The Original Charleston Walks provides a series of different tours for a myriad of tastes. It includes Charleston’s Pirates and Buccaneers. Subtitled “The War Against The Pirates,” it takes you back in time to the earliest decades of the 18th century, when the still-adolescent Charleston not only faced the specter of war with the Native Americans on the land, but also from fierce scavengers on the sea. The excursion introduces the tourist to Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Anne Bonny as you rediscover The Walled City, Pirate Tavern and buried treasure.

In December of 1860, Charleston was the site where South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Four months later, Charleston again became a focal point when it witnessed the fall of Fort Sumter in its Harbor in the first battle of The Civil War. In 1863, Charleston hosted the Confederate and Union armies as aggression escalated. The Civil War Walk relives the siege of Charleston. The tour takes about two hours.

The Lowcountry Ghost Walk is the first year-round ghost tour of Charleston’s Historic District. You can learn about the Gullah Boo Hag or the ghost in City Hall. This 90-minute tour is one of Charleston’s most popular walking tours.

Charleston was instrumental in the American Revolution. The Patriots of Charleston will show you places and introduce people who helped win America’s independence including the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon and “The Swamp Fox,” who was fictionalized by Mel Gibson in The Patriot.

Historic Homes Walk takes a slow saunter through Charleston’s Historic District where you can see some of the most beautiful homes in the south. You can enjoy Charleston’s character through its flora and eighteenth century buildings. Along they way you will see the Heyward-Washington House, Edmonston-Alston House and others.

Charleston was known as the Home of African Slavery yet had the largest Free-Black population by the start of The Civil War. On the In Slavery and Freedom Walk, learn about the Charleston black experience as slaves and as a free people. You will learn about Slave Traders, Catfish Row, Slave Revolts and more.

The Original Charleston Walk shows you the old and the new as you stroll through Charleston’s history from its days as a young colony, through the American Revolution and Civil War. Charleston works to preserve its past as one can see when they visit the city’s oldest church, the harbor, Fort Sumter, John C. Calhoun’s grave and more. Charleston has endured much and its tenaciousness and longevity is apparent.

Known as the “Holy City,” Charleston has not always lived up to its reputation. The tour, Wicked Charleston, walks through the town’s more colorful past dating back to the eighteenth century French Quarter and moving through its behavior during Prohibition in the early twentieth century.

Jack Thomson’s Original Charleston Civil War Walking Tour combines 188 photographs with actual locations to take the traveler into the past and resurrect the Charleston of the 1860s. You will see the town through the eyes of Confederate Soldier Gus Smythe, whose preserved letters give a first hand account of the siege on the evacuated town in 1864. The tour is swift, but informative as each location is brought into historical context with descriptions of the events they hosted.

Classic Carriage Tours, Inc. provides one-hour day and twilight tours through the city. Evening tours are available by appointment. Private, group and special occasion tours are also available. The carriages are pulled by award winning Percheron Draft Horses, extending a 300-year-old tradition.

Taylor Tours of Charleston offers four motorized tours of Charleston and one that moves out into Savannah: The General History Tour is a 75-minute, fast-paced tour of the city and covers 90 points of interest including City Market, the Dock Street Theater, Charleston Battery and the Old Citadel. This is a very popular tour for the general tourist. The Special Interest Tour takes 90 minutes and can be tailored to specific sites and tastes. This is great excursion for history buffs.

You can see some of Charleston’s finest homes in the on the two hour General History/House Museum Tour. This covers 90 minutes of general history and a 30-minute tour of the Edmonston-Alston House, Heyward-Washington House, Nathaniel House or the Aiken- Rhett House depending on which tour you take.

On the Plantation Tour you will get round-trip transportation to either Middleton Place or Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. It includes tours of a Low-Country estate and a guided tour of plantation house museum.