Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston
City
Rainbow Row A house on the Battery Columbus Street Terminal – Port of Charleston Waterfront Park King Street Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge
FIPS code		45-13330
GNIS feature ID	1221516[8]
Website	www.charleston-sc.gov

Charleston is the

Charleston's significance in American history is tied to its role as a major slave trading port. Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company and pioneered the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century; almost one-half of slaves imported to the United States arrived in Charleston.^[11] In 2018, the city formally apologized for its role in the American slave trade.^[12]

History

Colonial era (1670–1776)

At the time of European colonization, the area was inhabited by the indigenous Cusabo, on whom the settlers declared war in October 1671. The settlers initially allied with the Westo, a northern indigenous tribe that traded in enslaved Indians. The settlers abandoned their alliance with the Westo in 1679 and allied with the Cusabo instead.^[17]

The initial settlement quickly dwindled away and disappeared while another village—established by the settlers on Oyster Point at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers around 1672^[15]—thrived. This second settlement formally replaced the original Charles Town in 1680.^[18] (The original site is now commemorated as Charles Towne Landing.) The second location was more defensible and had access to a fine natural harbor. The new town had become the fifth largest in North America by 1690.^[19]

A smallpox outbreak erupted in 1698, followed by an earthquake in February 1699. The latter caused a fire that destroyed about a third of the town. During rebuilding,^[20] a yellow fever outbreak killed about 15% of the remaining inhabitants. Charles Town suffered between five and eight major yellow fever outbreaks over the first half of the 18th century.

It developed a reputation as one of the least healthy locations in the Thirteen Colonies for ethnic Europeans. Malaria was endemic. Although malaria did not have such high mortality as yellow fever, it caused much illness. It was a major health problem through most of the city's history before dying out in the 1950s after use of pesticides cut down on the mosquitoes that transmitted it.^[21]

Charles Town was fortified according to a plan developed in 1704 under Governor Nathaniel Johnson. Both Spain and France contested Britain's claims to the region. Various bands of Native Americans and independent pirates also raided it.

On September 5–6, 1713 (O.S.) a violent

From the 1670s Charleston attracted pirates. The combination of a weak government and corruption made the city popular with pirates, who frequently visited and raided the city. Charles Town was besieged by the pirate Blackbeard for several days in May 1718. Blackbeard released his hostages and left in exchange for a chest of medicine from Governor Robert Johnson.^[24]

Around 1719, the town's name began to be generally written as Charlestown^[15] and, excepting those fronting the Cooper River, the old walls were largely removed over the next decade. Charlestown was a center for the inland colonization of South Carolina. It remained the southernmost point of the Southern Colonies until the Province of Georgia was established in 1732. As noted, the first settlers primarily came from Europe, Barbados and Bermuda. The Barbadian and Bermudan immigrants were planters who brought enslaved Africans with them, having purchased them in the West Indies.

Early immigrant groups to the city included the

In 1767 Gadsden's Wharf was constructed at the city port on the Cooper River; it ultimately extended 840 feet and was able to accommodate six ships at a time. Many slaves were sold from here.[28] Devoted to plantation agriculture that depended on enslaved labor, South Carolina became a slave society: it had a majority-Black population from the colonial period until after the Great Migration of the early 20th century, when many rural Blacks moved to northern and midwestern industrial cities to escape Jim Crow laws.

At the foundation of the town, the principal items of commerce were

Throughout this period, the slaves were sold aboard the arriving ships or at ad hoc gatherings in the town's taverns.[32] Runaways and minor slave rebellions prompted the 1739 Security Act, which required all white men to carry weapons at all times (even to church on Sundays). Before it had fully taken effect, the Cato or Stono Rebellion broke out. The white community had recently been decimated by a malaria outbreak, and the rebels killed about 25 white people before being stopped by the colonial militia. As a result of their fears of rebellion, whites killed a total of 35 to 50 Black people.^[33][34]

The planters attributed the violence to recently imported Africans and agreed to a 10-year moratorium on slave importation through Charlestown. They relied for labor upon the slave communities they already held. The

By the mid-18th century, Charlestown was the hub of the Atlantic slave trade in the Southern Colonies. Even with the decade-long moratorium, its customs processed around 40% of the enslaved Africans brought to North America between 1700 and 1775,^[32] and about half up until the end of the African trade.

The plantations and the economy based on them made this the wealthiest city in the Thirteen Colonies^[36] and the largest in population south of Philadelphia. In 1770, the city had 11,000 inhabitants—half slaves—and was the 4th-largest port in the colonies, after Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia.

The elite began to use their wealth to encourage cultural and social development. America's first theater building was constructed here in 1736; it was later replaced by today's Dock Street Theater.

Delegates for the Continental Congress were elected in 1774, and South Carolina declared its independence from Britain on the steps of the Exchange. Slavery was again an important factor in the city's role during the Revolutionary War. The British attacked the settlement three times,^[18] assuming that the settlement had a large base of Loyalists who would rally to their cause once given some military support.^[39] The loyalty of white Southerners towards the Crown had largely been forfeited, however, by British legal cases (such as the 1772 Somersett case which marked the prohibition of slavery in England and Wales, a significant milestone in the abolitionist struggle) and military tactics (such as Dunmore's Proclamation in 1775) that promised the emancipation of slaves owned by Patriot planters; these efforts did, however, unsurprisingly win the allegiance of thousands of Black Loyalists.

The

Making the capture of Charlestown their chief priority, the British sent

Between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, Charleston experienced an economic boom, at least for the top strata of society. The expansion of cotton as a cash crop in the South both led to huge wealth for a small segment of society and funded impressive architecture and culture but also escalated the importance of slaves and led to greater and greater restrictions on Black Charlestonians.

