The distant clippety-clop cadence grew louder as Charleston tour guide David Collins’s horse-drawn carriage loaded with tourists approached the Powder Magazine Museum on Cumberland Street.
“This is the Powder Magazine,” Collins announced recently. “It is the oldest public building in South Carolina. It was built in 1713 and built for one purpose only: to store gun powder.” It is one of the earliest 18th century buildings left in the walled city, he said.
Hundreds of visitors may have visited the Powder Magazine’s tiny museum after hearing the narrative Collins has given since 2018 when he joined Palmetto Carriage Works.
A recent decision by the building’s owners, however, has now closed the one-room exhibit space to visitors except for scheduled school groups and planned events.
“The Powder Magazine Museum will begin a new chapter in its 123-year history as it explores an updated model for its operations,” Florence resident Angelyn Bridges, president of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina (NSCDA-SC), said in a press release.
“It was a business decision,” Bridges said in a later email to the Charleston City Paper. “This past year, our number of visitors has declined. While revenue declined, expenses increased. Insurance and salaries were the driving force, although our dedicated staffers were among the lowest paid museum staff in the city. They did their job for [the] love of colonial history.”
But the nonprofit organization’s federal 990 tax filings paint a slightly different financial picture.
In the 2024 fiscal year, the Dames reported income of $586,337, compared to $528,736 the previous year. Expenses in 2024 were $552,900, down from $554,666 the prior year. Net revenue in 2024 was reported at $33,437. In 2023, the organization lost $25,930 in net revenue.
Income from the museum for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, was $44,421 for both fiscal years. The Dames’ fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.
“NSCDA-SC has no further comments at this time,” Bridges said in an email to the City Paper.
After Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, there was a “bump” up in the number of visitors for several months, Bridges said earlier. This past year, the number of visitors has declined, she added.
This is true, according to the 990 form. During the 2024 fiscal year 16,350 people went through the museum’s doors, down from 19,572 from the year before.
“With our new protocol of scheduled visits, our staffing needs were measurably reduced,” Bridges said in the email. “There is a gift shop in the museum. With scheduled visits, stock quantities will be reduced, which reduces expenses. Our situation is not unlike many other museum properties in Charleston.”
Bridges was not available for follow-up questions about the 990 report.
“I hope the Dames get it worked out,” Collins told the City Paper. “It is quite the challenge to keep [the museum] running fiscally sound. I am not privy to the finance, but if it does not open up, it will be a loss to bear for those of us who love the city’s history.”
Celebrating America’s independence
The Dames purchased the building in 1902, operating it as a museum since then to advance its mission of “furthering knowledge and appreciation of our colonial/national heritage through historic preservation, patriotic service and educational projects.”
That mission will take on new importance next year as South Carolina celebrates the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
A prolonged abbreviated schedule at the museum will mean fewer opportunities for visitors to Charleston to hear the city’s role in the revolution. The Powder Magazine is one of three public museums sites in the city with a direct tie to the revolution. The others are the Heyward-Washington House and the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon.
Jack and Chris Mansfield, who live south of Syracuse, frequent Charleston to escape the harsh winters in upstate New York.
They enjoy the city’s architecture and restaurants, but they had never visited the Powder Magazine until a sign in the museum’s cannon yard recently caught their eyes. They paid the $8 adult admission to venture inside for a tour of the 1,000-square-foot museum packed with Colonial-era exhibits.
The Mansfields were among the last group of tourists to Charleston who were able to step inside the museum before it was closed Feb. 28 to general admission.
“I like the Revolutionary War history over the Civil War history,” Mansfield said. “England was such a large powerful force, and a ragtag bunch of colonists were able to defeat them. I hope we have the same backbone today to repel invaders to keep our freedom.”
Chris Mansfield lamented the decision to close the museum to general admission. She’s encouraged, however, that it will remain open to school groups to supplement the students’ understanding of the American Revolution.
Taking up the slack
The Dames’ decision to restrict the museum’s hours eliminated four part-time positions at the museum and Katherine Saunders Pemberton’s position as the museum’s director.
“I will say that the NSCDA-SC is very committed to the museum and its educational mission and has convened an ad hoc committee to take input and make recommendations for the path ahead,” she said.
“I am really proud of the work we’ve been doing lately with the Revolutionary War era research, exhibit updates, lecture series and special events like the reenactment of the Charleston Tea Party,” she said. “We also renovated the gift shop.”
The museum will remain open for the already scheduled school groups in the spring. “We do many of those field trips in coordination with the Old Exchange Building and the Heyward- Washington House museum for a Revolutionary era multi-site field trip,” Pemberton said.
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