A Hidden History Tour of Charleston: 10 Things You Never Knew | Afar | Destination Spotlight - video Dailymotion

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Charleston, South Carolina, may look postcard-perfect—but beneath the cobblestone streets and pastel façades lie a litany of lesser-known stories you probably haven’t heard yet. In this episode of Destination Spotlight, Afar host Tiana Attride uncovers the hidden history of Charleston—including the real story behind the city’s iconic Rainbow Row, unexpected tales of witches, pirates, and ghosts, and the origins of a famous song with roots right here in the Holy City. Whether you're looking for unexpected things to do in Charleston or you’re curious about its untold past, start here.  CHAPTERS 0:00 - Introduction 0:23 - Pirate Lore Is Everywhere 1:06 - Ghosts, Witches, and Centuries-Old Cemeteries 2:19 - The Oldest Liquor Store in America  2:40 - The Truth Behind Charleston’s Most Famous Street 3:22 - The Strictest Architectural Preservation in the U.S. 3:50 - The Mysterious Symbols Carved on Windows  4:21 - The Story Behind That Bright Pink Gothic Church  4:51 - The Coolest Streets in Charleston Are Its Hidden Alleys 5:30 - The Gullah Origins of the Song “Kumbaya”  5:46 - The Birthplace of the First Great American Opera  6:27 - Outro  Start planning your trip to Charleston: https://www.afar.com/travel-guides/united-states/south-carolina/charleston/guide  ---- CONNECT WITH AFAR Afar.com is a digital and print magazine that publishes travel tips, guides, news, and stories: https://www.afar.com  Get updates on the latest articles, travel news, and more from AFAR by signing up for the AFAR newsletter: https://afar.com/newsletters  Follow AFAR on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afarmedia Follow AFAR on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfarMedia Follow AFAR on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@afarmedia  Follow AFAR on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/afarmedia  ---- CREDITS Tiana Attride - Host Jonathan Kramer - Video Editor Tiana Attride - Afar Senior Editor, Social and Video Elizabeth See - Senior Designer Sarika Bansal - Editorial Director Michelle Heimerman - Director of Photography  MUSIC  “came up (lofi version)” by skateshop “In Memory” by Cultus “Aint No Sacrifice (Instrumental)” by Kenny Lynch  FOOTAGE / PHOTOGRAPHY Tiana Attride Shutterstock, Vimeo, iStock, Storyblocks

Transcript

00:00Hey Far, I'm Tiana Atrade and I'm here in beautiful, sunny Charleston, South Carolina.

00:05Charleston may look postcard perfect, but just beneath the surface there are buried secrets,

00:10century-old legends, and stories you won't find on your average city guy.

00:13From pirate blockades to haunted graveyards and alleys where people once dueled to the death,

00:18here are 10 things you never knew about Charleston, South Carolina.

00:22In the early 1700s, Charleston was a full-blown pirate hotspot.

00:25At the time, more than 2,000 pirates roamed the nearby seas during the golden age of piracy.

00:30This was right as Charleston was becoming one of the richest cities in colonial America

00:33thanks to enslaved labor and exports of rice and indigo.

00:36And that wealth made it a prime target.

00:38In 1718, infamous pirate Blackbeard famously held the city hostage

00:42until local leaders gave in to his demands for supplies.

00:45And his short-lived partner, the so-called gentleman pirate Stead Bonnet,

00:49was eventually captured, jailed, and hanged near the spot that's now home to the old exchange

00:53and the infamous Provost Dungeon.

00:54It was here that prisoners of war, enslaved people, and accused criminals were shackled

00:59and held, and you can still visit to this day.

01:01But Charleston's dungeon isn't the only place with an eerie past.

01:05In fact, this is one of the most haunted cities in the U.S.

01:07I met up with local guide Jack Kelly from Bulldog Tours to explore some of the city's

01:11most chilling ghost stories.

01:13One of the scariest?

01:14According to legend, a woman named Emily Dickerson was accused of witchcraft in the 1700s,

01:18burned at the stake, and had her ashes buried outside town in a sealed cask.

01:22Before she died, she vowed to do to Charleston what Charleston had done to her.

01:26Over a century later, her ghost allegedly appeared in a dream to a soldier working at

01:30the city's powder magazine.

01:31She asked him to dig up her cask and said not to open it until she told him to do so.

01:35Not long after, the soldier opened it early out of curiosity, and as he did,

01:39a fire suddenly tore through the city.

01:41That fire?

01:42Allegedly, the Great Fire of 1861.

01:45There is no official record of any of it, but some say the witch's cask is still buried

01:49at the powder magazine to this day.

01:51Bulldog is also the only tour company in town with after hours access to the circular

01:55congregational church graveyard, one of the oldest in America with headstones carved before

01:59the United States was even technically a country.

02:03The site is full of ghost stories.

02:04Some say a woman in blue robes, covered in dirt, haunts the cemetery to this day,

02:09mourning the loss of her children.

02:10Let's just say that this host did not stick around long enough to find out.

02:14Now, there are two kinds of spirits in this city, the kind that haunt you and the kind

02:18you drink.

02:19In fact, Charleston is home to the oldest liquor store in the United States.