By 1783, the growth of the city had reached a point where a municipal government became desirable; therefore on August 13, 1783, an act of incorporation for the city of Charleston was ratified. The act originally specified the city's name as "Charles Ton," as opposed to the previous Charlestown, but the spelling "Charleston" quickly came to dominate.^[41]

Although Columbia had replaced it as the state capital in 1788, Charleston became even more prosperous as Eli Whitney's 1793 invention of the cotton gin sped the processing of the crop over 50 times. Britain's Industrial Revolution—initially built upon its textile industry—took up the extra production ravenously and cotton became Charleston's major export commodity in the 19th century.

The Bank of South Carolina, the second-oldest building in the nation to be constructed as a bank, was established in 1798; branches of the First and Second banks of the United States were also located in Charleston in 1800 and 1817.

Throughout the Antebellum Period, Charleston continued to be the only major American city with a majority-slave population.^[42][d] The city's widespread use of slaves as workers was a frequent subject of writers and visitors: a merchant from Liverpool noted in 1834 that "almost all the working population are Negroes, all the servants, the carmen & porters, all the people who see at the stalls in Market, and most of the Journeymen in trades".^[43] American traders had been prohibited from equipping the Atlantic slave trade in 1794 and all importation of slaves was banned in 1808, but American merchantmen frequently refused to permit British inspection for enslaved cargo, and smuggling remained common. Much more important was the domestic slave trade, which boomed as the Deep South developed into new cotton plantations. As a result of the trade, there was a forced migration of more than one million slaves from the Upper South to the Lower South in the antebellum years. During the early 19th century, the first dedicated slave markets were founded in Charleston, mostly near Chalmers and State streets.^[32] Many domestic slavers used Charleston as a port in what was called the coastwise trade, traveling to such ports as Mobile and New Orleans.

Slave ownership was the primary marker of class and even the town's freedmen and free people of color typically kept slaves if they had the wealth to do so.^[44] Visitors commonly remarked on the sheer number of Blacks in Charleston and their seeming freedom of movement,^[45] though in fact—mindful of the Stono Rebellion and the slave revolution that established Haiti—the whites closely regulated the behavior of both slaves and free people of color. Wages and hiring practices were fixed, identifying badges were sometimes required, and even work songs were sometimes censored.^[46] Punishment was handled out of sight by the city's workhouse, whose fees provided the municipal government with thousands a year.^[47] In 1820, a state law mandated that each act of manumission (freeing a slave) required legislative approval, effectively halting the practice.^[48]

The effects of slavery were pronounced on white society as well. The high cost of 19th-century slaves and their high rate of return combined to institute an oligarchic society controlled by about ninety interrelated families, where 4% of the free population controlled half of the wealth, and the lower half of the free population—unable to compete with owned or rented slaves—held no wealth at all.^[42] The white middle class was minimal: Charlestonians generally disparaged hard work as the lot of slaves.^[49] All the slaveholders taken together held 82% of the city's wealth and almost all non-slaveholders were poor.^[42] Olmsted considered their civic elections "entirely contests of money and personal influence" and the oligarchs dominated civic planning:^[51] the lack of public parks and amenities was noted, as was the abundance of private gardens in the wealthy's walled estates.^[52]

In the 1810s, the town's churches intensified their discrimination against their Black parishioners, culminating in

By 1840, the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, became a hub of commercial activity. The slave trade also depended on the port of Charleston, where ships could be unloaded and the slaves bought and sold. The legal importation of African slaves had ended in 1808, although smuggling was significant. However, the domestic trade was booming. More than one million slaves were transported from the Upper South to the Deep South in the antebellum years, as cotton plantations were widely developed through what became known as the Black Belt. Many slaves were transported in the coastwise slave trade, with slave ships stopping at ports such as Charleston.

Civil War (1861–1865)

Charleston played a major part in the Civil War. As a pivotal city, both the Union and Confederate Armies vied for control of it. The Civil War began in Charleston Harbor in 1861, and ended mere months after the Union forces took control of Charleston in 1865.

Following

Union control of the sea permitted the repeated bombardment of the city, causing vast damage.[63] Although Admiral Du Pont's naval assault on the town's forts in April 1863 failed,^[18] the Union navy's blockade shut down most commercial traffic. Over the course of the war, some blockade runners got through but not a single one made it into or out of the Charleston Harbor between August 1863 and March 1864.^[63] The early submarine H.L. Hunley made a night attack on the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864.^[64]

General Gillmore's land assault in July 1864 was unsuccessful

Postbellum (1865–1945)

Reconstruction

After the defeat of the Confederacy, federal forces remained in Charleston during

In the early 20th century strong political machines emerged in the city reflecting economic, class, racial, and ethnic tensions. The factions nearly all opposed U.S. Senator Ben Tillman who repeatedly attacked and ridiculed the city in the name of upstate poor farmers. Well organized factions within the Democratic Party in Charleston gave the voters clear choices and played a large role in state politics.^[70]

1886 earthquake

On August 31, 1886, Charleston experienced a strong

The Charleston race riot of 1919 took place on the night of Saturday, May 10, between members of the US Navy and the local black population. They attacked black individuals, businesses, and homes killing six and injuring dozens.

Contemporary era (1945–present)

Charleston languished economically for several decades in the 20th century, though the large federal military presence in the region helped to shore up the city's economy. Charleston's tourism boom began in earnest following the publication of Albert Simons and Samuel Lapham's Architecture of Charleston^[71] in the 1920s.^[72]

The Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969, in which mostly black workers protested discrimination and low wages, was one of the last major events of the civil rights movement. It attracted Ralph Abernathy, Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young, and other prominent figures to march with the local leader, Mary Moultrie.

Joseph P. Riley Jr. was elected mayor in the 1970s, and helped advance several cultural aspects of the city.

