Historic Charleston Foundation - Charleston, SC

estival tickets for the house and garden tours are $45 per person per tour. Tickets for special events, such as concerts, Eat & Run luncheon lectures, harbor cruises and wine tastings vary; prices are noted below. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Anson Street Tour
Saturday, March 28 and Tuesday, March 31
2-5 p.m.
This six-block neighborhood, with its concentration of early 19th century dwellings, is named after Admiral Lord Anson, a British naval officer who allegedly won this acreage in a card game in 1725. Historic Charleston Foundation established the first neighborhood rehabilitation program in the United States here in the 1950s and '60s. Known as the Revolving Fund, this preservation initiative rehabilitated about 60 houses in this neighborhood and was hailed as a national model across the U.S. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: On March 28, the Athens Recorder Ensemble will return to the Festival for a command performance of its period recorder concert, performed in the beautiful and intimate setting of historic St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. The ensemble will present a sampling of musical genres through the ages, selected to appeal to a wide variety of audiences and featuring music from the Renaissance, Baroque and Modern periods. Kevin Kelly of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music will set the stage by offering a brief historical commentary of each piece. Tickets are $25 and must be purchased separately; tickets will be available for purchase on this site or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008. You may also purchase tickets at the door for this event as long as seating is available.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: On March 31, Caviar and Bananas, Charleston's hottest new eatery set just on the outskirts of Ansonborough, will welcome Festival guests for a special wine tasting event. Tickets are $35 and must be purchased separately; tickets will be available for purchase on this site or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Broad Street Tour
Saturday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 7
2-5 p.m.
Broad Street, stretching across the peninsula from the Old Exchange and Custom House buildings on the east to the Ashley River on the west, is one of the best known streets in Charleston. With a few notable exceptions, most houses west of Legare Street were constructed after the War Between the States - replacing buildings destroyed in the great fire of 1861 or built on marshland filled in after the 1860s. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Church Street Tour
Friday, March 27 and Monday, March 30

6-9 p.m.
Church Street, sometimes called the "most romantic street in America," is a visible record of Charleston history. The mosaic of famous churches, graveyards and Georgian style dwellings along this street appears much as it did when Washington, Calhoun and Lee visited and worked here. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: Join local historian Ian MacDonald for our "Charleston By Water Historic Harbor Cruise" aboard the Spirit of Carolina. Mr. MacDonald will narrate a panoramic perspective of the South's most historic seaport, whose fame, fortunes and fate illustrate its ongoing link with the sea. Ticket purchase includes hors d'oeuvres, one wine or beer ticket, and soft drinks. Cash bar is available. Boat departs from Aquarium Wharf Fountain Walk promptly at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $45 and must be purchased separately; tickets will be available for purchase on this site or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

East Battery Tour
Wednesday, April 15 and Saturday, April 18
2-5 p.m.
The East Battery tour is an invitation to investigate the links between maritime trade and local commerce that were the sources of prosperity in 18th and 19th century Charleston. Many early harbor-side dwellings, whose ground floors contained shops have survived, are now intermingled with imposing antebellum mansions that together make this one of America's most impressive domestic streets. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

King Street Tour
Sunday, April 5 and Wednesday, April 8
2-5 p.m.
King Street, named for King George I, was described in 1732 as "The little street that runneth from Ashley's River to the Broad path to the country." Untouched by the great fires that ravaged Charles Town, this street today boasts an astonishing variety of architecture, from early Georgian to late Victorian, from modest artisans' houses to outstanding examples of 18th and 19th century town houses and mansions. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Legare Street Tour
Saturday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 24
2-5 p.m.
When Charles Town outgrew its earliest city walls, it expanded over high land and a creek to the west. As the town developed in the prosperous decades preceding the Revolution, some of the finest mansions of the city were built in the neighborhood now encompassing Legare Street. Here one finds handsome gardens that stretch deeply into the original urban grid established by the "Grand Modell" in 1680. Many of the dwellings retain their original outbuildings, which served as kitchens, wash rooms, carriage houses and slave quarters. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Meeting Street Tour
Friday, March 20 and Monday, March 23
2-5 p.m.
Vestiges of 18th and 19th century America survive in the traditional facades, stately drawing rooms, and important ironwork found on the Meeting Street tour. The tour stretches from the historic "Four Corners of Law" to the legendary White Point Gardens. Selections for the Festival tours include private houses that date from the earliest period of English settlement on the peninsula to the larger, more imposing dwellings built in the Greek Revival and Italianate fashion. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: On March 23, HCF will welcome the return of its popular "Beethoven on Church Street" program, a special period concert at Charleston's First Baptist Church, just a block from your Meeting Street tour. 1822 marks not only the construction of the current First Baptist Church, known as the "mother church" of Baptists in the South, but also was the time during which Ludwig van Beethoven was at work on his miraculous Ninth Symphony, written in total deafness. Tickets are $25 and must be purchased separately; tickets will be available for purchase on this site or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Rutledge Avenue Tour
Monday, April 13 and Friday, April 17
2-5 p.m.
By the turn of the century, planters and well-to-do merchants were building large residences in this suburban area. Fine examples of Federal, Regency, Greek Revival and early Victorian architecture are found in this section. Like almost every area of Charleston, it suffered from a long period of neglect. Since 1966, when the area became part of Charleston's Old and Historic District, there has been a true Renaissance of rehabilitation. Some of the finest houses in the city have been rescued and restored in this neighborhood. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: Wrap up your Rutledge Avenue tour with a splendid afternoon sampling of fine wines at Circa 1886, an intimate AAA Four-Diamond restaurant tucked behind one of Charleston's true architectural gems, the Wentworth Mansion. Our sommelier from The Wine Shop will present some favorite wines, which will be complemented with delicious hors d'ouevres prepared by Circa 1886. Tickets are $35 and must be purchased separately; tickets will be available for purchase on this site or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

South Battery Tour
Sunday, March 29 and Wednesday, April 1
2-5 p.m.
The broad street now named South Battery was once quite narrow and stretched a mere five city blocks. Originally called Fort Street, then South Bay, this street now extends from East Battery to Tradd Street. This tour includes sites which date from the Colonial period to the middle of the 20th century. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Tradd Street Tour
Friday, April 3 and Monday, April 6
6-9 p.m.
Tradd Street, which stretches from the Ashley to the Cooper rivers, is one of the original carriage ways laid out in the 1680 "Grand Modell" of Charles Town, and it reputedly carries the name of the first male child born in the English settlement. Today, this neighborhood contains the greatest concentration of early 18th century houses in the city, many of which were once home to seafaring merchants, royal office holders and gentry. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Sunday, March 22 and Wednesday, March 25

2-5 p.m.

Offered for the first time this spring, Historic Charleston Foundation will highlight about six of the city's finest examples of properties protected under its nationally renowned covement and easement programs. Each of these houses and gardens has been selected for protection because of its historical and architectural significance. You may order tickets online from this page or call 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.

Enhance Your Historic Tour: On March 25, HCF will sponsor an educational and entertaining Eat & Run lecture on protective easements and covenants, considered by many preservationists to be the most effective way to ensure the preservation of particularly historically and architecturally significant properties. Tickets are $45 and must be purchased separately; tickets may be purchased online from this page or by calling 843-722-3405 after Nov. 1, 2008.