49 Fun Facts About Charleston

Charleston, on the Ashley, Cooper and Wando rivers, is the largest city in which state?

South Carolina: Charleston passed Columbia to become the state's largest city in the 2010s. Locals joke that the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet at its harbour to form the Atlantic Ocean.

Charleston was founded in 1670 under what name, honouring the reigning English king?

Charles Town, named for Charles II, was founded in 1670 at Albemarle Point and moved to the present peninsula in 1680. By 1690 it ranked among the five largest towns in English North America.

The first battle of the American Civil War was fought at which harbour stronghold?

Fort Sumter: Confederate shore batteries under P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on 12 April 1861, and Major Robert Anderson's garrison surrendered after 34 hours of bombardment.

Which Confederate vessel became the first submarine to sink a warship, off Charleston in 1864?

The H. L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864, then went down with all eight crew. Raised in 2000, she is kept at a conservation center in North Charleston.

How many crewmen died in total across the three sinkings of the Confederate submarine Hunley?

She sank in a test run in August 1863, again in October with Horace Lawson Hunley aboard, and finally after her attack.

Rainbow Row on East Bay Street is a series of how many colourful historic houses?

Rainbow Row is 13 houses at 79–107 East Bay Street. Their pastel colours date from restoration begun by Dorothy Porcher Legge in 1931, after the block had decayed into a near-slum.

Charleston's 'Holy City' nickname is traditionally linked to what feature of its skyline?

Historians think the term was actually coined in the 20th century, possibly as a jab at Charlestonians' self-satisfaction.

What creole language and culture developed among enslaved Africans' descendants on the Sea Islands?

Rice planters paid premiums for captives from Africa's 'Rice Coast' who knew the crop; Gullah foodways gave the city Carolina Gold rice, okra and benne seeds.

Which Charleston speciality is finished with a splash of dry sherry as it is served?

She-crab soup, a cream soup of crab meat and roe, gets a splash of dry sherry as it is served. The roe of the female crab gives the soup its name and orange tint.

Which Pulitzer-winning composer founded Charleston's late-spring arts festival in 1977 as a US twin of an Italian one?

Gian Carlo Menotti founded Spoleto Festival USA in 1977 as an American counterpart to his Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, choosing Charleston for its wealth of churches and theatres.

Charleston's senior military academy was established in what year?

It grew out of an arsenal built after Denmark Vesey's thwarted 1822 uprising, and moved from Marion Square to the Ashley River in 1922.

Who was the first woman admitted to the Corps of Cadets at Charleston's military academy in 1995?

She withdrew within days after death threats; Nancy Mace, later a congresswoman, became the first female graduate in 1999.

Which local school, founded 1770, is the oldest municipal institution of higher learning in the US?

The College of Charleston, founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, became the country's first municipal college in 1837. It is also the oldest institution of higher learning in South Carolina.

The Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, opened in 2005 over the Cooper River, links Charleston with which town?

Mount Pleasant: the Ravenel Bridge replaced the 1929 Grace and 1966 Pearman bridges. At its 2005 opening, its 1,546-foot main span was the longest of any cable-stayed bridge in North America.

Which category 4 hurricane came ashore at Charleston Harbor in September 1989?

Hurricane Hugo came ashore at Sullivan's Island, just north of Charleston Harbor, around midnight on 21–22 September 1989 with winds near 140 mph, damaging most buildings in the historic district.

In a Charleston single house, where is the real front door?

The real front door sits halfway along the long side, opening off the piazza; the street-facing 'door' just leads onto the porch. The story that the houses were built narrow to dodge a frontage tax is a myth.

Charleston's City Market is famous for baskets hand-coiled from which native grass?

Sweetgrass baskets, a Gullah craft with West African roots, are coiled from bundles of sweetgrass bound with palmetto strips. They are sold at the City Market and along Highway 17 in Mount Pleasant.

The Angel Oak on Johns Island is estimated to be how old?

The Angel Oak is usually estimated at 400 to 500 years old. Its longest limb stretches 187 feet and its canopy shades about 17,200 square feet; it is named for landowners Justus and Martha Angel.

Mother Emanuel, the Charleston congregation attacked in 2015, holds what distinction?

Emanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South, founded in 1817. It was burned after the 1822 Vesey plot, outlawed in 1834 and rebuilt; nine worshippers were murdered there in June 2015.

Denmark Vesey, who planned an 1822 uprising in Charleston, had bought his freedom with what?

He planned the revolt for Bastille Day and an escape to Haiti; the plot leaked and he was hanged on 2 July 1822.

Which pirate blockaded Charleston in May 1718, leaving only when given a chest of medicine?

Blackbeard (Edward Teach) held Charleston's harbour for about a week in May 1718, seizing ships and hostages until Governor Robert Johnson handed over a chest of medicines. His sometime partner Stede Bonnet was hanged in Charleston that December.

Roughly what share of Africans enslaved in North America landed at Sullivan's Island off Charleston?

About 40% of enslaved Africans brought to North America are estimated to have entered through Charleston, many first quarantined at Sullivan's Island, which has been called the Ellis Island of Black Americans.

Which tree's spongy logs absorbed British cannonballs at Fort Sullivan in June 1776?

Palmetto logs, soft and spongy, soaked up British cannonballs on 28 June 1776. The fort was renamed for its commander, William Moultrie, and the palmetto went on to the state flag and seal.

Which Seminole leader died as a prisoner at Fort Moultrie in 1838 and is buried at its gate?

Osceola, seized under a flag of truce in Florida in 1837, died at Fort Moultrie on 30 January 1838. He is buried outside the fort's sally port beneath a marked stone.

Charleston's surrender to the British on 12 May 1780 is described as what?

