Charleston's Museum Mile motherlode!
When the weather outside is frightful, Charleston has just the promotion to bring you and your family in out of the cold. In January, Charleston’s Museum Mile offers a month-long pass to 11 historical sites located within a one mile walking distance. The price is $25 for adults and $10 for children 12 and under - a savings of $98.
The headliner is America’s first museum, The Charleston Museum, founded in 1773. Allow at least two hours to meander the halls teeming with historical facts and relics from as far back as 12,000 years ago, leading you through Charleston’s colonization, role in the Revolutionary War, prosperity through the antebellum years, and destruction as a result of the Civil War. Children will be captivated with many of the interactive exhibits including dressing up in colonial attire and the children’s hands-on room putting the history of the Lowcountry into a child’s perspective.
In closest proximity to the museum are the Joseph Manigault House and the Aiken-Rhett House Museum, two strikingly romantic historic homes. A third home found on Tradd Street, the Heyward-Washington House, displays the authentically preserved home of Thomas Heyward, Jr; one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Just across Meeting Street, tucked away on Ann Street, awaits more entertainment for the little ones at the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry.
The path of history continues south down Meeting Street to include the Confederate Museum hidden above the famous city market, a great place to step off the path and grab a snack or artwork from a local artisan. The Powder Magazine may be small but worth the stop. It is the oldest public building in South Carolina and tells the story of weaponry in Charleston from Colonial times through the Civil War with an added bonus of an exhibit of local pirates. Just south, the Gibbes Museum of Art displays an extensive collection of American Art from the 18th century forward.
Along the way to The Old Slave Mart Museum you will experience Chalmers Street, one of Charleston’s oldest cobblestone streets, and beautiful bright-colored homes with artistically designed iron gates. Aside from museum displays of slavery in Charleston pre and post-Civil War, audio recordings tell the personal stories of slave owners, traders, and slaves.
Back on Meeting Street, the South Carolina Historical Society resides within the nation’s first fireproof building and houses books, letters, journals and maps spanning Charleston’s 300 year history.
Further south, Meeting Street enters the most expensive and extravagant homes in Charleston, South of Broad. The Nathaniel Russell House at 51 Meeting Street provides the opportunity for pass holders to glimpse into the Federal-style townhouse with its grand gardens and extravagant décor. Only a few blocks south resides the Edmonston-Alston House and its grandiose views of the Charleston Harbor.
The final destination on the Museum Mile Month Pass is The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. Guides donning 18th century attire greet visitors and tours are given regularly of the mysterious dungeon where pirates and slaves were held captive.
For more information on the Museum Mile pass, visit www.charlestonmuseummile.org. Tickets can be purchased online at the website until Dec. 31. Afterwards, tickets must be purchased in person at one of the three Charleston Visitor Centers.