Beginning in December 1821, Vesey and other free blacks met in his home to plan a rebellion for the summer of 1822. As the date for the rebellion grew closer, one slave who heard of the plot reported it to his master.
Several leaders of the rebellion were arrested, and three men testified against Vesey in exchange for promises of immunity. Vesey and more than 30 others were executed for their roles in the conspiracy. Several important actors in the Denmark Vesey insurrection and trial, both white and black, lived on or near Bull Street.
A statue commemorating Vesey was unveiled in Charleston’s Hampton Park in February of 2014.
The house is a National Historic Landmark. This house is a private residence and not open to the public.
(Note: research since the time of nomination has shown that 56 Bull Street was not Vesey’s house. There is no concrete evidence to support that Vesey ever lived at this address, or that this house was even standing ca. 1820.)