Reviews of The Charleston Museum (Museum)

TRAVELS withDavid

How can you not enjoy a museum. One of the oldest in the country. A hell of alot of history in the oldest city in the country. War, fires, eathquakes, floods, hurricanes and so many lives effected. We spent about 3 hours. Well worth the admission. Love the iron works and wale bones as well.

Lucy Presecan

It had a treasure hunt for kids that was a bit confusing definitely needed adult help a little pricey but worth it the kids are definitely going to be entered

Yvonne Price

Was here 2 years ago and enjoyed it very much. Very eclectic museum that has skeletal remains of wild animals, Egyptian artifacts and period decor, etc. Lots of history as it is the oldest museum in the United States. Great for the entire family and at an affordable price.

Wheeler's Lawn Pros

Best museum I've ever been too... lots of really cool stuff from the 1st days of Charleston thru slavery and the civil war and much much more my family had a really good time.

N McL

Very interesting museum in a modern building which does not really fit into the surroundings of lovely Charleston but worth a visit all the same. Eclectic selection of items.

Melanie Majors

Lots of history in this museum. Very much enjoyed it!!

George Briggs

Awesome. Great way to learn.

Bill Byrne

I was lucky enough to have a wonderful cousin that works there he came from office to do lunch. I could have spent 2 more hours there. Do not miss this history. Thank you cus

Stephanie Holloway

I would have liked to of seen more exhibits about slavery like the clothes the slaves wore.

Mark Tiroff Sr

Only wish the themes were more carefully chosen. Perhaps the curators could query the locals for ideas ... Just sayin'.

Brian Adler

Excellent museum, amazing job showing Charleston's history in Revolution and Civil war. Staff was very helpful and professional. Lots of kid friendly rooms and interactive displays. Highly recommend to spend a few hours while in Charleston.

Harley Turner

A lot of history to take in, but we enjoyed this very much. It was cool to learn about Charleston in that way! They have a children's corner that was interactive!

Elimu Kiongozi

Very informative

Philip Keber

Plenty of local information of important place in USA history

Andrew Alford

Wonderful historical items that one rarely sees. I'm from the area and rarely get to enjoy the touristy places

Angela Anderson

This was a really good museum to visit with our family and teenagers. The exhibits were interesting and thoughtfully done and of good quality. I would especially recommend the Textiles exhibit. It was clever and funny and we enjoyed that little section very much.

Benjamin Brown

A unique museum in Charleston. It started out as a museum of world-wide curiosities, such as ancient Egypt or fossils, which is now it's own little section. But the majority is a museum documenting Carolina, from Native Americans to settlers to slavery to the modern age, and it pulls no punches. I think the just interesting section was about how rice used to be the money maker for the region, but also the cost of growing that rice. I definitely recommend a visit

Pavel Reshetnik

Very good local museum. Fairly priced and well-maintained. Has several interesting historical exhibitions including natural history one. Kids loved all the stuff. Place to go on rainy day. There is a small parking lot near the building but I'm not sure whether or not visitors can park there. It's too small anyway so we parked in the visitors center garage.

Brett Bradshaw

Excellent museum with a knowledgeable staff

Anita Anderson

Fascinating historical landmark! There is tons of history in this lovely old ediface. The tour guides really know their stuff!

Lois Hardy

Didn't really go through the Museum, but when I went in to inquire, my eyes just so happened to fasten on a beautiful old fashion vehicle at the entrance. Which to me sets the stage for possibly more wonderful sights inside. Just walking through Charleston was very enjoyable.

Jacob W

In the last year or so they have made some big changes that have made quite the difference. The interpretation and overall advances in the flow and feel of the museum are just striking. The Charleston Museum isn't one of the more massive establishments in our nation and doesn't get nearly the funding it deserves. That said the new and improved wildlife and biology section is just spot on in it's execution and the changes to the exhibits on the history of Charleston have really done a lot to make things flow more smoothly and be easier to understand. In short if you are thinking about going there you should it's a good time.

Rosely Brosz

Great historical information. (Very cold, bring a sweater). Civil War story board was very interesting. This museum can easily be a 2 hour visit if you like to read everything like I do. The slavery history is very important, weaving in great tid bits about African Americans who made many impacts on our country.

Janis Tanner

Absolutely fabulous, oldest museum in the United States full of information. We could have gone back for another visit as we couldn't see it all. Bring a sweater or a jacket as it is VERY cold inside, we had to go out to the courtyard to warm up.

Angela Smith

My husband and I love going to museums. This was definitely a great one!

Beverly Moore

Excellent. So much history to read about. My kids and I loved it

Julie Byrd

Very nice museum, included history and animals

EC Bailey

Good museum, but could do a much better job telling the slave experience and what really happened during that period. The exhibit made it seem like the slaves were willing participants in a successful business venture. Much more detail and homage should be paid to the very people who were stolen from their native land, tortured, forced into slavery, and built America with their bare hands.

Annette McMullen

A must see for any histoy buff!!!

Shannon Murphy

Very nice. Very clean. The cost of admission is well worth it. I spent 3 hours there, and didn't even realize it.

James Martin

Really cool things to see

Michelle Blackwell

Well it's certainly not the highlight of your Charleston visit, the Charleston museum is a leisurely tour through Charleston history from prehistoric days to current. After days of touring here and touring there, running hither and thither, it's a place to relax and walk through at your own pace with no large crowds and no tour guide telling you to move along. If you're a history buff, paleontologist, or just dabble a little in history, you'll like this Museum

Margaret von Werssowetz

Fabulous!!! All sorts of exhibits - historical artifacts and displays, magnificent silver, extremely well done. A must for everyone - visitor and native!

Janice Hughes

This is the oldest museum in America. Such rich history to see and explore here. A must see when in Charleston

Steven Holloway

Been visiting CHS since 1976 and made first trip to the museum....Very entertaining!

Alina Vallario

Enjoyable every time, ever since I was little.

Julie Williams

We all loved it. My 9 year old daughter loved the scavenger hunt.

Abel Menezes

It was nice. Really small but had a great fashion section which surprised me. I also enjoyed the revolutionary and civil war exhibits. If you're in Charleston I'd recommend checking it out at least once but don't bother traveling.

Shelby Henderson

Excellent exhibitions covering South Carolina history.

Trez Sebrell

Great interactive children's area. They can even try on colonial era costumes. Some of the taxidermied animals and curiosities date back to the original museum. Exhibit on historic clothing is fun! Great info and artifacts from the history of Charleston, including a reproduction of a chemist's shop which greatly entertained the kids!

Belen Vitello

Small museum. 1/3 day visit. Neat Civil War items, cool taxidermy section, swords, Sterling Silver, neat kids corner too. We just celebrated our little girls 6th birthday dinosaur party there. Loved it! Great options and themes for kids birthday party's...we all had fun and it felt unique and special. Small museum but worth a 1/3 day visit.

Nick Jacobs

Great museum! It was almost too cold in there, but it felt nice when it was 95° outside. I'd plan on at least 2 hours to skim thru it, or 4 or 5 hours to really dig into the exhibits. They even had a special section just for kids.

Bill Metz

Great place with a vast era of displays.

Diane Davis

Discovered the museum on vacation my family and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit there.

Hillel Weinberg

Great Low Country "timeline."

Reba Deyerle

This is a great place to learn some quick history about our beautiful state. It only takes an hour or two to walk through. Great for rainy days or if you're just looking for something to do and you're not sure what.

TIFFANY PHILLIPS

This Museum is HUGE! It just kept going and going! Spent about 1.5 hours in here... might've took double that to read everything! It was with our tour pass so we definitely enjoyed it. One great perk about this location is FREE PARKING! Which is sssooo hard to find in Downtown Charleston.

James Collins

This was an unexpected gem on our visit to Charleston. It contains well done exhibits covering local history, natural history and art and culture. They squeeze a lot into the two floors of the museum. School children and curious adults will find interesting exhibits here. There is also a children's room. This is located just across from the Charleston Visitor Center.

Jamie Gibson

It was interesting.

