1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
Daily Tour
15 people
English
Take a journey through time and discover Charleston’s history and culture on this private walking tour of the South Carolina city. With a longtime resident as your guide, you’ll get an insider’s view and a vivid account of more than 300 centuries’ worth of history. Depending on your preference, you can choose to focus the tour on the Civil War or the history and legacy of slavery in Charleston.
The tour begins at White Point Garden where the settlers landed in 1680. There you hear about how Charleston was started. A gift to 8 Lord Proprietors from King Charles II. You will see the Stevens Lather House, at 17,000 sq. ft, the second largest home in Charleston. In 1920 the good people of Charleston established the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings in the ballroom of that home. It was the very first preservation society in the country.
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
As we stroll along the high battery (waterfront) you will learn about the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. You’ll hear about the Battle of Battery Wagner, subject of the movie “Glory” and much more about the Civil War. You will see some of Charleston’s finest antebellum homes and hear some “insider” stories of old Charleston. Like the 900 piece of cannon that landed on the roof of the Roper House in 1864 and it’s still there today. You will see the Carolina Yaughtless Club, Rainbow Row and much more.
25 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Once we get to Tradd Street we will be walking in what was the original walled city. We will see some of Charleston’s earliest grand homes from the 1740’s and 1750’s. Tradd Street, with its wonderful window boxes is considered one of Charleston’s most charming streets and is often featured in Southern Living Magazine. We will see Catfish Row (Church Street between Tradd Street and Broad Street), the black neighborhood in Charleston before the Civil War and the subject of the play Porgy and Bess.
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Then to Meeting Street. There we will see more examples of Charleston’s pre Revolutionary War homes, including the James Simmons House – General Beauregard’s headquarters during the Civil War. We will see the Nathanial Russell, one of Charleston’s finest museum homes, an example of a Charleston Single House and the Williams Mansion – at 24,000 sq. ft. the largest home in Charleston. George Williams built the mansion after the Civil War in what is called the Italianate style of architecture. Williams was a blockade runner during the Civil War. Margaret Mitchell (author of Gone with The Wind) visited the home when she was 13 years old and we think that visit may have been the genesis of her book.
20 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
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