Running tour · charleston

Market to the Battery

1.1 mi run

Open in Stride Stories

The stories on this route

1. Charleston City Market

   Look up at the frieze on Market Hall, the temple front with four columns. Those are sheep and bull skulls. They announced a meat market.

2. Dock Street Theatre

   Look at the long wrought-iron balcony on this brick front. Against the spire of St. Philip's Church, it may be the single most photographed spot in Charleston. The building went up around 1809 as the Planter's Hotel, where planters from the midlands stayed during horse-racing season.

3. Old Slave Mart

   Look at the narrow front at 6 Chalmers Street: two octagonal pillars, a high arch, an iron gate. This is the only known surviving building in South Carolina used as a slave auction gallery.

4. Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

   Look at the big Georgian brick building facing straight down Broad Street. The Exchange was built between 1767 and 1771, and it fronted the harbor then. From 1780 the British held many American Patriots prisoner here.

5. Rainbow Row

   Look along East Bay Street at the row of pastel houses, wall to wall. There are thirteen, from 79 to 107 East Bay. When they were built, they fronted right on the Cooper River. That land has since been filled in.

6. White Point Garden and the Battery

   Look out under the live oaks toward the harbor. This is the southern tip of the peninsula, where the Ashley River flows into the Cooper. The first English settlers called it White Point, for the heaps of oyster shells along the shore.

Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source