Thomas Malooly

You will be amazed at all of the histories Charleston and South Carolina have been involved in, even back to the Revolutionary War. Have you heard of Carolina Golden Rice? Tried it for the first time, it is something special. A replica of the South's first submarine is on display in front of the museum. There are all kinds of artifacts on display to grab your attention. I also enjoyed the two filmed presentations.

Karen Smith

Some interesting displays.

Davidfritz

This place is a treasure!! We found free parking off the side street. The Charleston Museum is a nice place to go on a hot or rainy day. Plenty to see and do.

Erika Anderson Lloyd

We were here for a chamber music show. It was fantastic!

Terry Hamlin

As a native, I was a bit disappointed. There are many less artifacts and displays than when we had a much smaller museum.

Dan Ferguson

Great place to spend a few hours checking out the local history.

Chris Hughes

Engrossing and super well set up, grrat day trip!

Daniel Dickey

My favorite part of the museum was actually paying a little extra to tour the old house across the street. There is something for all ages in the museum expect to spend 2 hours if you walk through and look around. Expect to spend the whole day if you want to read everything.

Eric Noriega

Node combination of local and natural history. Take one of the house tours just to get some additional experience. They are fairly short tours.

Jennae Faucheux

This museum is bigger than it looks. It has plenty of exhibits and a small area for kids to play in. It says to expect to stay one to two hours, but if you took your time, you could be there half the day. My favorite parts were the fashion exhibit and the animal exhibit.

Paul Skorheim

Excellent museum

Mary Sweeney

Very nice, complete history

J Ricardo Navas

Very nice place. Clean. Staff very friendly

Susana Rodriguez

Nice museum with extensive collection. Was really surprised with how detailed the exhibits were. Worth a stop.

Juls B

This was a very nice museum we enjoyed it a lot. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be too many great things to list. A must see!!

Olga Curry

We had a wonderful time and our children learned a lot about the history of Charleston. We will definitely go back.

Mary Phillips

Nice, especially on a hot day in Charleston.

Maxim Tyutyunnikov

What a lovely little museum!

Harry Oei

Educational source for one of the South's oldest cities.

M C

Wonderful expositions, easy parking

rohan allwood

Extremely educational. Fun time had by all.

Jonathan Upham

Nice museum though feel gift shop could have been more

Jennifer Harris

Excellent experience. Coming from Washington state, the emphasis on indigenous culture was a little different and underrepresented, but overall there are a lot of interesting pieces and exhibits. Would definitely recommend!

Sabrina Mueller

My family went to Charleston for a beach trip, unfortunately the weather had different ideas. We found ourselves in need of an indoor activity, and museums are always top of our list, with both my husband and I having degrees in history. This museum was really well done. Had interesting exhibits for all ages, even a dress up section for our kids. I would definitely go back.

Joshua Hill

This is a fun and low cost way to spend quality educational time with your family. We enjoyed all the exhibits, particularly the wild life and Ancient Egypt portions. You seriously cannot go wrong visiting the oldest operating museum in the US. It's a must see with kids.

Tasha Clark

I, as an adult, was disappointed in the dinosaur display but my 8 year old nephew liked the gator skeleton and kid story rooms. It helps the I found out that they can tailor group presentations so that kids, i.e. Boy Scouts, can earn badges as a group.

Sharon Barnette

Fascinating place chock full of SC info. Well worth the admission price. Buy package deals and visit other places as well.

k.c. Selina

Admission cost to this place was surprisingly cheap! The museum itself was mind-blowing in terms of how many historical artifacts are here and how history is packed into this place for our enjoyment and learning. It gave me a better appreciation of Charleston. I plan to make a trip to this museum every time I visit Charleston!

Mohab Abas

Really cool! Very big and organized! There is alot to see.

Catherine Long

The children's clothing exhibit is fascinating! Great job!

amy nethercutt

Great artifacts and exibits.

