Historic Charleston, SC - Self-guided Walking Tour

Thursday, the 24th we opted to do a self-guided walking tour of historic Charleston that we found online.  

The day started out nice and sunny and a bit cooler than we have been experiencing. (still quite warm, but comfortable) It’s a small historic area and was an easy walk with plenty of stops to tour inside churches, government and other historic buildings. It didn’t have the “southern charm” that Savannah had, but was still a very interesting walk.

This town stinks! Seriously, the horse drawn carriage tours are frequent and the smell of horse poo is pretty strong in areas. 

We started at The Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon. "By the 1770’s Charleston’s population was around 12,000 people, half of whom were slaves. In one year, over 7,000 black Africans were channeled through the city to other parts of the colonies. The Custom’s House (Exchange Building) was where public slave auctions were held outside and along the adjacent factors’ wharves. Other enterprises included brokers’ offices and a large number of merchants who catered to the maritime trade. Rope, tar, lumber, canvas and nails were kept in good supply." 

We were given a tour of the Provost and then we self toured the rest of the museum. 

 The Old Exchange Building

 Provost Dungeon

 the guide

 model of the original building

 Secret Powder Magazine storage was bricked up behind a wall

 guide in the Great Hall

 I signed the fake Declaration of the original 13 States

 he demonstrated the various rifles & muskets used 

 demonstrating the bayonet

 photo of George Washington

 post office inside the Old Exchange

We continued on with the walk to The Old Slave Mart which is now a museum.

 Chalmers Street

 the Old Slave Mart

carriage tours

The Pink House is believed to be the second oldest remaining structure in Charleston.  It never was a house but was a tavern and rumored to have housed a brothel in the upper floor.

The Douxsaint-Macauley House was erected by a French Huguenot Paul Douxsaint in 1726. It's a fine example of early Federal period homes with its beaded weatherboarding on the exterior, 9-over-9 windows, and a roof with dormers. The pink neo-gothic French Huguenot (Protestant) Church & graveyard.

9 over 9 windows

The Dock Street Theatre used to be a hotel before it was turned into a  theater and plays are still performed here. There were doing a sound check so we couldn't see the stage area.

 inside the theater

It was lunch time so we headed to

the Brown Dog Deli, which had rave reviews. It was so good I had chowed down the whole sandwich before I remembered to take photos of our food. I had the Pig N' Fig - In-house pulled pork, fig-rosemary preserves, Granny Smith apples, applewood-smoked bacon and cheddar cheese on a panini-pressed local French baguette. (Apple Butter’s Big Brother!) and Greg had the Turkey in the Straw - Strawberries, creamy goat cheese strawberry-basil spread, red onions, *mesquite smoked turkey, applewood-smoked bacon and spinach topped with a balsamic reduction served on a toasted pita. YUM!

We continued on the tour where we left off. 

 French Huguenot Church

St. Phillips Episcopal Church . (the old wooden church was home to the oldest congregation in South Carolina what stands now was rebuilt when it burned down)

 this cemetery was closed for renovation

 Rev Thomas Frost buried here

The Old Powder Magazine is so old that when it was built the word magazine had only one meaning and it was an arsenal of gunpowder from 1713 until 1748. 

 The Old Powder Magazine

The Circular Congregational Church is striking due to its Romanesque style that stands out among the surrounding buildings. The graveyard is the city’s oldest burial ground with monuments dating from 1695. 

 

Visitor Center housed in a former Esso gas station

We walked through a small park to get to City Hall. 

 George Washington

 City Hall

Charleston County Courthouse is a working courthouse today: 

Post Office and Federal District Court Built in 1896 in the Renaissance Revival style, this attractive building is the federal element on the Four Corners the of Law.

 Post Office and Federal District Court

 museum inside the working post office

 early electric cancelling machine

 the working postal windows 

 PO boxes 

 staircase to the court rooms upstairs

St. Michael’s Episcopal Church  Here is the ecclesiastical corner of the Four Corners and it is the oldest and the oldest church in Charleston.  The church was built between 1752 and 1761. , St Michael’s has survived hurricanes, wars, fires, earthquakes and even a cyclone with little damage. The interior of the church has a typical 18th-century English design, with native cedar box-pews. Pew Number 43 was used by George Washington in 1791 and later, in 1861, General Robert E. Lee sat in the same pew. 

 selling the traditional grass woven baskets & handicrafts

 walking on Tradd Street which has at least 10 homes with landmark status

Rainbow Row is a series of row houses, painted in bright colors, dating back to about 1740.

Coates’ Row - a cluster of brisk & stone businesses and homes brings us back to where we started.

Gradually, it clouded up and eventually rained at the end of our walking tour.  Before it started raining too hard we walked around Waterfront Park.

 USS Yorktown in the distance

 closer shot of USS Yorktown

 Fort Sumter where the first shot was fired in the Civil War

 Pineapple Water Fountain

We stopped for gelato at Belgium Gelato which was quite good. We waited out the rain in a hotel overhang and finally it subsided enough to get to the parking garage.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest.