Charleston is the largest city in the US state of South Carolina. The town was founded in 1670 with the name Charles Town in honor of King Charles II. It happened west of the Ashley River and thereby northwest of the present center, to which Charles Town was moved in 1680. The new town quickly grew into being one of the largest cities in North America. The city was fortified at the beginning of the 18th century, and many African slaves came to and through the city during this time. The plantations made Charles Town prosperous, and 11,000 lived here in 1770.

South Carolina declared independence in 1774, but British forces overcame American troops in 1780, and the British held the city until 1782. After that came great growth, which, among other things, was due to Eli Whitney’s invention of a cotton gin, which made cotton the primary export throughout the 1800s. In 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States as the first of the country’s southern states, and on April 12, 1861, the first battle of the American Civil War took place when coastal batteries fired on Fort Sumter at the entrance to Charleston harbor. After the war, the city was rebuilt, which was repeated after a devastating earthquake in 1886.

Today, you can enjoy some lovely walks in Charleston’s so-called Historic District, which covers the old part of Charleston on the peninsula between Ashley River and Cooper River. In the neighborhood you can see many houses from the 1700s and 1800s, and right in the center at the intersection of Broad Street and East Bay Street is the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon building. The building was constructed 1767-1771 and has over time housed several functions such as the stock exchange and customs authorities.

It was also here that South Carolina ratified the US Constitution in 1788, and George Washington made a speech from the balcony of the house in that connection. The Old Exchange is now open as an interesting museum and from the house you can walk along Broad Street and the old architecture of the new town. Among the street’s beautiful buildings, you can see St. Michael’s Anglican Church from the 1750s and the neoclassical Charleston County Courthouse from 1790-1792. There are many other buildings in Broad Street and the side streets which are also worth seeing, e.g. the Pink House at 17 Chalmers Street, which was built from 1694. In the same street is the Old Slave Mart, which was built as a marketplace for trading slaves in 1859.

A little south of Broad Street are thirteen houses, collectively known as Rainbow Row, located at 79-107 East Bay Street. The name Rainbow Row comes from the pastel colors that were given to the houses during renovations in the 1930s and 1940s of the houses, which dates from the end of the 18th century. If you go north instead, you can see The Powder Magazine from 1713 and visit The Museum at Market Hall, which opened as the Confederate Museum in 1899 in the beautiful commercial building, which during the American Civil War was a central meeting and recruiting place for the defense of the confederate states.

You can continue along the charming narrow King Street to Marion Square, which was historically laid out as a parade ground. Today you can see the Francis Marion Hotel from 1924 to the west and the city’s old 19th-century citadel to the north. Close by, you can visit the Charleston Museum, which, founded in 1773, is one of the oldest museums in the United States. At the museum you can see varied collections in art, history and natural sciences.

You can go to Charles Towne Landing as well, it was the site of the original town that developed into Charleston. The site was opened in 1970 to commemorate what was the first English settlement in Carolina. In the area, there are many hiking trails where you can enjoy the green area. In the area you can see cannon emplacements, a cabin, and reconstructed palisades like those erected by the first settlers as protection against Indians and Spanish attacks.

You can also see the ship Adventure, which is a replica of a ketch from the 17th century, which sailed with cargo at Charles Town. From the city’s later history, Fort Sumter is located as a museum to the southeast of the city. Fort Sumter was constructed from 1829 on an artificial island built on a sandbank. The fort entered the American history books as the place where the first shots were fired during the Civil War between the North and South of the USA.