30 Sights in Charleston, United States (with Map and Images)
Legend
Welcome to your journey through the most beautiful sights in Charleston, United States! Whether you want to discover the city's historical treasures or experience its modern highlights, you'll find everything your heart desires here. Be inspired by our selection and plan your unforgettable adventure in Charleston. Dive into the diversity of this fascinating city and discover everything it has to offer.
Sightseeing Tours in CharlestonActivities in Charleston
The Fireproof Building, also known as the County Records Building, is located at 100 Meeting Street, at the northwest corner of Washington Square, in Charleston, South Carolina. Completed in 1827, it was the most fire-resistant building in America at the time, and is believed to be the oldest fire-resistant building in America today.
2. White Point Gardens
White Point Garden is a 5.7 acre public park located in peninsular Charleston, South Carolina, at the tip of the peninsula. It is the southern terminus for the Battery, a defensive seawall and promenade. It is bounded by East Battery, Murray Blvd., King St., and South Battery.
3. Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, colloquially Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1817. It is the oldest AME church in the Southern United States; founded the previous year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AME was the first independent black denomination in the nation. Mother Emanuel has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore.
Wikipedia: Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (EN), Website
4. Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston, located in Charleston, South Carolina. Designed by Brooklyn architect Patrick Keely in the Gothic Revival style, it opened in 1907. The Most Reverend Jacques E. Fabre, the fourteenth Bishop of Charleston, was ordained and installed on May 13, 2022
Wikipedia: Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN), Website
5. South Carolina Aquarium
The South Carolina Aquarium, located in Charleston, South Carolina, opened on May 19, 2000, on the historic Charleston Harbor. It is home to more than five thousand animals including North American river otters, alligators, great blue herons, owls, loggerhead sea turtles, lined seahorses, jellyfish, pufferfish, green moray eels, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, and sharks. The largest exhibit at the aquarium is the Great Ocean Tank, which extends from the first to the third floor of the Aquarium and is the deepest tank in North America ; it holds more than 385,000 US gallons (1,460,000 L) of water and contains more than 500 animals. The Aquarium also features a Touch Tank, where patrons may touch horseshoe crabs, Atlantic stingrays, and other marine animals.
6. Hampton Park
Hampton Park is a public park located in peninsular Charleston, South Carolina, United States. At 60 acres (240,000 m2), it is the largest park on the peninsula. It is bordered by The Citadel to the west, Hampton Park Terrace to the south, North Central to the east, and Wagener Terrace to the north. The park is named in honor of Confederate General Wade Hampton III who, at the time of the Civil War, owned one of the largest collections of slaves in the South. After the Civil War, Hampton became a proponent of the Lost Cause movement, member of the Red Shirts and governor of South Carolina.
7. Historic Charleston City Market
The City Market is a historic market complex in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Established in the 1790s, the market stretches for four city blocks from the architecturally-significant Market Hall, which faces Meeting Street, through a continuous series of one-story market sheds, the last of which terminates at East Bay Street. The market should not be confused with the Old Slave Mart where enslaved people were sold, as enslaved people were never sold in the City Market. The City Market Hall has been described as a building of the "highest architectural design quality." The entire complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Market Hall and Sheds and was further designated a National Historic Landmark.
Wikipedia: City Market (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN), Website
8. Gibbes Museum of Art
The Gibbes Museum of Art, formerly known as the Gibbes Art Gallery, is an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street, in the Charleston Historic District, in 1905. The Gibbes houses a premier collection of over 10,000 works of fine art, principally American works, many with a connection to Charleston or the South.
9. Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
The Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is a cathedral church and a minor basilica located in Charleston, West Virginia, United States. Along with the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling it is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. The parish complex is a contributing property in the Downtown Charleston Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Wikipedia: Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (EN)
10. Washington Square
Washington Square is a park in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. It is located behind City Hall at the corner of Meeting Street and Broad Street in the Charleston Historic District. The planting beds and red brick walks were installed in April 1881. It was known as City Hall Park until October 19, 1881, when it was renamed in honor of George Washington. The new name was painted over the gates in December 1881.
