Preservation Society of Charleston

04/22/2026

Preservation Month is almost here! 🎉

The PSC is proud to present a month-long series of dynamic, educational programs and community events in honor of Preservation Month this May. Preservation Month is celebrated nationally each year to shine a light on historic resources while inspiring future preservation efforts.

✨New this year, members can take part in Historic Preservation Fundamentals, a course led by Nina Peppers, Director of Programs and Learning. Designed for people without a formal education in historic preservation, participants will learn about historic properties and the language, terminology, and theory behind saving historic places.

Additional events:

🏘️ Explore Charleston's neighborhoods
• Hard Hat Tours
• NEW Sears Kit Home Walking Tour

🛠️ Get involved withs hands-on opportunities
• Volunteer Workday at the Hutchinson House
• Headstone Cleaning Workshop

Most events are free and open to the public, with additional events available for current PSC members. Check out the full schedule on our website, and register today – spots fill up quickly!

04/21/2026

Happy Birthday to the Preservation Society of Charleston! 🎉

106 years ago, Susan Pringle Frost rallied a group of people together to save a house threatened with demolition to make way for a gas station.

The c. 1803 Joseph Manigault House at 350 Meeting St. was ultimately saved, and the Preservation Society was formed to become the first grassroots, community preservation organization in the United States.

Today, the PSC is still advocating for historic structures, but also telling stories of communities that are vital to the living city we enjoy today, and ensuring its resilience for generations to come.

Your roots, whether fresh or built over generations, give you a stake in Charleston's future. Join the PSC to be a part of our city's preservation story, as we continue this important work for many more years to come.

Join at the link in our bio.

04/17/2026

PSC's Spring Membership Meeting will be held at Twenty-One Magazine, the site of the Old City Jail.

A dynamic presentation is planned that will showcase the full evolution of this site through Charleston’s ages. The earliest history will be illuminated by local historian and PSC board member, Harlan Greene.

21 Magazine St. is a 2024 Exterior Carolopolis award winner. Members will hear about the remarkable rehabilitation from architect Jay White, Principal at Liollio Architecture, who will walk through the structural and design challenges unique to this site. Jonathan Oakman, VP of Development at Landmark Enterprises, will also share his insights on the project and the successful use of historic tax credits.

Lastly, members will get a sneak peak of our Voices of Resilience video series.

After the presentations conclude, there will be a courtyard reception with refreshments and the opportunity for further discussion with PSC staff and fellow members.

Join the PSC today: preservationsociety.org/ways-to-give/join-the-psc/
PSC members, be on the lookout for an email to register for the Spring Membership Meeting.

04/03/2026

Charleston’s historic cemeteries are more than resting places — they are living, cultural landscapes and sanctuaries of biodiversity. Join us for a community-powered BioBlitz to help document the plants, animals, birds, insects, and fungi thriving in these sacred spaces.

🗓 Sunday, April 19, 2026 | 1:00-3:00 PM
📍 Historic cemeteries in the Upper Peninsula & West Ashley
🍷 Good Neighbor Day at Graft Wine Shop to follow | 3:00–6:00 PM

A BioBlitz is a hands-on nature survey where volunteers work alongside trained guides to identify as many species as possible in a short time. All experience levels are welcome! We’ll provide on-site guidance and an iNaturalist tutorial.

This community effort — hosted by The M.A.R.S.H. Project, Preservation Society of Charleston, Charleston Horticultural Society, and Carolina Ocean Alliance — helps protect not just history, but the ecosystems that make these spaces vital to our community today. By documenting the species that inhabit these sacred landscapes, volunteers contribute to a shared understanding of how to care for these spaces in ways that respect their full cultural and ecological significance, strengthening our connection to Charleston’s heritage in all its forms.

✅ Sign up by Wednesday, April 15
🔗 join.preservationsociety.org/a/charleston-cemetery-bioblitz-volunteer-sign-up
📧 Questions or interested in serving as a field guide? Email Anna-Catherine Alexander at [email protected]
📲 Download the iNaturalist app before arriving. Cemetery assignments will be emailed in advance.

Come explore, learn, and help steward Charleston’s cultural and ecological heritage—then celebrate with your fellow volunteers afterward!

03/31/2026

Historic Preservation isn’t just for downtown Charleston. Thanks to the Post and Courier for highlighting the Carolopolis Award program as a catalyst for an expanding preservation movement — one that embraces communities across the region that have not traditionally received recognition or protection.

By celebrating the stories of historic places beyond downtown Charleston, and efforts to protect them, the Carolopolis Award program helps build shared understanding of what makes communities historically significant where formal protections are limited. Recognition is a powerful tool for promoting best practices in preservation and informing future policy.