02:23Tavern Wine and Spirits has been operating on Broad Street since 1686, over 300 years.

02:28You can still buy a bottle there today.

02:30While I was in town, I picked up a sample for myself, a special whiskey made of Jimmy Red

02:34Corn and Native American heirloom corn that almost went extinct and was revived by local

02:38seed savers in the early 2000s.

02:40After a dark few centuries, Charleston's reputation needed a facelift by the early 1900s.

02:45To attract tourists, the city came up with the nickname The Holy City, a nod to the dozens

02:49of churches in town and a way to soften its image.

02:51But that's not the city's most famous marketing stunt.

02:54In the 1930s, Susan Pringle Frost, founder of the Preservation Society of Charleston, painted

02:58her house on East Bay Street pink in the style of a Caribbean home.

03:02The rest of the street followed suit, painting their houses in colorful shades, and soon the

03:05entire block was pastel, creating the city's iconic Rainbow Row.

03:09It was National Geographic that gave the row its famous name in the 1980s.

03:13At the time, photos were printed in black and white, so the magazine coined the name

03:16Rainbow Row to describe the vibrant street and get people excited to see it themselves.

03:20And speaking of the Preservation Society, Charleston's zoning laws are famously strict,

03:25meaning the city isn't just old, it's protected like a living museum.

03:28It became home to the first historic preservation district in the United States in 1931, decades

03:33before most cities even thought about protecting their old buildings.

03:36Today, its old and historic district is one of the biggest in the country, with more than

03:391,400 protected landmarks packed into just a few square miles.

03:43While you're walking around, be sure to keep an eye out for these little plaques with pineapples

03:47or shields on them.

03:48They mark buildings that have won awards for how well-preserved they are.

03:51But there's another piece of hidden history hiding on Charleston's buildings, and for that,

03:55we're headed to Trad Street.

03:56This charming little lane once stretched all the way to the harbor and was lined with businesses

04:00catering to people arriving by seat.

04:01If you look closely at some of the older buildings, you'll spot shapes carved into the wooden shutters.

04:06Back then, many people were still unable to read, so buildings used these symbols instead

04:10of signs to tell people what each business offered.

04:13A crescent moon often signified a place to sleep, a tankard meant a tavern, and a heart pointed

04:17to a brothel.

04:18They don't just look cute, they had serious utility.

04:21Just a few blocks away from Trad Street, you'll probably notice this bubblegum pink Gothic church.

04:26It's pretty hard to miss.

04:27This is the French Huguenot Church, first built in the 1840s by French Protestants who

04:31fled Catholic persecution in Europe.

04:33For a long time, it had a white facade.

04:35But during a 2013 restoration, conservators stripped away layers of paint and discovered

04:39that the original color was actually this bright pink.

04:42The color comes in part from traditional Charleston limestone paint, often made with crushed oyster

04:47shells and natural pigments, which give many coastal buildings their signature pastel tones.

04:51Charleston's most interesting streets might be the ones just wide enough to squeeze through,

04:55so don't skip the city's hidden alleys.

04:57Take Philadelphia Alley, once known as Dueler's Alley, where men would meet at dawn to settle

05:02scores and fight to the death.

05:04There's also Longitude Lane, which, despite its name, runs east-west.

05:07It honors John Harrison, the man who figured out how to measure longitude at sea, helping

05:11sailors avoid getting lost.

05:12He won over £20,000 from British Parliament for his discovery, which would be worth roughly

05:17£4 million, or 5.2 million USD today.

05:20And speaking of latitude, look for jasmine and other Asian plants spilling over the walls

05:25around town.

05:26Charleston shares a subtropical latitude with parts of China and India, so similar plants

05:30thrive here.

05:31You've probably sung Kumbaya around a campfire, but did you know that the song actually comes

05:35from the islands just off of Charleston?

05:37The Sea Islands are home to the Gullah Geechee, descendants of West Africans enslaved in the

05:41Low Country, who have preserved their heritage for centuries.

05:44Their dialect blends African languages with English, and while the exact origin of Kumbaya isn't

05:48known, it's believed to have been created by this community as a spiritual plea.

05:52What they're singing, Kumbaya, my lord, is come by here, my lord.

05:56But the Gullah influence on music didn't end there, and in fact, they influenced one of

06:00the great American operas.

06:02In 1925, Charleston-born author DuBose Hayward wrote a novel called Porgy, inspired by the

06:07Gullah community who lived just down the street from his childhood home in a place once known

06:11as Cappage Row.

06:12Ten years later, it debuted on Broadway as George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, considered the first

06:17great American opera.

06:18The opera used Gullah rhythms, dialect, and stories, blending classical music with a uniquely

06:23Southern sound in a way that was controversial but groundbreaking, and it all started here.

06:28Whether you're planning your first trip to Charleston or you've been visiting for years,

06:31there's probably a hidden side of this city you haven't seen quite yet.

06:34Let us know down below which spot on this list surprised you most or if there are any we

06:38missed, and if you like this video, of course, don't forget to subscribe.

06:41Happy travels, and we'll catch you next time.

A Hidden History Tour of Charleston: 10 Things You Never Knew | Afar | Destination Spotlight

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