Tours/Walking, Charleston

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If you want a master storyteller as a guide instead of someone who says, "to the left, you see," take this tour. Eric Lavender knows the history and knows how to make it entertaining. I had no idea of the scope of pirate history in Charleston... from Blackbeard to Anne Bonny and many more. Blackbeard actually blockaded Charleston for more than a week.

Even better (especially for the kids), Eric not only wears very authentic period apparel, his parrot, Captain Bob, goes on the tour, too.

The tour includes admisstion to the Powder Magazine Museum, on of Charleston's oldest buildings. You also get to go into the Pink House, which was a tavern in the late 1600s and is now an art gallery.

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If you want a master storyteller as a guide instead of someone who says, "to the left, you see," take this tour. Eric Lavender knows the history and knows how to make it entertaining. I had no idea of the scope of pirate history in Charleston... from Blackbeard to Anne Bonny and many more. Blackbeard actually blockaded Charleston for more than a week.

Even better (especially for the kids), Eric not only wears very authentic period apparel, his parrot, Captain Bob, goes on the tour, too.

The tour includes admisstion to the Powder Magazine Museum, on of Charleston's oldest buildings. You also get to go into the Pink House, which was a tavern in the late 1600s and is now an art gallery.

My boyfriend and I were visiting Charleston and came across this tour online. We have a pub at home that we LOVE, and thought it would be great to view a few in Charleston, the ones that aren't so "touristy". Overall, the tour was great! Our tour guide, was fun and knew a generous amount about the history of Charleston and the pubs he took us to. He tried to make sure that everyone in the group was always having a great time. The feeling we got was more like hanging out with a friend rather than a stranger showing us bars, so that was great! The tickets included appetizers at a couple of the stops. We thought it might be some chips, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that they were delicious and just enough food to keep us full the whole time! The order of the pubs he took us to couldn't have been better, ending at a great spot to take in the night from a 'roof-top' view. The pubs that we went to could have become our new favorites if we lived here! We would definitely recommend taking this tour--- and we will most definitely do it again the next time we're in Charleston!!

We went on a very enjoyable and informative called the Tea Party Walking Tour, lead by a native Londoner named Marianne who has lived in Charleston for about 40 years. She lead us on a historic tour of the old part of Charleston, through gardens and courtyards, into historic buildings and churches, giving us new perspective on the different eras of Charleston life, through pre-Revolutionary to the War between the States and to modern day preservation efforts.
It was kind of funny, I think there is more than a little competition between tour guides, as far as who is allowed accessibility to which courtyard or garden, for example. In an old theatre a Ghost tour guide and her group came by, and our guide made some mildly disparaging remark.
We learned a lot about Charleston, with a lot of personal touches, and the tour ended up with sandwiches and tea served in Marianne's nice garden courtyard.
There are so many tours available in Charleston - walking tours; carriage tours; museum and historic house tours; ecotours by kayak or boat exploring the shoreline or salty marsh .... Anyway, I would strongly recommend taking some kind of tour, and can personally recommend the Tea Party Walking Tour.

During the harbor cruise portion of your tour, you?ll enjoy the panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean and entrance to Charleston Harbor, where Charlestonians are fond of saying, ?The Ashley and the Cooper Rivers meet to give birth to the Atlantic Ocean.?

As in many historic areas, an option for seeing the grand homes and interesting architecture is by horse and carriage. In Charleston, you might try Palmetto Carriage Company, located right across the street from THE MARKET (Market and Meeting Street).

One evening we were hoping to take a ride about town after dinner in one of these conveyances, but it was near closing time and we were out of luck. Don't wait until the last minute as we did!

We were able to obtain information about the costs while we were there, though. A carriage ride which could include up to 16 people was $20 each; a private carriage for up to 4 people cost $120. Needless to say, most people we saw were taking the larger carriage.

Your tour will take you through 25-30 blocks of Charleston's most historic district--can anything be finer than seeing a picturesque city by horse and carriage?