Cat has a benie

Fun. A little less then I was expecting but still fun

LoZDisneyGirl

Kinda cold in most of the exhibits, but very cool

Katie Osborne

Visited here when my mother-in-law came to town. She loves stuff like this and taking her here reminded my husband and I how much we love it too! There was alot to take in and we will definitely be back. They have a cute little gift shop area on the first floor by the front desk and they have all kinds of souvenirs and gifts. I was able to find a real piece of amethyst in memory of my son that passed away 3 yrs ago (other places have colored plastic stones resembling stones like that but not real stones) We learned alot about Charleston and it's history. Next stop is the aquarium!

MIchelle Smith

Loved my visit here. There really is something for every person in the family. I could spend hours here going through everything from fossils, giant sleuths, so much southern history. You will definitely fall in love with one of the exhibits at least

James Overby

A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL. THE MUSEUM HAS THIS NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM ONCE A YEAR. THIS IS GEARED FOR CHILDREN WITH SCAVENGERS HUNT AND LOTS OF PIZZA. THE ADULTS HAVE A GREAT TIME AT THE EVENT. LOG ON TO THE MUSEUMS WEB SITE FOR TIME AND DATE BECAUSE THE TICKETS GO VERY QUICKLY.

Deia L. A.

The first museum in America. Nice place to learn history.

Mack McGhee

Excellent low country history lesson.

Bob Flappan

Well laid out. Walk through prehistoric, colonial, revolutionary war and civil war periods in a few hours.

Claire Crawford

You will need a minimum of two hours to see this museum! I recommend you add this to your trip as a rainy day activity or do on a really hot afternoon when you need a break from the outdoors. (Charleston is so beautiful not to spend it outdoors!) The collection of silver, collection of firearms and rice farming implements was fascinating. Lots to be learned here. A good bit of natural history about birds and animals that live around here going back to prehistoric times.

Mary Cothron

Wonderful experience!! Beautiful museum and knowledgeable friendly people!

Lisa Balistreri

Little bit of everything, with an impressively/oddly large collection of silver and flatware. Interesting in its own way. I would recommend stopping if you’re in the area, but I’m not sure I’d recommend going out of your way for it.

RobinJP

Great Museum. If you're a tourist in Charleston, this is a good place to start. See the story about the history of the city, the way that rice dominated the economy, how the sons of Caribbean plantation owners arrived with the practice of slavery that they were used to. And so much more. Of course, if you like looking at guns and artillery and swords and uniforms, there's plenty of that too. The photos is a cute display of antique chamber pots in the .. IN the ladies room. Love a sense of humor.

Alishia Rhoda

I left my ❤️ in Charleston. I fell in love with the beauty, people, food and history here. If you love history this place is a #mustsee

Diana Warren

Without a bit of structure, it would be easy to miss out on the best understanding. I only had a fleeting visit to Charleston so asked the front desk how to best use my limited time - a good decision.You could either wander around aimlessly or pick a few priorities and do it well. By mistake I turned left instead of right and wondered why i bothered - saw a few costumes of the times but that wasn't my main priority.Eventually I found the rooms with the human settlements which was my main interest (I was less interested in the fossils and prehistoric skeletons) and was absolutely fascinated by the exhibits.An excellent museum with so much more to learn than just by reading books.

Devon Gamble

Interesting exhibits and great building with parking.

Ray Feath

Loved seeing the new building! Great presentation of three hundred years of life in the lowcountry.

April MacFadyen

Really nice, very interesting

Regal manigault

Brought my daughter here for her birthday today, she enjoyed every minute of the fun. Thank you for the great experience on her first visit!

Kay Guerard

Interesting, quirky, historic. Really good spread of information and displays from a wide time span of Charleston history.

Rami Michael

Medium size museum. The tour will take about 30-45 minutes. The museum is great and focused on Charleston area history

Breezy Brooks

Fantastic museum. Could go a few more times for sure!

Nancy Geckler

Wonderful experience. Thank you for the hard work and excellent displays.

Todd Bassett

Very nice museum friendly staff. Plan on 2 plus hours to fully see all of the items.

Chris Jumper

Awesome place to get your history fix.

Laurie Pitman

Great history lesson. The women's fashion exhibit is spot on.

abdul omer

Really interesting musuem, the natural history aspect is extremely intriguing.