11. Saint Johns Episcopal Church
St. John's Episcopal Church is an historic Episcopal church located at 1105 Quarrier Street in Charleston, West Virginia, in the United States. On November 2, 1989, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It was also listed as a contributing property in the Downtown Charleston Historic District in 2006.
Wikipedia: St. John's Episcopal Church (Charleston, West Virginia) (EN)
12. Heyward-Washington House Museum
The Heyward-Washington House is a historic house museum at 87 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Built in 1772, it was home to Thomas Heyward, Jr., a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and was where George Washington stayed during his 1791 visit to the city. It is now owned and operated by the Charleston Museum. Furnished for the late 18th century, the house includes a collection of Charleston-made furniture. Other structures include the carriage shed and 1740s kitchen building.
13. Old Marine Hospital
The Old Marine Hospital is a historic medical building at 20 Franklin Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Built 1831–33 to a design by Robert Mills, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 for its association with Mills, and as a high-quality example of Gothic Revival architecture. The hospital was built as a public facility for the treatment of sick sailors and other transient persons.
Wikipedia: United States Marine Hospital (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN), Website, Heritage Website
14. Confederate Defenders of Charleston
Confederate Defenders of Charleston is a monument in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The monument honors Confederate soldiers from Charleston, most notably those who served at Fort Sumter during the American Civil War. Built with funds provided by a local philanthropist, the monument was designed by Hermon Atkins MacNeil and was dedicated in White Point Garden in 1932. The monument, standing 17 feet (5.2 m) tall, features two bronze statues of a sword and shield-bearing defender standing in front of a symbolic representation of the city of Charleston. In recent years, the monument has been the subject of vandalism and calls for removal as part of a larger series of removal of Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States.
15. Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House
Elizabeth Harden Gilmore House, also known as Minotti-Gilmore House or Harden and Harden Funeral Home, is a historic home and national historic district located at Charleston, West Virginia. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, Classical Revival brick detached residential dwelling built by 1900 on an approximately one-half acre lot in a business area of town. It features a columned portico and has undergone some alteration and deterioration. It was the home and location of a funeral home operated by Elizabeth Gilmore, a prominent African American in the Kanawha Valley.
16. Loewenstein and Sons Hardware Building
Loewenstein and Sons Hardware Building, also known as the Loewenstein Building or Rite Aid Building, is a historic commercial structure located at Charleston, West Virginia. It was designed by the Columbus, Ohio architectural firm of Yost & Packard.
17. HealthSmart
Woodrums' Building, also known as Woodrum Home Outfitting Co. building, is a historic commercial building located at Charleston, West Virginia, United States. It is a six-story commercial building located in the central business district of Charleston. The property consists of an original commercial structure built in 1916 and a rear addition built in 1937.
18. Baptist Temple
Charleston Baptist Temple is a historic Baptist church located at Charleston, West Virginia. It is a two-story, brick church with Georgian and Federal style details. It was designed by architect Ernest Flagg and constructed in 1924. It is composed of a central sanctuary block with matching wings and a rear addition constructed in 1955. The facade features a central tower, which contains the steeple. The spire is copper-clad and flares out to cover an open belfry with decorated engaged Corinthian columns and arched openings. Directly below the belfry is a baluster area above the clock portion of the tower.
19. Allan Park
Allan Park is a park in Charleston, South Carolina. The parcel of land was donated to the City of Charleston by Amey Allan, the widow of James Allan and the developer of most of the eastern half of Hampton Park Terrace parks on the peninsula, on March 23, 1920. The park is lined with oak trees which replaced the palmetto trees in the original plans.
20. Brittlebank Park
Brittlebank Park is a ten-acre park located between Lockwood Boulevard and the Ashley River in Charleston, South Carolina near Gadsden Creek. To the south is a condominium project and to the north is the minor league baseball stadium, the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.