"If we handle the Carolopolis Awards right, the way that we should, we bring together the most talented subset of people… to celebrate their successes in the art and science of preservation. We’re sustaining a really important knowledge base, and we’re able to export it." - PSC President and CEO, Brian Turner

The Preservation Society of Charleston is gradually expanding its Carolopolis awards program to recognize the best historic preservation work beyond downtown, an approach using carrots not sticks.

03/27/2026

PSC’s Oral History Project continues with Richard Smalls, Jr.’s reflection on James Island’s Little Rock Golf Club ⛳

Golf has long been a beloved pastime for Charlestonians — but for decades, Black golfers in Charleston were barred from local courses.

Established c. 1953, the Little Rock Golf Club on James Island became a six-hole training ground and gathering space for Black golfers who were excluded from the Country Club of Charleston and the City Municipal Golf Course.

Former caddie Richard Smalls, Sr. purchased former plantation land that quickly grew into something more: a place of recreation, resilience, and community. After the Municipal Golf Course was integrated in 1961, Little Rock Golf Club operated until 1965, but its legacy of creating opportunity in the face of segregation lives on.

After Smalls’ passing, his sons transformed the site into Club Morocco — a beloved nightclub and event venue that hosted weddings, celebrations, and community gatherings until 2002.

From fairways to dance floors, this site tells a powerful story of Black entrepreneurship, joy, and determination on James Island.

Through our Oral History Project, we’re working with families and community members to capture these first- and secondhand memories — ensuring that places like Little Rock Golf Club and Club Morocco are remembered not just for what they were, but for what they meant.

🏌🏾‍♂️ Explore its full history and legacy at www.preservationsociety.org or watch the whole interview on our YouTube channel via the link in our stories.

03/24/2026

🏆 Today we’re reminiscing on this year’s Carolopolis Awards held a few weeks ago at the Grand at 81 Mary. We celebrated fantastic projects spanning downtown Charleston, Sullivan’s Island, West Ashley, Edisto Island, and for the first time, Park Circle, with awards in Exterior, Interior, Resilience, New Construction, and Pro Merito categories. Every year, we are inspired by the talent and dedication to preservation shown by property owners and project teams. Reflecting on this year’s awards, PSC President & CEO, Brian Turner, said, “More than ever, people throughout the Charleston region are seeing themselves as caretakers of a shared heritage. That is perhaps the most meaningful achievement of all.”

View the links in our stories to view recent features from The Post & Courier on the 72nd Carolopolis Awards, and a second story highlighting the first Park Circle award recipient, 4620 O’Hear Avenue.

Before and after photos of the winning projects are available at the link in our bio.

📸: Reese Moore Photography

03/08/2026

A win for preservation at 280 Meeting Street ✔️

Thanks to your advocacy, the BAR‑L decisively rejected the demolition of this c. 1918 industrial building with its iconic 1950s storefront last fall. Now the project is moving in the direction we fought for: adaptive reuse.

The new proposal by Bello Garris Architects on the March 11 BAR‑L agenda includes:

• Restoring the front elevation to its mid‑century appearance by reopening the large upper‑story windows
• Preserving the building’s original form + architectural character
• Adding a third‑floor addition + rear accessory structure to support multi-family residential use

Although vertical additions to historic structures are not always the most sensitive solution, this proposal reflects thoughtful tradeoffs to enable adaptive reuse. Preservation at its best is an adaptable framework that honors community identity and history while making complex, forward‑thinking projects possible.

View the full proposal at https://charleston-sc.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_03112026-10737, and build on the hard-fought victory to save this building by supporting this adaptive reuse proposal at BAR‑L.

📝 Submit online comments at https://innovate.charleston-sc.gov/comments/ by Tues., March 10 at 12 PM
📣 Or speak in person Wed., March 11 at 4:30 PM at 2 George St., 1st floor

02/27/2026

Our final 2024 featured project is St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church, the first-ever Carolopolis Award winner on Daniel Island. St. Clare of Assisi, built on formerly undeveloped land, was a project years in the making, led by a guiding principle of “transcendence through design.”

This magnificent new construction project highlights the commitment of the project team and congregation to classical design, traditional craftsmanship, and high-quality materials. The project team incorporated salvaged elements from a Western Pennsylvania convent called Mount Alvernia Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Francis, including century-old stained-glass windows, 14 Stations of the Cross, the altar, and statues.

