Entry No. 29 — the Charleston file — filed under: colonial history

The Powder Magazine

South Carolina's oldest surviving public building (finished 1713) was purpose-built to store gunpowder, with three-foot stuccoed walls and arches engineered to blow the roof off, not the walls, if the magazine ever detonated. It later did time as a wine cellar for a Huguenot merchant family before the Colonial Dames turned it into a one-building, one-subject museum on gunpowder, defense, and the colony's near-constant fear of the French and Spanish.

The move: Duck into the low brick doorway between Church and Meeting, read the small-arms and colonial-defense exhibits inside the original magazine, then compare notes on how a city once organized its whole street grid around not blowing itself up.

• 📍 Downtown Charleston
• 💸 $
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 79 Cumberland Street, Charleston, SC 29401

Hours: Added 2026-07-20 — confirm current hours before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Wikipedia · postandcourier.com

last checked: 2026-07-20