Jenny Lee

Very cool place to take a peek at the history of the city

Cheryl Smithem

The Charleston Museum is a great place to get a background on Charleston history. Their varied collection includes items of significance from Charleston cultural and Revolutionary and Civil War periods as well as providing an extensive background on the history of the exploitation of African labor. Additionally, their natural history area has an extraordinary exhibit of fossils from prehistory specific to the Lowcountry. Visiting the Charleston Museum and their Museum houses can give you a great overview.

Marion Simmons

So much history and very emotional and educationa!!

Rachel Ram

Very educational and vast museum on different topics. Some parts were a bit boring to me but mostly interesting.

Arica Fishback

Cool to see a variety of exhibits.

Vinny0509

Huge museum and only $12. Very informative. Id definitely go back again.

Danielle Shelton

Very nice collections. They really need to add Native American voices to their interpretation, though.

Mackenzie Stall

Much bigger than I expected it to be. Just wish they had a student discount to help out the college kids. Still a nice experience to participate around the xity

Antonio Profumo

The Charleston historical city museum is a fantastic place! It's much larger than one would think, with a great variety of exhibits. Expect to spend a minimum of 3 hrs there, to thoroughly see all it has to offer.

courtney turner

The museum is very clean and well laid out. My favorite exhibits were the original museum area and the kids area. The museum offers a great break from the heat and a chance to look at artifacts from the past up close.

Ray Spell

This is a very nice museum rich in local history. The current phosphate exhibit was interesting; and overall, there's something to experience for everyone.

J Dye

Very good! We needed more time than we. I would recommend a minimum of 3 hours.

Rebecca Gibbs

Liked the local history. Just wish it was a bit larger

Charita Andonga

Good museum to visit we love it.

alliranch

Beautiful and quiet! Such a nice experience!

Matthew Austwick

Reasonably priced and very informative with a lot of history about the local area, the US in general as well as other miscellaneous history.

Joshua Thurman

So much history here! My wife and I got a very detailed history lesson of Charleston. Loved it! Definently visit here if you're interested in history.

Cristina Caceres

An absolute must do. So much to see and look at and kid-friendly!

Brandon Miller

Fun museum in the heart of downtown Charleston. Lots of interesting info on the city's past.

Harold Honeyman

Very nice facility, very good content

Ed Reggi

I absolutely loved this museum. I had a day extra in Charleston and I decided to check out some local museums. I was so glad I picked this one. I purchased the 3 museum option for a cheaper bundled rate. It only took me only 90 minutes to briskly tour this entire museum. It was easy and not very busy during the daytime. I absolutely loved the Charleston historical exhibit which included so much about the war of independence, civil war and even it included a great exhibit on fashion throughout the south. Wow! I loved the extra exhibits on the old inventory the museum owns. It includes a giant Egyptian artifact. You’ll love this museum for an easy but fun day trip.

Mike Kemo

Great for the kids. The give you a piece of paper with pictures on it and the kids have to find the items in the picture. The items are spread out they out the Museum.

Stephanie Corwin

Small museum significant for being the first in the US and inspired by the British museum. Some interesting exhibits on pre-colonial societies and better/fairer/more accurate (for the city) coverage of slavery. A curious section on the early collection of the museum. Could probably be curated a little better to be more cohesive and draw out relevancies to current topics/life.

Ken Jones

The museum is fantastic! So many great exhibits to see and discover so much about the Low Country.

Keith Anton Fix

Great Place to spend the day

Peter Straight

Been here a couple times now. Noticed some new additions on recent visit and had a great time!

b. bohn

Great place to start your visit to the city

Dave Henkel

Its ok... Not alot of civil war stuff like the online pics of it suggests but still cool. The house tour across the street was a lil dissapointin. It wasn't very long n they dont show u the whole house. The third story is off limits n there are rooms that they don't explain or let u see. Idk its a very cool house but is it worth the money????

Ke Ok

Beautiful and rich history, I strongly recommend it.

Cayla Bloss

I took my daughter here for the first time. She wanted to see dinosaurs, and while there were plenty of skeletons of animals on display, what I loved the most was the Civil War stuff. There is so much history here it is amazing! I know that this was an active place during the war, but people have no idea how much until they go through this place and see it all. It's worth another visit

Alma Page

It was awesome, I enjoyed all of it...