Sir Henry Clinton besieged the city with about 14,000 troops and 90 ships; the British then held it for over a year after Yorktown.

What magnitude was the great Charleston earthquake of 31 August 1886?

The 1886 quake is estimated at about magnitude 7.0, the strongest on record in the southeastern United States. It was felt from Boston to Cuba, damaged some 2,000 buildings, and left iron 'earthquake bolts' on many houses.

A Charleston institution founded in 1773 in the Wraggborough neighbourhood claims what national first?

It did not open to the public until 1824; the Old Charleston Museum building burned down.

The original Dock Street playhouse, opened in 1736, was what?

It opened with Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer and hosted Flora, the first opera performed in America; the current theatre was built inside the old Planter's Hotel in the 1930s.

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, founded in Charleston in 1749, is important in the history of which movement?

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim is the birthplace of Reform Judaism in America: members formed the Reformed Society of Israelites there in 1824. It is the fourth-oldest Jewish congregation in the continental United States.

Which 1925 novel, later an opera, is set on Charleston's fictional 'Catfish Row'?

DuBose Heyward wrote it; he and George Gershwin spent the summer of 1934 at Folly Beach writing Porgy and Bess.

The Charleston dance craze was popularised by a 1923 James P. Johnson tune from which Broadway show?

'The Charleston' was introduced in the 1923 Broadway revue Runnin' Wild, with music by James P. Johnson, who said he took its rhythm from the dances of Gullah dockworkers from Charleston.

Which Charleston children's home fielded a band that played inaugurations and appeared in Porgy on Broadway?

The Jenkins Orphanage, founded by Rev. Daniel Jenkins in 1891, raised money with brass bands that played at presidential inaugurations and appeared on stage in the 1927 Broadway play Porgy.

Which 1771 Charleston building held patriot prisoners in its Provost Dungeon during the Revolution?

The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, completed in 1771, served as the British prison during the 1780–82 occupation. South Carolina ratified the US Constitution there in 1788, and George Washington was entertained there in 1791.

Which Declaration signer's home was the Ashley River plantation with the butterfly lakes?

Arthur Middleton, a Declaration signer, inherited Middleton Place on the Ashley River. His father Henry, president of the First Continental Congress, laid out its gardens and butterfly lakes from 1741.

The Charleston Tea Garden, on Wadmalaw Island, is owned by which tea company?

Bigelow Tea bought the Wadmalaw Island plantation in 2003 and sells its harvest as American Classic Tea. French botanist André Michaux first brought tea plants to the area in the late 1700s.

What is a joggling board, a fixture of Charleston porches?

Legend puts the first one at a plantation near Edgefield in the early 1800s, copied from a Scottish exercise device.

Charleston's growing technology sector has earned the city what nickname?

'Silicon Harbor' is the nickname for Charleston's tech scene, home to companies such as Blackbaud and Benefitfocus. Boeing's 787 assembly plant and a busy container port anchor the wider economy.

How do old-money Charlestonians, in the non-rhotic accent, say their city's name?

The traditional accent drops the r and stretches the first vowel; it is nonrhotic and heard mainly in older natives.

Charleston was the largest colonial city south of which other city?

Philadelphia: Charleston ranked fourth among colonial cities behind Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Rice and indigo made it the wealthiest city in the colonies; about half its 11,000 residents in 1770 were enslaved.

Which Charleston promenade at the peninsula's tip is lined with antebellum mansions and Civil War cannon?

The Battery runs along the seawall where the Ashley and Cooper rivers meet, with White Point Garden at its tip. Its promenade is lined with antebellum mansions and Civil War-era cannon.

Charleston, West Virginia, sits at the confluence of the Kanawha River and which other river?

The Elk River joins the Kanawha at Charleston, West Virginia, which grew up around Fort Lee, built by George Clendenin in 1788. The city became the state's permanent capital in 1885.

Which Charleston church, finished in 1761, is the city's oldest surviving church building?

St. Michael's Episcopal Church, built from 1752 to 1761 at Broad and Meeting streets, is Charleston's oldest surviving church building. George Washington worshipped there during his 1791 visit.

What early industry, from brine wells drilled in 1806, first made Charleston, West Virginia rich?

Salt: the Ruffner brothers drilled brine wells at Kanawha Salines from 1806, and by the 1850s the valley was among the largest salt-producing regions in the world. Coal and natural gas came later.

Charleston's first planned settlement followed a 'Grand Model' drawn up by which philosopher?

John Locke, secretary to Lord Ashley Cooper, drafted the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in 1669; the accompanying Grand Model laid out Charles Town's grid, though the Constitutions were never ratified by the colonists.

Many of Charleston's founding settlers in 1670 came from which Caribbean island?

Barbados: many of Charles Town's first settlers in 1670 were Barbadian planters who brought the slave-based plantation system with them. Charleston is now twinned with Speightstown, Barbados.

What was the population of Charleston, SC at the 2020 census, roughly?

Charleston counted 150,227 residents in the 2020 census, making it South Carolina's largest city, while the three-county metro area (Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester) held about 800,000.

On 9 January 1861, cadets from which Charleston school fired on the supply ship Star of the West?

The Union later confiscated the Citadel campus and used it as an army garrison for 17 years.

In what year was the Medical College of South Carolina, now MUSC, founded in Charleston?

The Medical College of South Carolina was founded in 1824 by the Medical Society of South Carolina and renamed the Medical University of South Carolina in 1969. It is the oldest medical school in the Deep South.

What did Charleston's 1739 Security Act require of every white man, even at church on Sundays?

The Stono Rebellion broke out before it fully took effect; drums were later banned because enslaved Africans used them to signal.