Chapman and his wife, Lucretia. Next, it was a tavern for travelers called The Union Inn, which was sometimes called the Hornets' Nest because of its tough reputation, according to the bulletin. It goes on that in the 1860s, The Episcopal Church bought the property and ran a boarding school for boys, which became Andalusia College, which eventually closed. In 1903, the first St. Charles Church was built.