Joseph Tessier

Always a great experience. So much to see and learn.

Sarah More

Great for history bluffs. I thought it was OK. Made slavery look good. That's not right.

Tiffiney Salmons

Wonderful place to visit and learn a little bit of the history of Charleston.

Natalia Hanson

Incredible variety of the exhibits, including natural history parts, geography displays, biological specimen, historical and statistical facts, pharmacy and medical history corner. Everyone will be able to find something they are interested in. Great starting point for the museum is the Civil war submarine placed in front of the museum building. Allow at least two hours to enjoy the museum.

Cole Rowe

Interesting mix of local artifacts that support the historical city. Cool little vintage sign collection. Great place to go when 100 degree Charleston weather is too hot to be outside! Kids (8 & 13) really enjoyed it too.

Ryan S

Really great place. Not a whole lot for kids but you can't be $12 for several hours of entertainment. It covers everything you can think of from American History in the area, fossils, etc. I highly recommend it

Mike Petersen

Nice museum but some shady tourist.

Nicole H

I learned so much about Charleston history here and the section with items from the old museum was one of my favorite parts. The mummy and the sarcophagus are wonderful pieces. So much to see here, we spent almost 3 hours and I'm pretty sure I missed something.

Kim Wood

Americas oldest museum collection! This Collection began in 1773. Anuthing from a whale skeleton, to fine silver, military artifacts to slave history. A gem in Charleston!

Arthur Miraflor

Awesome place to visit.

BasicPerfectionist

A really neat experience, it only took about an hour to walk through all the exhibits and still enjoy it. Great for a quick sight, and very inexpensive too.

Bob Kerr

While one of the oldest museums in North America the current location houses a wealth of unsurpassed Low Country history from early settlement days to current history. In addition displays on the native natural environment and geography are accurate and informative. This is a must see building if you want to understand Charleston and its history,

Sai Yaswanth

Visited on a Weekend. It's a place worth visiting, you get to know a lot of the american history and history of Caroline State ( Slavery by bringing in the slaves from Africa). The museum is well maintained and neatly organized. Takes a average time of 90min to take tour of the museum.

Captain Bob Hartzell

Tons of artifacts. Very well laid out chronologically. The Whale bones when you walk in impress and from there is continues. I had to run through because I walked past it late and they were closing so I couldn't read and obsorb it as well as I wanted. But just the lay out of the artifacts was very impressive and fun to see. The last two parts in had just a minute but china and silverware from high society and children's cloths and shoes were interesting. Tons fo gun's! I wish I had time to obsorb each guns history, but still very cool!

Eric Krueger

Very nice! Great place to get familiar with Charleston.

Michael Cheung

Smaller than we thought, but it’s a good place to visit in Charleston and know more about the history nearby! Would highly recommend spending 1-1.5 hours.

Christine Keefer

Low cost, with a large amount of items. So much to see and read. We loved this museum! A little bit of something to interest everyone. Local history, but also items from around the world.

Evan Guthrie

The Charleston Museum is a great experience that has been consistent and excellent throughout the years. I have been coming to The Charleston Museum ever since I could remember and it always seems to deliver a unique and educational experience every time no matter what year. I really like the exhibits about the history of Charleston and all of the different exhibits that rotate in and out. This museum is very well run and organized. I also really like the building and the feel it has with the architecture with the bricks and the courtyard. I also like the museum and its auditorium as an event venue as it is a good place to host different events and speeches. The Charleston Museum is awesome and I look forward to coming back here many times in the future.

Brittany Smith

If you have the time, leave the city and go on the outskirts of Charleston and visit this museum. It has some nice exhibits of historical items. There's nothing here that seems to South Carolina-y, but there is a nice exhibit of china and wedding dresses. It's worth getting the museum ticket with two of the Charleston houses.

Philip Falls

A great way to learn about South Carolina's history

jennifer pittman

The girls had a wonderful time. The staff made sure that we had all of our questions answered. The exhibits are great. Well worth the time.