Discover Your Free Walking Tour of Charleston, SC
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📍 Charleston, SC
Charleston, South Carolina is a city best discovered by foot. It’s flat, many of its most iconic features are close together, and it’s full of intricate architectural details that can only be fully appreciated at a walker’s pace. Adding to that, the city was founded in 1670, meaning its roads simply weren’t designed to handle the quantity or type of vehicles that we have today.
For this reason, I recently found myself in Charleston scouring the internet for a self-guided walking tour that would allow me to see all of the landmarks that make this historic city famous. Let me tell you that the options were dismal. Unless I wanted to fork over some serious cash, or listen to a text-to-speech digital voice, I was completely out of luck.
Today, I’m here to change all that, sharing with you the walking tour of Charleston which I designed, mapped out, and thoroughly enjoyed on my latest visit. The following self-guided tour of historic Charleston lets you see ten of the city’s most iconic locations including architecturally stunning churches and waterfront views. At 2.8 miles in length, the entire tour is estimated to take an hour without stopping, and with flat terrain, it is accessible for most people.
You may choose to follow the map below, or you can click here to have google maps navigate for you. Either way, lace up your walking shoes, and I’ll see you on the sidewalk.
1. Charleston City Market
No visit to Charleston would be complete without a walk through the Historic Charleston City Market. As Charleston’s most visited location and one of the nation’s oldest public markets, the city market starts at Meeting Street and stretches for 4 blocks. Since the 1790’s, the market has served as a central location for farmers and butchers to sell produce and meat. Today, you can find souvenirs of all types including local tea, Charleston inspired art, and Gullah sweetgrass baskets. It also has ample metered parking as well as several parking garages nearby, making it a perfect place to start and end this historic Charleston walking tour.
Discovery Tip: The Charleston Crab House is a wonderful place to grab a lunch that will fuel you for the rest of this walking tour. It sits directly across the street from the market and offers a selection of southern inspired dishes with rooftop seating. Their esteemed city-wide reputation means they often have a wait, so it would be wise to put your names in, then explore the city market while you wait for an available table.
2. Pineapple Fountain
After you finish perusing the offerings at the City Market, continue forward until you reach Washington Street, then make a right. In a few blocks you will meet up with the entrance to the Joe Riley Waterfront Park, home to the iconic Pineapple Fountain. Pineapples are a recurring theme in the architecture of Charleston, its significance dating back to Christopher Columbus’s second expedition to the New World. During this trip, he discovered the pineapple and brought it back to Europe where it instantly became a sensation because of it’s irresistibly sweet meat. Because it took years to grow a pineapple, the fruit became associated with the idea of wealth and high social status, eventually becoming a recognizable symbol where one left on a front porch was an invitation for neighbors to come by to share drinks and mingle.
This Pineapple Fountain pays homage to the legend of the pineapple in the city which represents southern hospitality today. It debuted in 1990 and has been enjoyed by guests ever since. While admiring the fountain with the ocean in the background, you can even see Fort Sumter in the distance which was the site of the first battle in the American Civil War. While you certainly can’t walk there, you can book a ferry tour to step foot in the fort if you’re a history buff.
3. Old Slave Mart
After you finish enjoying your view of the water, exit the park via Exchange Street, taking a right onto State Street a few blocks ahead. On your left, you will see the remains of the Old Slave Mart which is thought to be the last standing slave auction facility in South Carolina. The market was established in 1856 after it was deemed improper to sell slaves on the street and the slave trade was brought indoors. The building looks as if it has been frozen in time on the outside, with the inside being transitioned into a two story museum. You can learn about the stress, struggles, and fears that burdened the enslaved while walking through a building where many of them were sold at auction. It only cost $8 to enter the building, and it took us about 30 minutes to walk through the museum and view its artifacts.
4. Rainbow Row
Retrace your steps until you reach East Bay Street, make a right, and continue for several blocks until you reach a stretch of brightly painted, multicolored homes. Rainbow Row is one of the most photographed locations in Charleston so this may be a fantastic time to capture some memories if you feel so inclined. The row of 13 homes were built in the 1700s to be used by merchants who ran their businesses on the ground floor while using the upper floors as living space. After many years of minimal upkeep and the wear brought on by the Civil War, the collection of homes was not in great shape. It was only in 1931 when Dorothy Legge and her husband, Judge Legge, purchased the collection of homes and painted them with pastel colors to revitalize the area. The trend was quickly adopted by neighbors. Today, all of the homes are privately owned but there are city ordinances in place that ensure that the buildings maintain their pastel colors.
