3 days in Charleston

While researching things to do in Charleston, my impression was that there are lots of things to do in and around the city. To see and do “everything” (or a lot of it anyway) you could probably spend a whole week, especially if a day or two were out of town trips and also spend a fair amount of money on admission as many of the sites have a substantial ticket price. Or maybe it’s normal these days (I’m not sure, but it adds up.)

After selecting my top priority activities, I decided on 2 1/2 days in Charleston. Some of the sites are closed on Sunday or Monday, so that helped me decide what to do and when as we were there Saturday-Monday.

Saturday Afternoon

McLeod Plantation Tues-Sat 9-4 run by Charleston County Parks admission $20 (adults 13-59)

One of the many plantations in the region, McLeod Plantation is managed by Charleston County Parks and more that the other plantations around the city, very much highlights the narrative and successful survival of the ancestors of the enslaved families who built and lived at McLeod Plantation.

There is an option for a guided tour and a self-guided tour and I think you’ll definitely learn more from the guided tour. On the tour, I learned that the bricks that were used for much of the building construction in the area were made by children and you can occasionally find fingerprints in the bricks. I found the bricks around Charleston very attractive, but after that, I walked around looking for fingerprints.

The beautiful Oak Allee leading up to the house was planted relatively recently, within the past 100 years, since the purpose of the land prior to that was purely agricultural.

Sunday

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site current hours house museum Fri-Sun and grounds Wed -Sun 9-5 free admission

Charles Pinckney was a founding father and signer of the Constitution. The site is located on a remnant of his plantation. This is probably not a top destination for most people, but is a National Park Site and so it was a priority for me. There is a small museum in the house and a park to walk around, but it is not a long stop.

Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park Fort Sumter is only available to visit via guided tour $32 adult; Fort Moultrie Wed-Sun 9-4/5 $10 adult

Fort Sumter is on a tiny island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor and can only be visited via a boat tour. The island was built around the War of 1812, prior to the civil war in order to have a fort at the entrance to the harbor to protect the city. Originally the fort was three stories high, prior to bombardment by the Union army during the Civil War. Today it’s only barely one story high and there really isn’t much left. The island is tiny with water practically lapping at the walls of the fort.

The tours go from either Patriot’s Point or downtown Charleston and boats take about 45 minutes to get there and then once on the island, there’s about an hour to wander around. There is a small museum and gift shop on the island, but there isn’t really much left of the fort. As forts go it wasn’t physically as interesting as other forts in the region, but historically it’s very important since it’s where the Civil War started.

Fort Moultrie is also right at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, but it is on Sullivan’s Island and it was built much earlier than Fort Sumter, for the Revolutionary War and used periodically for about 200 years. Originally built from palmetto logs, currently it’s an attractive (as forts go) brick fort with lots of underground tunnels to wander. The fort was decommissioned and transferred to the NPS in 1960.

Monday

Middleton Place Plantation daily 9-5 $29 adult plus $15 add on for house tour

Each plantation in the area seemed to have a specific special feature that made it stand apart from the others, for example Drayton Hall is the only one with the original house. Middleton Place is America’s oldest formal garden, so I decided that was a good reason to visit.

Middleton Place is on the Ashley River and was built by slave labor. It’s a large property, with lots of paths to wander. When we were there, there were sheep grazing in front of the house, and there were lots of animals to visit after walking around the gardens.

There were several talks and tours included with admission to get to know Middleton Place better and there was also an add-on house tour. The only existing remaining structure was one of two flanker houses added onto the original main house which was destroyed during the civil war.

Early March was a great time to visit as there are huge camellia gardens and they were all blooming.

Old Slave Mart Museum Mon-Sat 9-5 $8

The last official destination on our itinerary was the Old Slave Mart Museum. It’s a small museum in downtown Charleston with a lot of information about the entire history of slavery.

The other activity that we did while in Charleston was walking around the historic part of the city. We spent some time on Saturday before dinner wandering around and then did some more wandering on Monday afternoon. It’s a very pleasant city to meander through. Lots of church tower, which is why it’s called the Holy City, and lots of small side streets to check out. I liked peering into people’s gardens.