Between 1989 and 1996, Charleston saw two significant economic hits. First, the eye of Hurricane Hugo came ashore at Charleston Harbor in 1989, and though the worst damage was in nearby

After having been a majority-minority city for most of its history, in the late 20th century many whites began returning to the urban core of Charleston and the area gentrified with rising prices and rents. From 1980 to 2010, the peninsula's population shifted from two-thirds black to two-thirds white; in 2010 residents numbered 20,668 whites to 10,455 blacks.[75] Many African Americans moved to the less-expensive suburbs in these decades.^[75]

On June 17, 2015, 21-year-old white supremacist Dylann Roof entered the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and sat in on part of a Bible study before shooting and killing nine people and injuring a tenth, all African Americans.^[76] Senior pastor Clementa Pinckney, who also served as a state senator, was among those killed during the attack. The deceased also included congregation members Susie Jackson, 87; Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; Ethel Lance, 70; Myra Thompson, 59; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, 49; Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Tywanza Sanders, 26.^[77] The attack garnered national attention, and sparked a debate on historical racism, Confederate symbolism in Southern states, and gun violence, in part based on Roof's online postings. A memorial service on the campus of the College of Charleston was attended by President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Condemnation of role in the slave trade

On June 17, 2018, the Charleston City Council apologized for its role in the slave trade and condemned its "inhumane" history. It also acknowledged wrongs committed against African Americans by slavery and Jim Crow laws.^[78]

Geography

8km
5miles

6

5

4

3

2

1

  

Charleston districts

1

Downtown/The Peninsula

2

West Ashley

3

Johns Island

4

James Island

5

Cainhoy Peninsula

6

Daniel Island

The city proper consists of six distinct districts.

• Downtown, or sometimes referred to as "The Peninsula", is Charleston's center city separated by the Ashley River to the west and the Cooper River to the east
• West Ashley, residential area to the west of Downtown bordered by the Ashley River to the east and the Stono River to the west
• Johns Island, far western limits of Charleston, bordered by the Stono River to the east, Kiawah River to the south and Wadmalaw Island to the west
• James Island, popular residential area between Downtown and the town of Folly Beach with portions of the independent town of James Island intermixed
• Cainhoy Peninsula, far eastern limits of Charleston bordered by the Wando River to the west and Nowell Creek to the east
• Daniel Island, residential area to the north of downtown, east of the Cooper River and west of the Wando River

Topography

The incorporated city fitted into 4–5 sq mi (10–13 km²) as late as

Charleston Harbor runs about 7 mi (11 km) southeast to the Atlantic with an average width of about 2 mi (3.2 km), surrounded on all sides except its entrance. Sullivan's Island lies to the north of the entrance and Morris Island to the south. The entrance itself is about 1 mi (2 km) wide; it was originally only 18 ft (5 m) deep but began to be enlarged in the 1870s.^[52] The tidal rivers (Wando, Cooper, Stono, and Ashley) are evidence of a submergent or drowned coastline. There is a submerged river delta off the mouth of the harbor, and the Cooper River is deep.

Climate

Charleston has a

Downtown Charleston's climate is somewhat milder than the airport's due to stronger maritime influence. This is especially true in the winter, with the average January low in downtown being 43.6 °F (6 °C) to the airport's 38.9 °F (4 °C) for example.

The highest temperature recorded within city limits was 104 °F (40 °C) on June 2, 1985, and June 24, 1944; the lowest was 7 °F (−14 °C) on

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget, for use by the U.S. Census Bureau and other U.S. Government agencies for statistical purposes only, Charleston is included within the Charleston-North Charleston, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of three counties: Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester. The metropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 849,417 in 2023.^[7] North Charleston is the second-largest city in the metro area and ranks as the third-largest city in the state; Mount Pleasant and Summerville are the next-largest cities.

The traditional parish system persisted until the

As of the 2020 census, there were 150,227 people, 58,902 households, and 31,780 families residing in the city.

Language

Given Charleston's high concentration of African Americans who spoke the Gullah language, a creole language that developed on the Sea Islands and in the Low Country, the local speech patterns were also influenced by this community. Today, Gullah is still spoken by many African American residents.^[91] However, rapid development since 1980, especially on the surrounding Sea Islands, has attracted residents from outside the area and led to a decline in Gullah's prominence.

The traditional educated Charleston accent has long been noted in the state and throughout the South. It is typically heard in wealthy European American older people who trace their families back generations in the city. It has ingliding or monophthongal long mid-vowels, raises ay and aw in certain environments, and is

Charleston is known as "The Holy City".[1] Despite beliefs that the term dates to the city's earliest days and refers to its religiously tolerant culture, the term was coined in the 20th century, likely as a mockery of Charlestonians' self-satisfied attitude about their city.^[93] Regardless of the nickname's origination, residents have embraced the term and explained it in more flattering terms.

The Anglican church was dominant in the colonial era, and the

The city's oldest Catholic parish, St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church, is the mother church of Catholicism in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia. In 1820, Charleston was established as the see city of the Diocese of Charleston, which at the time comprised the Carolinas and Georgia, and presently encompasses the state of South Carolina.

The

Charleston's culture blends traditional Southern U.S., English, French, and West African elements. The downtown peninsula has a number of art, music, local cuisine, and fashion venues. Spoleto Festival USA, held annually in late spring, was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (the Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy.

