Atlas Obscura, a national travel and exploration company that produces a daily podcast, books, TV specials and more, offers readers a chance to explore what makes travel destinations so special across the world.
Since 2009, the digital version of the publication has highlighted tourists’ favorite destinations around the country and explored hidden gems beyond the norm. In Charleston’s entry, Atlas Obscura lists 12 “cool, hidden and unusual things” to do, like visiting Rainbow Row (really?) or Drayton Hall (been there, done that).
So we’re filling in some of the gaps with the City Paper’s top picks for our own less ordinary version of Atlas Obscura. This Charleston Obscura list is not exhaustive, as there are dozens of secret gardens and hidden spaces all over the Holy City and surrounding area that offer unique perspectives to residents and visitors looking for some off-the-beaten-path summer destinations.
Dock Street Theatre
135 Church St. Downtown.
While many people know the site of the current Dock Street Theatre has historic importance as the first place in the 13 colonies (1736) to be used as a theatre, most don’t know its site later changed hands because of a poker game.
The current structure was built in 1809 as the Planter’s Hotel. It featured prominently as a key part of the tale of two enslaved people escaping the South in Ilyon Woo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Master Slave Husband Wife.
Later during the Great Depression after the building decayed, it was slated for destruction. After the local Pearlstine brothers reportedly won it in a poker game, they turned it over to the city of Charleston for restoration, accomplished as a Works Progress Administration project. Its grand reopening was in November 1937.
Now managed by the city of Charleston, Dock Street Theatre is home to many of the city’s cultural institutions, including the recently held Spoleto Festival USA.
Porgy House
712 West Ashley Avenue. Folly Beach.
The Porgy House on Folly Beach is a historic home closely tied to the creation of George Gershwin’s world-renowned opera Porgy and Bess. Built in 1933, the historic home was the summer retreat of author DuBose Heyward and his wife Dorothy. Gershwin reportedly stayed there during the summer of 1934 when collaborating with Heyward on the opera, which was based on Heyward’s novel Porgy.
Today, the house is a quiet reminder of Folly’s artistic legacy. And as of December 2024, the house was on the market for $3 million. And as the stewardship of the Porgy House passes to a new owner, soaring home values, a lack of protection for historic homes on Folly Beach and the constant threat of hurricanes and rising waters may leave the future of the landmark at risk.
Magnolia Cemetery
70 Cunnington Ave. Downtown.
Scores of people who made their marks on history lie in the picturesque cemeteries along the edge of a Lowcountry salt marsh. From statesmen and war heroes to pirates and poets, Magnolia has seen more than its fair share of historic burials.
High-profile gravesites include civil rights hero and federal Judge J. Waties Waring, Charleston novelist and poet Josephine Lyons Scott Pinckney, S.C. jurist Andrew Gordon Magrath, former U.S. Vice President John Caldwell Calhoun and the crew of the H.L. Hunley.
A large mausoleum anchors the entrance of the cemetery before its rambling paved and dirt paths spiderweb outward, leading to hundreds of gravesites — some dating back to colonial-era Charleston.
The tranquil, if not a bit morbid, scene is compounded by the surrounding marsh as herons gently swoop across the still water and the Ravenel Bridge looms in the background against the Lowcountry sky. It’s no wonder why the cemetery, dedicated in 1850, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Charles Towne Landing
1500 Old Towne Road. West Ashley.
The historic Charles Towne Landing sits on a marshy point off the Ashley River where a group of English settlers in 1670 landed and established what would become the birthplace of South Carolina.
Visitors can interact with hands-on exhibits inside the Visitor Center and outside along the grounds. Take a walk on a self-guided history trail and see the wonders of Charleston’s natural environment surrounded by beautiful wetlands and live oaks. The grounds are home to 80 acres of gardens.
Step aboard and tour the Adventure, Charleston’s only 17th-century replica sailing ship, or visit the Animal Forest natural habitat zoo to see native wildlife the settlers would have seen like otters, bears, bison and more.
Mosquito Beach
Mosquito Beach Road. James Island.
In the early and mid 20th century, Mosquito Beach functioned as an oasis for Lowcountry African Americans during the dark days of Jim Crow segregation. Today, it remains a vibrant gathering place for the Black community, bringing people together in a demonstration of strength and resilience.