In addition to salvaged materials and relics, new works from specialized local and European craftspeople were commissioned to create a new altar cross, 26 custom inscribed church bells, and a magnificent copper spire, topped by a gilded cross. Custom mosaics throughout the church were designed and laid by St. Clare parishioners with interior designer Catherine August over three years.

Giving salvaged relics new life and incorporating the incredible work of world-class craftspeople resulted in the creation of a religious and architectural landmark that will endure for centuries to come.

The New Construction Carolopolis category is awarded to bring focus to exemplary new construction projects. High-quality residential, commercial, and mixed-use buildings are all eligible and must demonstrate and compatibility with the scale of surrounding, historic buildings.

Owner: Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston
Project team: Franck & Lohsen Architects, , , , Fowler Engineering, OGCB, Inc., Merck & Hill Consultants, Hambrick Cast Stone Services, , Munn's Manufacturing, Christoph Paccard Bell Foundry, Crenshaw Lighting , Ratigan-Schottler Manufacturing Co., and R.A. Colby

02/26/2026

Today's featured 2024 Carolopolis winner is 9 Limehouse Street, a late-Greek Revival style residence built circa 1857 for cotton factor William Pinckney Shingler.

Historical research, including an 1880 photograph, were central in informing the restoration of the property. The photograph revealed the house once featured a central, dual staircase leading from the garden to the south-facing piazza, unlike the existing non-historic stair which simply extended outward. The historic stairs were reconstructed to match original details. The second floor of the piazza had been obscured by screening and an addition at the center bay. All screens and infill were removed to restore this important open space.

The restoration of key features were made possible by the project team's dedication to historic research as part of the rehabilitation process. A previous Carolopolis winner, 9 Limehouse received a Pro Merito Award for the continued preservation and stewardship of this historically significant property.

The Pro Merito category is awarded to properties that received a Carolopolis at least twenty years ago and have maintained a high standard of preservation or have undergone a second, significant exterior rehabilitation, restoration, or preservation effort.

Owners: Paul Ausley and Rebecca Williams
Project team: Glenn Keyes Architects, C.B. Elrod Co. Construction, Wertimer + Cline Landscape Architects, and Tammy Connor Interior Design

02/26/2026

Join PSC at BZA on Tues., March 3 to oppose a zoning variance request for 989 Morrison Drive. If approved, the variance would facilitate the construction of a 12-story apartment building on Newmarket Creek, one of the peninsula’s last intact tidal waterways that plays a key role in the peninsula’s resilience and stormwater management.

This proposal exposes a serious planning contradiction: The site’s base zoning (Upper Peninsula District) requires an active ground floor use, while subsequently written FEMA regulations prohibit habitable ground floors in this high-risk flood area that can experience damaging coastal waves during a major storm.

This regulatory conflict necessitates a variance request to facilitate construction, underscoring that this is not an appropriate site for intense new development.

Tell the BZA that this request does not meet the criteria for granting a variance on the grounds that it would be of substantial detriment to the public good and harm the character of the district.

Submit comments online by Mon., March 2 at 12 PM at https://innovate.charleston-sc.gov/comments/ or speak in person at the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on Tues., March 3 at 5:15 PM at 2 George St., 1st floor public meeting room.

02/19/2026

The Resilience Carolopolis category is awarded to projects that sensitively adapt historic properties to changing climate conditions, while adhering to best practices for historic preservation, and retaining the integrity and character of the structure.

Located in Cannonborough/Elliottborough, 92 Morris St. was constructed as a single-family residence circa 1880 with a one-story piazza. The piazza ultimately became two stories, and the property was later converted into a duplex.

In 2018, a 1960s two-story rear addition was ordered down by the Chief Building Official, which left the structure open to elements. The property was also sitting on the ground in a flood zone and suffering significantly from deferred maintenance.

Improvements to the property involved elevating the structure to meet FEMA requirements, adding a sensitively designed rear addition, and a small dependency structure.

The standing seam metal roof was unable to be salvaged but was replaced in kind and retains the original red color. The piazza was restored with new columns and balusters, milled to match the originals. A piazza screen was added to disguise the new front steps needed after the elevation of the property. The historic wood siding was preserved and meticulously replaced in-kind as needed. A new addition at the rear sensitively connects to the historic house with a hyphen, and is differentiated with vertical siding. The team also installed resilient landscaping, using heat and flood tolerant plantings.

Uplifting the historic Charleston single house, both figuratively and literally, this major project at 92 Morris St. epitomizes the preservation value of resilience.

A handful of tickets remain for this year's Carolopolis Awards. Purchase at the link in our bio.

Owner: Albert Matheny and Chelsey Wilkens
Project Team: Julia F. Martin Architects and O'Connor Homes