Cannon Park

A municipal public park dating back to the early 1800s, Cannon Park was the site of a convention hall built in 1899 for a reunion of Confederate veterans, later becoming the home of the Charleston Museum. A fire in 1981 destroyed the structure, leaving only the four large columns pictured in these images, which are now the focal point of a public park.

Charleston Jail and City Workhouse or “Sugar House”

Built in 1802 and functional until the early 20th century, the Old Charleston Jail was particularly known for housing enslaved persons and Denmark Vesey, the organizing leader of the failed slave revolt of 1822. What originally was a sugar processing center and workhouse adjacent to the Charleston Jail became a city owned corporal punishment center for enslaved persons, known as “The Sugar House.” Slaveholders would pay a fee for the city to flog and beat enslaved Charlestonians, while slaves caught walking in the streets after curfew might also be chained to a treadmill for hours of punitive labor. The facility was later incorporated into the Roper Hospital until it was leveled by the major earthquake of 1886. The site of the former “Sugar House” is currently used as a parking lot and received its first historical marker in July of 2022. The Old Jail is currently being renovated into a modern office building.

Miles Brewton House

Miles Brewton was a wealthy planter and slave trader. The front fence and gates of his palatial 1765 Georgian house features visually striking iron spikes called chevaux de frise. These bristling projections at one time surrounded many houses in Charleston, having become particularly popular after Denmark Vesey’s failed slave uprising of 1822. They provide an architectural testament to the fear of rebellion and violence that has always attended slaveholding societies.

Circular Congregational Church

Founded in 1681 by a group of English Congregationalists, Scots Presbyterians, and French Huguenots, Circular Congregational Church is one of the oldest houses of worship in Charleston. Its first monumental building, by native Charlestonian and early American architect Robert Mills, was destroyed in a fire that swept through the city on the eve of the Civil War. The current architecture – a Richardsonian Romanesque design in the form of a Greek Cross – was constructed in 1890.

Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist

While the construction began on the original cathedral in 1850, a fire led to reconstruction in 1890. Gothic Revival in style, the cathedral features stained glass, a rose window, and a pipe organ, and is the “mother church” for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston.

Washington Square

Adjacent to City Hall and the Charleston Historical Society, Washington Square Park is one of Charleston’s first public parks. In the center of the park is an obelisk honoring Charlestonian war dead that some have likened to a miniature version of the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital. Along the east wall is a monument to Confederate General Pierre Beauregard, who oversaw the defense of the city during the Civil War. A statue of George Washington, after whom the park was named, was installed in 1999.

Aiken – Rhett House

Built in 1820, the house was inhabited by Governor and Mrs. William Aiken, Jr, a politically prominent family in the antebellum south, as well as many enslaved men, women, and children. It is noted today for the high state of preservation of its living and working spaces for enslaved residents. The main house has been preserved, albeit in a mild state of romantic decay, in its original state from the 1850s, including much of the decor, interior furnishings, and domestic layout.

Hampton Park

A 60 acre park marked by large live oaks, walking trails, gardens and fountains, it served as both a Revolutionary and Civil War site. On May 1, 1865, emancipated slaves and Unionists gathered at Hampton Park to honor the Union soldiers who died while incarcerated in a poorly constructed, inadequately serviced prisoner-of-war camp there. In 2014, a statute was unveiled to honor Denmark Vesey, a former slave that bought his freedom and was later hanged for organizing a plot to free slaves.

Middleton Place

A former plantation, Middleton Place has the oldest formal landscaped gardens in America, dating to the 1740s. The Middletons were prominent during the Revolutionary War, with Henry Middleton serving as president of the first Continental Congress, and his son Arthur signing the Declaration of Independence. Enslaved workers cultivated the vast gardens and worked the rice fields that fueled the Middleton family’s fortune. While the plantation house was burned by Union soldiers in 1865, the remaining sculpted landscape provides a synthesis of English Renaissance garden design and West African rice terracing – presenting a picture of an America that would rise from the fusion of many peoples. It is a beautiful testament to our shared humanity, even as it compels us to confront the sorrows and injustices that attended its original making. The property is now operated by the non-profit Middleton Place Foundation.