21. Magic Island Park
Magic Island is an island in the Kanawha River near its confluence with the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia. Kanawha Boulevard separates Magic Island from Charleston's West Side neighborhood. It serves as a public park for the city. The island gained its name due to the rise and fall of the river level in the Kanawha, which caused the island to slip underwater, as if by "magic".
22. Sterrett Brothers' Dry Goods Store
Sterrett Brothers' Dry Goods Store is a historic commercial structure located at Charleston, West Virginia. It was built about 1890 in what has become known as the "Victorian Block" of Charleston. The building originally had three floors with a storefront on the first floor. Sometime after 1898, but before 1917, a fourth story was added to the building. Since its construction by the Sterrett Brothers, it has been occupied by Sacks Shoe Store, J.C. Penney Company, the Dondale Furniture Company, and most recently a Charleston-based Law firm.
23. First Scots Presbyterian Church of Charleston
First (Scots) Presbyterian Church is a historic church located at 53 Meeting St., Charleston, South Carolina. The congregation was established in 1731 when a dozen Scottish residents left the Independent Church of Charleston, now called the Circular Congregational Church.
24. Mace Brown Museum of Natural History
The Mace Brown Museum of Natural History is a public natural history museum situated on the campus of The College of Charleston, a public liberal arts college in Charleston, South Carolina. With a collection of over 30,000 vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, the museum focuses on the paleontology of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Admission to the museum is free, and donations are welcome. The museum has the holotype specimens of Coronodon, Cotylocara, and Inermorostrum, as well as the reference specimen of Ankylorhiza tiedemani
Wikipedia: Mace Brown Museum of Natural History (EN), Website
25. Saint Stephens Episcopal Church
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is an Episcopal parish in Charleston, South Carolina, founded in 1822. It was the first Episcopal church in the United States at which pews were offered to attendants at no cost; other Episcopal churches either sold or leased pews to members to fund the churches. The church was named as a contributing property to the Charleston Historic District when it was expanded in 1970.
Wikipedia: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN)
26. Summerall Chapel
Summerall Chapel is a cruciform chapel on the campus of The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. Constructed from 1936 to 1938, the chapel serves the South Carolina Corps of Cadets and the broader Citadel and Charleston communities. The chapel is non-sectarian, but hosts Catholic, Protestant, and Episcopal worship services weekly during the academic year. Additionally, many special events, such as weddings and the annual Christmas Candlelight Service, are hosted in the chapel.
27. J. S. Sweeney Store, Barn, Livery and Hall
The J.S. Sweeney Store, Barn, Livery and Hall were a trio of historically important commercial buildings on Vermont Route 105 in East Charleston, Vermont. Dating as far back as 1860, the general store, bank barn, and combination livery and community hall have been a center of community activity since their construction. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Of the three buildings, only the store is still standing.
Wikipedia: J. S. Sweeney Store, Barn, Livery and Hall (EN), Heritage Website
28. Hazel Parker Playground City Park
Hazel Parker Playground is a public park in Charleston, South Carolina named after Hazel V. Parker in 1977. Hazel Parker was the recreation supervisor at the playground starting in 1942. The playground was formerly known as the East Bay Playground.
29. Saint Michael Protestant Episcopal Church
St. Michael's Anglican Church is a historic church and the oldest surviving religious structure in Charleston, South Carolina. It is located at Broad and Meeting streets on one of the Four Corners of Law, and represents ecclesiastical law. It was built in the 1750s by order of the South Carolina Assembly. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.
Wikipedia: St. Michael's Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN)
30. Saint Philip Protestant Episcopal Church
St. Philip's Church is an historic church at 142 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. Its National Historic Landmark description states: "Built in 1836, this stuccoed brick church features an imposing tower designed in the Wren-Gibbs tradition. Three Tuscan pedimented porticoes contribute to this design to make a building of the highest quality and sophistication." On November 7, 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark.
Wikipedia: St. Philip's Episcopal Church (Charleston, South Carolina) (EN), Website, Tripadvisor, Facebook, Yelp
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