5. White Point Garden
Continue straight on East Bay and the street will transition into East Battery, leading you onto a sidewalk that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of this walkway, you will approach White Point Garden, a public park with picnic tables, military statues and cannons. This may be a perfect place to rest your legs for a bit and watch the water. This area also happens to be lined with some of the most stunning and lavish houses in all of Charleston. Perhaps the most notable home here is the William Washington House, the only pre-revolutionary house on the Charleston Battery.
6. Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
After enjoying the park for a while, you can continue down South Battery, making a right onto Legare Street. Several blocks forward we approach our first of many spectacular churches which give Charleston its nickname as The Holy City. At the corner of Legare and Broad Street, sits the intricate brownstone Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. This church was actually the second structure in this location, the original church being named the Cathedral of Saint John and Saint Finbar which burned down in 1861. Both cathedrals were designed by architect Patrick Keely in gothic revival style architecture
Photo by Srini Somanchi.
7. Saint Michael’s Church
Continuing straight on Broad Street toward the towering white spire, you will soon meet up with Saint Michael’s Church. The church sits at the famous intersection of Meeting and Broad Street which is globally referred to as Four Corners of Law, as the four buildings at the intersection each represent the institutions of federal, state, local and ecclesiastical law. Saint Michael’s, representing ecclesiastical law, serves as a place of worship for its episcopal congregation and is the oldest surviving religious building in all of Charleston. Built in the 1750s, the church has been a place of worship for several recognizable figures including George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Its associated graveyard which sits adjacent to the church is also the final resting place of two signers of the U.S. Constitution: John Rutledge and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
8. French Huguenot Church
Just one adjacent Northeast block away is the French Huguenot Church, one of the most recognizable churches in all of Charleston because of its unique, pastel pink exterior. Designed in gothic revival style architecture by Edward Brickell White, its congregation can be dated back to the 1680s. It is also the only independent Huguenot Church in the United States, Huguenots being a religious group of French Protestants who faced persecution throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The church is also fittingly located in the French Quarter of Charleston, a section of the city which was named as such due to its historically high percentage of French merchants and the still noticeable architectural influences that still exist throughout the area.
9. St. Philip’s Church
From here, you should be able to see St. Philip’s Church just half a block north on Church Street. While this brick church was constructed in 1836, and its towering spire added in 1850, its congregation came to Charleston in 1680 and worshipped in the present day location of Saint Michael’s Church before the original building was damaged in a hurricane. Between 1893 and 1915, the church’s spire was used in combination with Fort Sumter to complete a set of range lighthouses in order to direct safe passage of mariners who were seeking to dock in the Charleston Harbor.
10. Circular Congregational Church
Continuing north up Church Street, make an immediate left onto Clifford Street. You will first pass the Powder Magazine on your left, a present day military museum which historically held gunpowder in the 1700s. You will then approach the Circular Congregational Church. This is the last stop on our tour of Charleston, and also the meeting place to one of the oldest continually worshipping congregations in the Southern United States. The current structure was designed in part by Robert Mills, the architect who also designed the Washington Monument. Its circular first floor sits 88 feet in diameter, has 7 great doors, and can accommodate 2,000 worshipers. It was also the first major domed building in the United States, making it a controversial design choice for many at the time. Its graveyard is one of the oldest and most hauntingly beautiful cemeteries in all of Charleston.
Congratulations on finishing this self-guided walking tour of historic Charleston. You are now about one block south of the City Market, making this a prime opportunity to stop for a bite to eat at the Charleston Crab House if you missed out on it at the start of the tour. Although, if there is one thing I can say about Charleston, it's that it is abundant in amazing restaurant options. You truly can’t go wrong with wherever you decide to refuel.
Bonus stop: Old Charleston Jail
The jail was closed for visitors during our trip to Charleston, and since it was located several blocks outside of this walking route, we didn’t end up seeing it in person. I have heard that it is a great stop for those of us who enjoy a bit of spooky adventures during their travels, though. With an old, castle-like appearance, the old jail operated for 130 years during which time it housed pirates, Union civil war officers, and Lavinia Fisher who is believed by some to be the first female serial killer in the United States. The jail now operates as a tourist attraction by offering haunted jail tours.
Have a favorite stop on this list, or have a stop to add to this tour? Share them below to help future travelers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss a new destination guide.
Thank you for joining us at Discovery Detour, where the destination is always unknown.
