Essential Charleston Passport Provides All-in-One Experience of City’s History

Explore Charleston, South Carolina, and its Atlantic coastal character, homes and colonial architecture with the new Essential Charleston Passport. This all-in-one collection of the city’s 300-year history condenses into a simple and cost-effective transaction by Charleston Heritage Federation, providing visitors with the chance to discover the city’s stories and have a deeper understanding of its complicated history.

© Charleston Heritage Federation

The passport includes admission to three museums, including America’s first museum, The Charleston Museum, as well as five historic houses. These houses stand centuries on, enduring wars and witnessing important moments in United States history. Visiting these buildings entails telling the stories of the lives of those who dwelled there, especially about the hardships and torments faced by the enslaved.

Another site included in the passport takes visitors to America’s oldest landscaped gardens. Different passports focus on different interests. The Explorer passport brings visitors to eight sites over the course of five consecutive days, including Edmonston-Alston House and the SC Historical Society Museum. The Enthusiast passport covers places like Gibbes Museum of Art, Nathaniel Russel House and Aiken-Rhett House.

© Charleston Heritage Federation

Those who purchase a passport save up to 50 percent on individual site tickets. The passport also saves visitors time worrying about purchasing individual tickets from each website, allowing for more time to explore the city. For an additional fee, visitors can choose to visit one or both (Drayton Hall and Middleton Place) to learn about the houses’ history of race, culture, family and preservation.