Charleston's oldest community theater group, the Footlight Players, has provided theatrical productions since 1931.^[99] A variety of performing arts venues includes the historic Dock Street Theatre. The annual Charleston Fashion Week held each spring in Marion Square brings in designers, journalists, and clients from across the nation.^[100] Charleston is known for its local seafood, which plays a key role in the city's renowned cuisine, comprising staple dishes such as gumbo, she-crab soup, fried oysters, Lowcountry boil, deviled crab cakes, red rice, and shrimp and grits. Rice is the staple in many dishes, reflecting the rice culture of the Low Country. The cuisine in Charleston is also strongly influenced by British and French elements.^[101]

Annual cultural events and fairs

Charleston annually hosts Spoleto Festival USA founded by Gian Carlo Menotti, a 17-day art festival featuring over 100 performances by individual artists in a variety of disciplines.^[102] The annual Piccolo Spoleto festival takes place at the same time and features local performers and artists, with hundreds of performances throughout the city. Other festivals and events include Historic Charleston Foundation's Festival of Houses and Gardens and Charleston Antiques Show,^[103] the Taste of Charleston, The Lowcountry Oyster Festival, the Cooper River Bridge Run, The Charleston Marathon,^[104] Southeastern Wildlife Exposition (SEWE),^[105] Charleston Food and Wine Festival, Charleston Fashion Week, the MOJA Arts Festival, and the Holiday Festival of Lights (at James Island County Park), and the Charleston International Film Festival.^[106] The Charleston Conference is a major library industry event, held in the city center since 1980.^[107]

Music

The

The Jenkins Orphanage was established in 1891 by the Rev. Daniel J. Jenkins in Charleston. The orphanage accepted donations of musical instruments and Rev. Jenkins hired local Charleston musicians and Avery Institute Graduates to tutor the boys in music. As a result, Charleston musicians became proficient on a variety of instruments and were able to read music expertly.^[109] These traits set Jenkins musicians apart and helped land some of them positions in big bands with Duke Ellington and Count Basie. William "Cat" Anderson, Jabbo Smith, and Freddie Green are but a few of the alumni who became professional musicians. Orphanages around the country began to develop brass bands in the wake of the Jenkins Orphanage Band's success.^[110][111]

As many as five bands were on tour during the 1920s. The Jenkins Orphanage Band played in the inaugural parades of Presidents

To this day, Charleston is home to many musicians in all genres.[116]

Live theater

Charleston has a vibrant theater scene and is home to America's first theater. Most of the theaters are part of the League of Charleston Theatres, better known as Theatre Charleston.^[117] Some of the city's theaters include:

• Dock Street Theatre, opened in the 1930s on the site of America's first purpose-built theater building, is home of the Charleston Stage Company, South Carolina's largest professional theater company.
• Queen Street Playhouse, a former cotton warehouse that was fully converted to a theater in 1986. It is the home of the Footlight Players, a Charleston theater troupe first organized in 1932.
• Sottile Theater, on the campus of the College of Charleston.

Museums, historical sites, and other attractions

Charleston has many historic buildings, art and historical museums, public parks, and other attractions, including:

• Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, established to collect, preserve, and make public the unique historical and cultural heritage of African Americans in Charleston and the South Carolina Low Country. Avery's archival collections, museum exhibitions, and public programming reflect these diverse populations, as well as the wider African Diaspora.
• The Battery, a historic defensive seawall and promenade located at the tip of the peninsula along with White Point Garden, a park featuring several memorials and Civil War-era artillery pieces.
• Calhoun Mansion
  , a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m²), 1876 Victorian home at 16 Meeting Street, is named for a grandson of John C. Calhoun who lived there with his wife, the builder's daughter. The private house is periodically open for tours.
• Charleston Museum, America's first museum, founded in 1773.
• Exchange and Provost, built in 1767, it is operated as a museum by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
• Gibbes Museum of Art, opened in 1905, it houses principally American works with a Charleston or Southern connection.
• Gov. William Aiken House, also known as the Aiken-Rhett House, is a house museum built in 1820.
• Fireproof Building, houses the South Carolina Historical Society which has a rotating series of historical displays.
• Fort Sumter, site of the first shots fired in the Civil War, is located in Charleston Harbor. The National Park Service maintains a visitor center for Fort Sumter at Liberty Square (near the South Carolina Aquarium), and boat tours including the fort depart nearby.
• Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston, a free a non-collecting contemporary arts organization.^[118]
• Heyward-Washington House, a historic house museum owned and operated by the Charleston Museum. Furnished for the late 18th century, the house includes a collection of Charleston-made furniture.
• International African American Museum, opened in 2023.
• Joseph Manigault House, a historic house museum owned and operated by the Charleston Museum. The house was designed by Gabriel Manigault and is significant for its Adam style architecture.
• Market Hall and Sheds, also known as the City Market or simply the Market, stretch several blocks behind 188 Meeting Street. Market Hall was built in the 1841 and houses the Daughters of the Confederacy Museum. The sheds house some permanent stores, but are mainly occupied by open-air vendors.
• Nathaniel Russell House, an important federal-style house open to the public as a house museum.
• Old Slave Mart Museum, located at 6 Chalmers Street in the historic district is the first African American Museum. It has operated since 1938.^[119]
• Powder Magazine, a 1713 gunpowder magazine and museum. It is the oldest surviving public building in South Carolina.
• Rainbow Row, an iconic strip of homes along the harbor that date back to the mid-18th century. Though the homes are not open to the public, they are one of the most photographed attractions in the city and are featured heavily in local art.^[120]
• South Carolina Aquarium, includes revolving exhibits while its permanent focus is on the aquatic life of South Carolina.
• Waterfront Park, located on the Cooper River.^[121]

Sports

Charleston is home to a number of professional, minor league, and amateur sports teams:

• soccer team, play in the USL Championship. The Battery play at Patriots Point Soccer Complex
  .
• Charleston Gaelic Athletic Association, a Gaelic athletic club focusing on the sports of hurling and Gaelic football. The club competes in the Southeastern Division of the North American County Board of the GAA. The club hosts other division clubs in the Holy City Cup each spring.^[122]
• Charleston Outlaws RFC, a rugby union club in the Palmetto Rugby Union, USA Rugby South, and USA Rugby. It competes in Men's Division II against the Cape Fear, Columbia, Greenville, and Charlotte "B" clubs. The club also hosts a rugby sevens tournament during Memorial Day weekend.
• Low-A East and are an affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.^[123] The RiverDogs play at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park
  .
• Credit One Charleston Open, a major Women's Tennis Association Event, hosted at Credit One Stadium, which is located on Daniel Island.
• Lowcountry Highrollers, a women's flat-track roller derby league in the Charleston area. The league is a local member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.
• South Carolina Stingrays, a professional hockey team, plays in the ECHL. The Stingrays play in North Charleston at the North Charleston Coliseum. The Stingrays are an affiliate of the Washington Capitals and Hershey Bears.