Hours are daily from 9am-7pm

When first arriving in Charleston, it might be very helpful to stop at the Visitor's Center. A number of sightseeing tours can be booked from this point*. Inside you'll find a gift shop, restrooms and brochures on sites around the area.

We already had our tours scheduled elsewhere, so we paid $2 each to see a 30 minute film on the city's history called Forever Charleston.

Here's a sampling of the tours, but not all:

Tour B--a 90 minute ticket included a complete tour of the historic city, ride through Citadel Military College. See historic mansions, Rainbow Row, Catfish Row, Old City Market, Old Citadel, lovely gardens and churches. Includes a stop at the Battery to view Fort Sumter. Leaves every 30 minutes from the visitor's center. Daily--$22 for adults; $12 for children under 12

Tour C--A two hour tour includes: a complete historic city tour (same as Tour B), but in addition you'll see the inside of a beautiful Southern mansion, lovely antiques and architecture. Leaves every 30 minutes from the visitor's center. Mon.-Sat. $29 adults; $17 for children under 12.

Tour D--There is also a combination bus and boat tour which takes ticket holders to Fort Sumter, which leaves every 30 minutes from the visitor's center. Daily--$35 for adult; $22 for children under 12.

For other tours please go to the website: www.charlestoncbv.com. Hours are 8:30am-5pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's.

*Tours depart from the visitors center, but a bus can also pick ticket holders up at their hotel or B&B for $2 extra pp

The city's black history can be appreciated and better understood by taking the popular GULLAH TOURS. These tours were devised by Alphonso Brown, who takes great pride in the contributions of his fellow Charlestonians.

You'll see some African-American churches, slave quarters, old paddy wagon, sweetgrass market and other sites. You'll hear about hexes, customs, the underground railroad and blacksmith Phillips Simmons, who is declared to have been a National Treasure by the Smithsonian.

The only stop the tour made was to Simmons' old blacksmith shop, where you'll see the tools of his trade and meet one of his relatives still working the business. Simmons' unique gates decorate many a garden pathway in Charleston. They are deemed so valuable, that some people take their garden gates with them when re-locating.

*Black History Tours $18 per adult. Times are Mon.-Fri. 11am-1pm; Saturday 11am, 1pm & 3pm. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED--for a two hour tour on a 21 passenger air-conditioned bus.

As we were planning which tour of Charleston to take, our B&B hosts strongly recommended TOMMY DEW'S Walking History Tour. It was Tommy Dew who personally guided our group of about 14 or so throughout the historic neighborhood.

It was a very enticing history lesson with many early sites and buildings pointed out to us. We were led along sidewalks and onto narrow alleyways, passing manicured gardens, gated courtyards, beautiful residences and steepled churches--Charleston's cultural heritage was laid before us--it was so informative!

The tour covers the Colonial period, tidbits from the War Between the States and Charleston's later Reconstruction and the current Renaissance for this city.

*Tours begin at 11am and last for approximately one hour and 45 minutes. Cost is $22.00 per adults and $15.00 for children 12 and under (Spring and Fall tours available at 2pm). RESERVATIONS REQUIRED and size is limited.

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If you've never visited Charleston then walking the historic district is a must. This is where the Battery, house mansions and museums, Rainbow Row, White Point Gardens, the famous Churches (St. Michaels, St. Phillips and French Hugenot Church) the Market, King Street and much more.

To see all of these landmarks and more, The Charleston (Self-Guided) Walking Tour includes a route map with 100 numbered points-of-interest, color and vintage photos. It's 28 pages and is 4.5 x 11" (tall and slim). To get a hard-copy it's only $5.95 and you can also download the digital ebook version and print it out yourself for $3.95. To see a list of where they are sold in town visit their website. Guided walking tours are $20 per person, with a self-guided tour you can go at your own pace and don't have to worry about keeping up with the group. Below are a few pictures of landmarks on the tour. Hopefully this helps and you have a great time in Charleston! The tour could also could be taken by bicycle or in a car serving as a driving tour.