Window into American History: A Self-guided Charleston Audio Tour
- 1–1.5 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Charleston is often called a living museum, and this 60-minute walking tour brings its architectural history to life. Starting at the 1841 Greek Revival Market Hall, you’ll stroll Meeting Street to admire landmarks like the Circular Congregational Church and the Fireproof Building, while learning how Charleston’s built environment reflects English, French, and Barbadian influences. You’ll also discover how earthquakes, preservation, and adaptive reuse shaped the city’s landscape, ending the tour back near the Market. Highlights include: • Explore the “Four Corners of Law” with its diverse architectural styles • Examine Charleston’s iconic single house design with breezy side piazzas • Discover Rainbow Row’s colorful past and pastel façades • Learn about the 1886 earthquake’s impact on architecture • Identify French and English ironwork patterns • See South Carolina’s oldest public building, built to withstand explosions • Understand how adaptive reuse keeps historic Charleston alive
Inclusions
What's included
- Lifetime access to this tour in English before your booking date and after it
- Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata
- App for Android and iOS
- Flexibility to explore at your own pace with a self-guided GPS tour
- Directions to the starting point so that when you’re in the right place, the tour will start
What's not
- Smartphone and headphones
- Personal expenses for attractions not included during the tour
- Food and drink
- Transportation
Itinerary
Pass by and learn how this triapsal church came to be after 4 rebuilds and houses the city's oldest graveyard. Admission fees are not included in this tour.
The Irish Charity in Charleston, walk by this historic building that suffered extensive damage during the 1886 earthquake.
Pass by this beautiful Adams style building, constructed in 1801 and designed by Gabriel Manigault.
Stroll past the superstar church building, built in 1752 and is Charleston's oldest religious structure.
Catch a glimpse of this Italianate style house, one of the most beautiful and well maintained homes in the city of Charleston.
Walk by and learn what makes this awe-inspiring home holds the record for the most expensive home sold in Charleston.
Pass by this regency style home with an exceptional cast iron balcony serving as a museum today. The house has a lot of its original furnishings and has been in the hands of the Alston family since 1842.
Traverse along and hear why this Georgian style home's front posts are actually boat ties and other interesting design quirks.
Pass by what is considered the first example of the single house concept in the city of Charleston and hear about the links to Barbados.
With it's Civil War roots, walk along this street, comprising of 13 buildings, and discover what inspired the bright colours and it's name "Rainbow Row".
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- The tour starting point is Charleston City Market Hall at the intersection of Meeting St and Market St. Before arrival, please install the mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- VoiceMap Audio Tours
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The total tour time includes walking the route and passing by the attractions
How it compares in Charleston
- Its from-price is 78% below the median of the 319 experiences we list in Charleston.
- It is shorter than most of them.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Charleston
Charleston is a South Carolina port city of pastel row houses, cobbled lanes, church steeples, Gullah culture and Lowcountry cooking.
Charleston was settled in 1670 and grew on a peninsula between the Ashley and Cooper rivers, and it is one of the best-preserved colonial-era cities in the United States. Rainbow Row, thirteen pastel Georgian houses on East Bay Street, is the best-known sight. The Battery, a seafront promenade with old cannon and oak-shaded White Point Garden, looks out to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861. The city is nicknamed the Holy City for its many church steeples.
Top-ranked sights in Charleston: Charleston City Market, Rainbow Row, Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon.
Special offers in Charleston
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
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