Other notable sports venues in Charleston include Johnson Hagood Stadium (home of The Citadel Bulldogs football team), McAlister Field House (home of The Citadel Bulldogs basketball team), and Toronto Dominion Bank Arena at the College of Charleston, which seats 5,100 people who view the school's basketball and volleyball teams.

Books and films

Various books and films have been set in Charleston; some of the best known works are listed below. In addition, Charleston is a popular filming location for movies and television, both in its own right and as a stand-in for Southern and/or historic settings.

• Folly Beach, near Charleston. A film version
  was released in 1959.
• North and South, series of books by John Jakes, was partially set in Charleston. The North and South miniseries was partially set and filmed in Charleston.
• Part of the 1989 film Glory, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman, features the 1863 Second Battle of Fort Wagner on Morris Island.
• The movies Swamp Thing (1982) and The Lords of Discipline (1983) (based on the novel by Pat Conroy) were partly filmed in Charleston.^[124]

Economy

See also: Economy of South Carolina

Commercial shipping is important to the economy. The city has two shipping terminals, of a total of five terminals owned and operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority in the Charleston metropolitan area, which are part of the fourth-largest container seaport on the East Coast and the seventh-largest container seaport in the United States.^[125] The port is also used to transfer cars and car parts for Charleston's auto manufacturing business, such as Mercedes and Volvo.^{[126][127][128][129]}

Sometimes known as Silicon Harbor,

Greystar Real Estate Partners, Evening Post Industries, Le Creuset, SPARC a Booz Allen Hamilton

subsidiary, BoomTown, CSS, and Benefitfocus.

In June 2017, the mean sales price for a home in Charleston was $351,186 (equivalent to $429,400 in 2023) and the median price was $260,000 (equivalent to $317,900 in 2023).^[133]

Government

Charleston has a

single-member districts

.

Fire department

The City of Charleston Fire Department consists over 300 full-time firefighters. These firefighters operate out of 21 companies located throughout the city: 16 engine companies, two tower companies, two ladder companies, a heavy rescue company, a HAZ-MAT unit and several special units. Training, Fire Marshall, Operations, and Administration are the divisions of the department.^[134] The department operates on a 24/48 schedule and is a Class 1 ISO rating.^[135] Russell (Rusty) Thomas served as Fire Chief until June 2008, and was succeeded by Chief Thomas Carr in November 2008. The department is presently led by Chief Daniel Curia.

Police department

The

City of Charleston Police Department, with a total of 458 sworn officers, 117 civilians, and 27 reserve police officers, is South Carolina's largest police department.^[136]

Luther Reynolds serves as the current Chief of Police. He follows Greg Mullen and Reuben Greenberg. Chief Reynolds is credited with continuing successful community outreach programs such as The Illumination Project and fostering a culture of mutual respect. Under Chief Reynolds, the agency has successfully withstood challenges such as the Coronavirus and downtown disturbances. Additionally, the agency continues to recruit police candidates in a competitive market.

EMS and medical centers

Emergency medical services (EMS) for the city are provided by Charleston County Emergency Medical Services (CCEMS) & Berkeley County Emergency Medical Services (BCEMS). The city is served by the EMS and 911 services of both Charleston and Berkeley counties since the city is part of both counties.

Charleston is the primary medical center for the eastern portion of the state. The city has several major hospitals located in the downtown area:

Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center (MUSC), Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center,^[137] and Roper Hospital.^[138] MUSC is the state's first school of medicine, the largest medical university in the state, and the sixth-oldest continually operating school of medicine in the United States. The downtown medical district is experiencing rapid growth of biotechnology and medical research industries coupled with substantial expansions of all the major hospitals. Additionally, more expansions are planned or underway at another major hospital located in the West Ashley portion of the city: Bon Secours-St Francis Xavier Hospital.^[139] The Trident Regional Medical Center^[140] located in the City of North Charleston and East Cooper Regional Medical Center^[141] located in Mount Pleasant

also serve the needs of residents of the city of Charleston.

Coast Guard Station Charleston

Coast Guard Station Charleston responds to search and rescue emergencies, conducts maritime law enforcement activities, and Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security (PWCS) missions. Personnel from Station Charleston are highly trained professionals, composed of federal law enforcement officers, boat crewmen, and coxswains who are capable of completing a wide range of missions. In 2020, the Coast Guard announced plans to construct a 2,800-acre (11 km²) "superbase" on the former Charleston Naval Shipyard complex to consolidate all its Charleston-area facilities and become the homeport for five Security cutters and additional offshore cutters. Construction began on the Superbase in 2024.^[142][143]

Coast Guard Sector Charleston (District 7)

• Coast Guard
  Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin
  , Johns Island
• Coast Guard Helicopter Air Facility, Johns Island, Charleston
• Coast Guard Maritime Law Enforcement Academy
• Coast Guard Reserves, Charleston
• Coast Guard Station Charleston
• USCGC Anvil, 75-foot inland construction tender, Charleston
• National Security Cutter
• National Security Cutter
  (2024 Delivery)
• National Security Cutter
• National Security Cutter
• National Security Cutter
• USCGC Willow, (WLB-202), Charleston
• USCGC Yellowfin,
  Marine Protector-class coastal patrol boat
  , Charleston

