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Festival Tours

Fhe hallmarks of the annual spring Festival are the daily house and garden tours. These walking tours allow guests to go inside and experience first-hand the magnificent private historic houses and gardens of Charleston. Tours highlight American architecture and decorative arts from the Georgian period through the antebellum period and into the early 20th century. Seven to ten historic properties are featured on each tour, and sites are within walking distance from each other. Volunteer guides greet visitors at each property and interpret its unique history, architecture and furnishings. Tickets go on sale Nov. 2 from this webpage or call 843-722-3405.


Anson Street Tour
Wednesday, April 14 and Saturday, April 17      2-5 p.m.
With its concentration of early 19th century dwellings, this neighborhood is named after Admiral Lord Anson, a British naval officer who allegedly won this acreage in a card game in 1725. Many of its antebellum houses were built in the years between the Great Fire of 1838 and the outbreak of the Civil War.

                                                     

Also see Wine Tastings and Athens Recorder Ensemble.

Anson Street 04/14/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Anson Street 04/17/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

Broad Street Tour
Sunday, March 28 and Wednesday, March 31      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. 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.

                                                  

Also see Eat & Run Luncheon: Fakes & Forgeries: Identifying the Real Deal.

Broad Street 03/28/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Broad Street 03/31/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

Church Street Tour
Friday, March 26 and Monday, March 29            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.

                                                      

Also see Harbor of History Boat Cruise and Eat & Run Luncheon: What's Cooking in the Lowcountry?


Church Street 03/26/10 6-9 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Church Street 03/29/10 6-9 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

East Battery Tour
Saturday, March 27 and Tuesday, March 30       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 and are now intermingled with imposing antebellum mansions that make this one of America's most impressive domestic streets.

                                                                             

See also Firefly Vodka Tasting.

East Battery 03/27/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
East Battery 03/30/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

King Street Tour
Sunday, April 11 and Tuesday, April 13               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.

                                                                                                        

See also Eat & Run Luncheon: What's Cooking in the Lowcountry?


King Street 04/11/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
King Street 04/13/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

Legare Street Tour
Saturday, March 20 and Tuesday, March 23      2-5 p.m.
In the prosperous decades preceding the Revolution, some of the finest mansions of the city were built in the neighborhood. 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.

                                                                                                      

See also Eat & Run Luncheon: How to Serve a Proper Tea.

Legare Street 03/20/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Legare Street 03/23/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Sat FOHG/CIAS Combo 03/20/10
$55   Quantity:   

Meeting Street Tour
Friday, March 19 and Monday, March 22            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. Stretching from the historic "Four Corners of Law" to the legendary White Point Garden, this tour includes residences 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.

                                                                                      

See also Beethoven on Church Street.



Meeting Street 03/19/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Meeting Street 03/22/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Fri FOHG/CIAS Combo 03/19/10
$55   Quantity:   

Rutledge Avenue Tour
Monday, April 5 and Friday, April 9                 2-5 p.m.
By the turn of the 19th century, planters and well-to-do merchants were building large residences in this suburban area with fine examples of Federal, Regency, Greek Revival and early Victorian architecture. Like almost every area of Charleston, it suffered from a long period of neglect in the 20th century. 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.

                                                                                   

See also Wine Tastings.


Rutledge Avenue 04/05/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Rutledge Avenue 04/09/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   

South Battery Tour
Monday, April 12 and Friday, April 16              2-5 p.m.
Although South Battery was heavily bombarded during the Civil War, new construction of the postbellum era included fine Victorian houses as well as early 20th century
waterfront mansions. The creation of Murray Boulevard in 1911 further
enhanced this development.
South Battery 04/12/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
South Battery 04/16/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   


South of Broad Tour (New this year! )

Sunday, March 21 and Wednesday, March 24       2-5 p.m.

This tour highlights some of the city’s finest examples of properties protected under HCF’s nationally renowned covenants and easements program. These houses and
gardens have been selected for protection because of their historical and architectural
significance.

                                                             

See also Wine Tasting.

South of Broad 03/21/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
South of Broad 03/24/10 2-5 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Sun FOHG/CIAS Combo 03/21/10
$55   Quantity:   

Tradd Street Tour
Wednesday, April 7 and Saturday, April 10          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.

                                                           

See also Harbor of History Boat Tour.

Tradd Street 04/07/10 6-9 p.m.
$45   Quantity:   
Tradd Street 04/10/10 6-9 p.m.
$45   Quantity: