Explore Charleston

The Old Slave Mart on Chalmers Street was built in 1859 as part of Ryan's Mart, a market where enslaved people were sold at auction; it is believed to be the last surviving slave-auction building in South Carolina. The museum inside tells of the domestic slave trade in Charleston through documents, objects and the accounts of people who were sold here.

The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon at the foot of Broad Street was built in 1767-1771 as a customs house and exchange. South Carolina's delegates to the Continental Congress were chosen here, George Washington was received here in 1791, and during the Revolution the British held prisoners in its cellar. Tours visit the great hall and the dungeon.

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum lies in Mount Pleasant, across Charleston Harbor from the city. Its centrepiece is the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, commissioned in 1943, whose hangar and flight deck hold some 25 historic aircraft. Visitors also board the destroyer USS Laffey and see a Vietnam-era support base and the Medal of Honor Museum.

Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, about 13 km north-east of downtown Charleston, has been farmed for more than 300 years. It is reached by an avenue of live oaks planted in 1743. The main house dates from 1936, while nine brick cabins built for enslaved people around 1790-1810 house the Black History in America exhibit, telling of those who built and worked the plantation.