Military

• Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District Headquarters
• Joint Base Charleston (Navy & Air Force)
• U.S. Coast Guard

Crime

The following table shows Charleston's crime rate for six crimes that

Morgan Quitno uses to calculate the ranking of "America's most dangerous cities", in comparison to the national average. The statistics shown are for the number of crimes committed per 100,000 people. Since 1999, the overall crime rate of Charleston has declined markedly. The total crime index rate for Charleston in 1999 was 597.1 crimes committed per 100,000 people, while in 2011, the total crime index rate was 236.4 per 100,000.^[144]

Crime	Charleston (2011)	National Average
Murder	11.0	4.9
Rape	30.0	24.7
Robbery	162.0	133.4
Assault	195.0	160.5
Burglary	527.0	433.8
Theft	2,957.0	2,434.1
Auto thefts	270.0	222.3
Arson	6.0	4.9

Transportation

Airport and rail

The City of Charleston is served by the Charleston International Airport. It is located in the City of North Charleston and is about 12 mi (19 km) northwest of downtown Charleston. It is the busiest passenger airport in South Carolina (IATA: CHS, ICAO: KCHS). The airport shares runways with the adjacent Charleston Air Force Base. Charleston Executive Airport is a smaller airport located in the John's Island section of the city of Charleston and is used by noncommercial aircraft. Both airports are owned and operated by the Charleston County Aviation Authority. As of April 2019, British Airways does seasonal non-stop flights from Charleston to London-Heathrow.

Charleston is served by two daily

The Palmetto and Silver Meteor at the Amtrak station

located at 4565 Gaynor Avenue in the City of North Charleston located around 7.5 miles from downtown Charleston.

Interstates and highways

spur is East Bay Street, which becomes Morrison Drive after leaving the east side. This highway merges with King Street in the city's Neck area (industrial district). US 78

is King Street in the downtown area, eventually merging with Meeting Street.

Major highways

• I-26 (eastern terminus is in Charleston)
• 
  I-526
• US 17
• US 52 (eastern terminus is in Charleston)
• US 78 (eastern terminus is in Charleston)
• SC 7 (Sam Rittenberg Boulevard)
• SC 30 (James Island Expressway)
• SC 61 (St. Andrews Boulevard/Ashley River Road)
• SC 171 (Old Towne Road/Folly Road)
• SC 461 (Paul Cantrell Boulevard/Glenn McConnell Parkway)
• SC 700 (Maybank Highway)

Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge

The

Silas N. Pearman Bridge

(built in 1966). They were considered two of the more dangerous bridges in America and were demolished after the Ravenel Bridge opened.

City bus service

The city is also served by a bus system, operated by the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA). Most of the urban area is served by regional fixed route buses, which are equipped with bike racks as part of the system's Rack and Ride program. CARTA offers connectivity to historic downtown attractions and accommodations with the Downtown Area Shuttle trolley buses, and it offers curbside pickup for disabled passengers with its Tel-A-Ride buses. A bus rapid transit system is in development, called Lowcountry Rapid Transit that will connect Charleston to Summerville through North Charleston.

Rural parts of the city and metropolitan area are served by a different bus system, operated by Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Rural Transportation Management Association. The system is also commonly called the TriCounty Link.^[146]

Port

Main article: Port of Charleston

The Port of Charleston, owned and operated by the South Carolina Ports Authority, is one of the largest ports in the United States, ranked seventh in the top 25 by containerized cargo volume in 2018.^[125] It consists of six terminals, with the sixth having opened in April 2021.^[147] Port activity at the two terminals located in the city of Charleston is one of the city's leading sources of revenue, behind tourism.

Today, the Port of Charleston boasts the deepest water in the southeast region and regularly handles ships too big to transit through the Panama Canal. A harbor-deepening project was completed,^[148] which makes the Port of Charleston's entrance channel a depth of 54 feet (16 m) and harbor channel 52 feet at mean low tide. With an average high tide of 6 feet (1.8 m), the depth clearances will become 60 feet (18 m) and 58 feet, respectively. At 52 feet (16 m), the Port of Charleston is the deepest harbor on the East Coast.^[149]

Part of Union Pier Terminal, in the city of Charleston, is a cruise ship passenger terminal which hosted numerous cruise departures annually through 2019. Beginning in May 2019, until cruise operations were interrupted in April 2020, the

Carnival Sunshine was permanently stationed in Charleston, offering 4, 5, and 7-day cruises to the Caribbean.^[150]

With the closure of the Naval Base and the Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1996, Detyens, Inc. signed a long-term lease. With three dry docks, one floating dock, and six piers, Detyens Shipyard, Inc. is one of the largest commercial marine repair facilities on the East Coast. Projects include military, commercial, and cruise ships.

Schools, colleges, and universities

See also: List of schools in Charleston, South Carolina

Because most of the city of Charleston is located in Charleston County, it is served by the Charleston County School District. Part of the city, however, is served by the Berkeley County School District in northern portions of the city, such as the Cainhoy Industrial District, Cainhoy Historical District and Daniel Island.

Charleston is also served by a large number of independent schools, including

Ashley Hall (Pre K-12), Charleston Day School (K-8), First Baptist Church School (K-12), Palmetto Christian Academy (K-12), Coastal Christian Preparatory School (K-12), Mason Preparatory School^[151]

(K-8), and Addlestone Hebrew Academy (K-8).

The

Ashley Hall

are the city's oldest and most prominent private schools, and are a significant part of Charleston history, dating back some 150 years.