Out of the five historic “Black beaches” in Charleston County, Mosquito Beach is the only that remains virtually intact, preserving an area that serves as a reminder of the American South during the years of Jim Crow when public beaches were segregated, reserved for white residents. In September 2019, the site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Atlas Obscura’s Lowcountry list
Old Slave Mart
South Carolina’s last standing slavery auction house is now a museum devoted to its own dark history. 6 Chalmers St. Downtown.
Old City Jail
Charleston’s historic city jail once held everyone from pirates to American Civil War prisoners. 21 Magazine St. Downtown.
Drayton Hall
Tour the oldest unrestored plantation house in the United States that is open to the public. 3380 Ashley River Road.West Ashley.
Unitarian Church Cemetery
The cemetery at the Unitarian Church in downtown Charleston has been largely given over to nature, giving a haunting, natural feel to this historic graveyard.
4 Archdale St. Downtown.
Tavern at Rainbow Row
In the midst of the iconic Rainbow Row sits an unassuming liquor store whose history of mischief and piracy offer a counterbalance to the colorful rowhouses. 120 East Bay St. Downtown.
Waring Historical Library
The Waring Historical Library is the special collections and rare book library for the Medical University of South Carolina. 175 Ashley Ave. Downtown.
Giant’s Causeway Pillar
Roughly 40,000 basalt columns formed naturally from volcanic activity along the coast of Northern Ireland. One of them rests outside Charleston’s historic Hibernian Hall. 105 Meeting St. Downtown.
Rainbow Row
Perhaps Charleston’s most recognizable landmark, this series of pastel-colored rowhouses near the historic Charleston Battery often enchants tourists and locals alike. 83-107 East Bay St. Downtown.
Fireproof Building and S.C. Historical Society
Once the most flame resistant building in the country, the South Carolina Historical Society building, ironically, almost burned down in a fire. 100 Meeting St. Downtown.
Stede Bonnet Hanging Site
Stede Bonnett, aka “The Gentleman Pirate” claimed that the nagging of his wife drove him from his home on Barbados to sail under the black flag of piracy. He was hanged at what is now White Point Garden. 2 Murray Blvd. Downtown.
Robert Smalls Memorial
Robert Smalls’ incredible story of wit and courage as he fought to escape the Confederate military transport CSS Planter during the Civil War is honored at Charleston’s Waterfront Park. Concord Street. Downtown.
Macaulay Museum of Dental History
The Macaulay Museum of Dental History, named for Dr. Neill W. Macaulay, displays a large collection of historical dental tools. The museum is closed to visitors but remains on the Atlas Obscura list. 175 Ashley Ave. Downtown.
Angel Oak
With a height of more than 65 feet and a circumference of 25 feet, this tree boasts a diameter spread of 160 feet and covers more than 17,000 square feet of ground. Local folklore tells stories of ghosts of formerly enslaved people appearing as angels around the tree.
3688 Angel Oak Road. Johns Island.
The H.L. Hunley
In 1864, this Confederate submarine, carrying a torpedo bolted onto a 16-foot spear, rammed the Union ship Housatonic and sank both vessels. It now rests at a museum in North Charleston. This August will mark the 25th anniversary of the Hunley’s historic recovery. 1250 Supply St. North Charleston.
Colonial Dorchester
From 1697 to the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the long-abandoned trading town of Dorchester flourished along the Ashley River. Only a handful of original structures remain, including the towering remains of the brick belltower of St. George’s Anglican Church
and a fort built from tabby. 300 State Park Road. Summerville.
Poe’s Tavern
The enigmatic Edgar Allan Poe spent a few years in the Army under the alias Edgar A. Perry. He was stationed on Sullivan’s Island, where now stands a tavern eclectically decorated with various quotes from Poe’s work and several portraits of the late poet by several artists. 2210 Middle St. Sullivan’s Island.
Osceola’s Grave
This historic grave marks the final resting place of the Seminole Indian chief who fought against government occupation in Florida. He died in 1838 at Fort Moultrie, where he is buried. 1214 Middle St. Sullivan’s Island.
Charleston Tea Garden
The only working large-scale tea plantation remaining in the United States grows white, green and black tea on Wadmalaw Island. 6617 Maybank Highway. Wadmalaw Island.
Folly Boat
Twenty-eight years after this local landmark was washed ashore by hurricane Hugo, it was washed away by hurricane Irma. Since its arrival, painting the Folly Beach boat has become a local pastime with passersby marking it up several times a day with names, pictures and anything else that comes to mind. Folly Beach.
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