Public institutions of higher education in Charleston include the

The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and the Medical University of South Carolina. The city is also home to private schools including the Charleston Southern University and Charleston School of Law. Charleston is also home to the Roper Hospital School of Practical Nursing, and the city has a downtown satellite campus for the region's technical school, Trident Technical College. Charleston has the only college in the country that offers bachelor's degrees in the building arts, The American College of the Building Arts.^[152]

Media

Main article: Media in Charleston, South Carolina

Broadcast television

Charleston is the nation's 89th-largest Designated market area (DMA), with 332,770 households and 0.27% of the U.S. TV population.^[153] These stations are licensed in Charleston and have significant operations or viewers in the city:^[154]

• WCBD-TV (2, NBC, CW+)
• WGWG (4, MeTV)
• WCSC-TV (5, CBS, Bounce TV, Grit)
• WITV (7, PBS)
• WLCN-CD (18, CTN)
• WTAT-TV (24, Fox
  )
• WAZS-CD (29,
  Azteca America
  Independent)
• WJNI-CD (31, America One Independent)
• WCIV (36, MyNetworkTV, ABC)

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Charleston, South Carolina

As a population and wealth center with colleges and cultural outlets, Charleston has produced many notable people in all fields. Among the most notable historical and contemporary figures are:

• Jarrell Brantley (born 1996), basketball player
• Madelyn Cline, Actress in Outer Banks
• Stephen Colbert, comedian and host of The Late Show
• Wesley Donehue, political strategist, Internet consultant, CEO
• Ann Drayton, 18th-century landowner
• Shepard Fairey, graffiti artist
• Robert F. Furchgott, recipient of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1998)^[155]
• Thomas Elfe, interior designer and cabinetmaker
• Thomas Gibson, actor and star of Criminal Minds
• Angry Grandpa, (Charles Green Jr.) YouTube celebrity
• Fritz Hollings, former US Senator and Governor of South Carolina
• Lauren Hutton, model and actress, starring in American Gigolo and The Gambler (1974)
• Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney Jr.), fantasy author, notable for The Wheel of Time series
• John Laurens, American revolutionary lieutenant colonel in the continental army
• Peter Manigault, wealthiest person in British North America in 1770
• Khris Middleton, NBA basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks, gold medal Olympian
• Hootie & The Blowfish
• Robert Smalls, African American civil war hero, businessman, politician, and civil rights activist
• Denmark Vesey, revolutionary
• Joseph Wragg, a pioneer of the large-scale slave trade

Sister cities

Charleston's

sister cities are:^[156][157]

• Doha, Qatar
• Freetown, Sierra Leone
• Panama City, Panama
• Speightstown, Barbados
• Spoleto, Italy
• Flers, France

The relationship with Spoleto began when Pulitzer Prize-winning Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti selected Charleston as the city to host the American version of Spoleto's annual Festival of Two Worlds. "Looking for a city that would provide the charm of Spoleto, as well as its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces, they selected Charleston, South Carolina, as the ideal location. The historic city provided a perfect fit: intimate enough that the Festival would captivate the entire city, yet cosmopolitan enough to provide an enthusiastic audience and robust infrastructure."^[102]

Sister city relation with Panama City was described as follows:^[158]

As you may be aware, the city of Charleston, like the city of Panama City, is a historic port City that shares a proud and prosperous history. Our stories are very similar as reflected by our citizens of European, African, Caribbean, native descent, our cuisine, our architecture, and our mutual modern growth in meritime commerce. As Panama City is enjoying a global surge of interest so is Charleston, being ranked as a top destination for travellers, commerce, technology, education, culture and fashion.

— The Honorable Joseph P. Riley Jr., Mayor, City of Charleston 1974–2016

Charleston is also twinned with Speightstown. The first colonists to settle in the region designed the original parts of Charlestown based on the plans of Barbados's capital city, Bridgetown.^[159] Many indigo, tobacco, and cotton planters relocated their slaves and plantation operations from Speightstown to Charleston after the sugarcane industry came to dominate agricultural production in Barbados.^[160]

See also

• Anson Street African Burial Ground
• List of municipalities in South Carolina
• USS Charleston, 6 ships

Notes

1. ^ The female figure is sometimes glossed as Athena,^[2] although the official explanation is that she is a personification of Charleston itself.^[3] Similarly, although aedes properly refers to temples and originally referred to the churches depicted on the seal, the official gloss is that it intends the city's "buildings".
2. ^ As defined by the Office of Management and Budget, for use by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
3. ^ The Brown Fellowship Society, initially a burial society, operated from 1790 to 1945.
4. Virginia, came closest, reaching 40% at times.^[42]
5. ^ A monument to Vesey as a freedom fighter was long opposed by Charleston's white community but was finally begun in 2010 after a compromise placed it in Hampton Park, out of the historic district and far from the original proposed site in Marion Square.^[48]

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Works cited

• Dallas, William Leist Eneas Sweetland (1878), "Charleston" , in Baynes, T. S. (ed.), Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, pp. 428–429
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Charleston (South Carolina)" , Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 943–945
• Edgar, Walter B. (1998), South Carolina: A History, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
  ISBN 9781570032554
• Frazier, Herb; Bernard Edward Powers Jr.; Wentworth, Marjory (2016), We Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel, Nashville: W Publishing,
  ISBN 9780718041496
  .
• McInnis, Maurie D. (2005), The Politics of Taste in Antebellum Charleston, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
  ISBN 9781469625997
• Thompson, Michael D. (2015), Working on the Dock of the Bay: Labor and Enterprise in an Antebellum Southern Port, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
  ISBN 9781611174755

Further reading

General

• Borick, Carl P. A Gallant Defense: The Siege of Charleston, 1780. University of South Carolina Press, 2003. 332 pp.
• Bull, Kinloch Jr. The Oligarchs in Colonial and Revolutionary Charleston: Lieutenant Governor William Bull II and His Family. University of South Carolina Press, 1991. 415 pp.
• Clarke, Peter. A Free Church in a Free Society. The Ecclesiology of John England, Bishop of Charleston, 1820–1842, a Nineteenth Century Missionary Bishop in the Southern United States. Charleston, South Carolina: Bagpipe, 1982. 561 pp.
• Coker, P. C., III. Charleston's Maritime Heritage, 1670–1865: An Illustrated History. Charleston, South Carolina: Coker-Craft, 1987. 314 pp.
• Doyle, Don H. New Men, New Cities, New South: Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, Mobile, 1860–1910. University of North Carolina Press, 1990. 369 pp.
• Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Charleston! Charleston! The History of a Southern City. University of South Carolina, 1990. 542 pp. the standard scholarly history
• Gillespie, Joanna Bowen. The Life and Times of Martha Laurens Ramsay, 1759–1811. University of South Carolina Press, 2001.
• Goloboy, Jennifer L. Charleston and the Emergence of Middle-Class Culture in the Revolutionary Era. Athens, GA; University of Georgia Press, 2016.
• Hagy, James William. This Happy Land: The Jews of Colonial and Antebellum Charleston. University of Alabama Press, 1993.
• Hart, Emma. Building Charleston: Town and Society in the Eighteenth Century British Atlantic World (University of Virginia Press 2010, University of South Carolina Press 2015)
• Jaher, Frederic Cople. The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Charleston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. University of Illinois Press, 1982. 777 pp.
• Pease, William H. and Pease, Jane H. The Web of Progress: Private Values and Public Styles in Boston and Charleston, 1828–1843. Oxford University Press, 1985. 352 pp.
• Pease, Jane H. and Pease, William H. A Family of Women: The Carolina Petigrus in Peace and War. University of North Carolina Press, 1999. 328 pp.
• Pease, Jane H. and Pease, William H. Ladies, Women, and Wenches: Choice and Constraint in Antebellum Charleston and Boston. University of North Carolina Press, 1990. 218 pp.
• Phelps, W. Chris. The Bombardment of Charleston, 1863–1865. Gretna, La.: Pelican, 2002. 175 pp.
• Rosen, Robert N. Confederate Charleston: An Illustrated History of the City and the People during the Civil War. University of South Carolina Press, 1994. 181 pp.
• Spence, E. Lee. Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the "real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, ©1995)
  OCLC 32431590

Art, architecture, city planning, literature, science

• Cothran, James R. Gardens of Historic Charleston. University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 177 pp.
• Greene, Harlan. Mr. Skylark: John Bennett and the Charleston Renaissance. University of Georgia Press, 2001. 372 pp.
• Hutchisson, James M. DuBose Heyward: A Charleston Gentleman and the World of Porgy and Bess. University Press of Mississippi, 2000. 225 pp.
• Jacoby, Mary Moore, ed. (1994). The Churches of Charleston and the Lowcountry (hardback). Columbia South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press.
  ISBN 978-0-87249-888-4
  .
• McCandless, Peter (2011). Slavery, Disease, and Suffering in the Southern Lowcountry. Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 9781139499149
  .
• O'Brien, Michael and Moltke-Hansen, David, ed. Intellectual Life in Antebellum Charleston. University of Tennessee Press, 1986. 468 pp.
• Poston, Jonathan H. The Buildings of Charleston: A Guide to the City's Architecture. University of South Carolina Press, 1997. 717 pp.
• Severens, Kenneth (1988). Charleston Antebellum Architecture and Civic Destiny (hardback). Knoxville:
  ISBN 978-0-87049-555-7
• Huger Smith, Alice Ravenel; Huger Smith, Daniel Elliott; Simons, Albert (1917), The Dwelling House of Charleston, South Carolina, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.
• Stephens, Lester D. Science, Race, and Religion in the American South: John Bachman and the Charleston Circle of Naturalists, 1815–1895. University of North Carolina Press, 2000. 338 pp.
• Waddell, Gene (2003). Charleston Architecture, 1670–1860 (hardback). Vol. 2. Charleston: Wyrick & Company. p. 992.
  ISBN 0-941711-68-4
• Yuhl, Stephanie E. A Golden Haze of Memory: The Making of Historic Charleston. University of North Carolina Press, 2005. 285 pp.
• Zola, Gary Phillip. Isaac Harby of Charleston, 1788–1828: Jewish Reformer and Intellectual. University of Alabama Press, 1994. 284 pp.
• Wilson, Thomas D. The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2016.

Race

• Bellows, Barbara L. Benevolence among Slaveholders: Assisting the Poor in Charleston, 1670–1860. Baton Rouge, LA:
  Louisiana State University Press
  , 1993.
• Drago, Edmund L. Initiative, Paternalism, and Race Relations: Charleston's Avery Normal Institute. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1990.
• Egerton, Douglas R. He Shall Go Out Free: The Lives of Denmark Vesey. Madison House, 1999.
• Greene, Harlan; Hutchins, Harry S. Jr.; and Hutchins, Brian E. Slave Badges and the Slave-Hire System in Charleston, South Carolina, 1783–1865. McFarland, 2004. 194 pp.
• Jenkins, Wilbert L. Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post-Civil War Charleston. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998. 256 pp.
• Johnson, Michael P. and Roark, James L. No Chariot Let Down: Charleston's Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
• Kennedy, Cynthia M. Braided Relations, Entwined Lives: The Women of Charleston's Urban Slave Society. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2005.
• Powers, Bernard E. Jr. Black Charlestonians: A Social History, 1822–1885. University of Arkansas Press, 1994.
• Strickland, Jeff. Unequal Freedoms: Ethnicity, Race, and White Supremacy in Civil War-Era Charleston. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2015.
• Wilson, Thomas D. The Ashley Cooper Plan: The Founding of Carolina and the Origins of Southern Political Culture. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Charleston Tourism Guide
• Geographic data related to Charleston, South Carolina at OpenStreetMap