Historic Charleston Foundation

05/06/2026

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Angel Oak, which is likely between 400 and 500 years old, has been an important tourist spot on the island for more than 100 years and is considered the largest living oak tree east of the Mississippi River.

05/06/2026

North Charleston is creating a Unified Development Ordinance to guide growth and development across the city. Project planners emphasized the importance of public input during the process. (Full story below.)

02/06/2026

HCF is happy to report that the city recently sent a pre-litigation mediated settlement overturning the BAR’s decision on 148 Smith Street back to the Community Development Committee for public deliberation. Legal settlements that challenge local body decisions should receive daylight before being approved by City Council. We saw the consequences of hastily using this process when the city overturned the DRB’s decision to preserve the historic USDA vegetable lab.

Thank you, City Council, for moving in the right direction and allowing for thoughtful dialogue and public transparency!

The city of Charleston wisely delayed action on a settlement that would allow Ashley Hall to demolish a modest remnant that might have been associated with Dash Hall, an early

02/06/2026

Did you miss HCF's Spring Advocacy Forum on May 18th?

The full recording is now available on our YouTube page. Utilize the Foundation's new website page and visual tool to catch up with ongoing (and upcoming) development opportunities on Charleston's peninsula and learn more from our experts at the Forum with the link, below.

The City of Charleston is preparing a new peninsula plan, comprehen...

01/06/2026

During the night of June 1st, 1863, three federal gunboats, guided by Harriet Tubman, steamed upriver from Beaufort on a mission to free the enslaved people held on the rice plantations along the Combahee River. The raid, carried out by one of the earliest all-Black regiments, the U.S. 2nd Second South Carolina Volunteers, resulted in the liberation of more than 700 people.

When writing her book on the raid, Dr. Edda Fields-Black did a lot of research in our collections. Just one example of an item in our collection that contextualizes the raid, which can be found in her book, is from the Papers of the Kirkland, Withers, Snowden, and Trotter Families, 1790–1959.

"William Lennox Kirkland Jr. kept a list of the enslaved people who escaped enslavement on Rose Hill Plantation during the Civil War. On two sides of one sheet of paper, Kirkland recorded the names of enslaved people who liberated themselves in March 1862 and on June 2, 1863. The June 1863 list was likely written shortly after the Combahee River Raid, when the painful details were fresh in his mind." - Dr. Edda Fields-Black, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War

01/06/2026

Take a stroll down to to browse our retail store Shop Historic Charleston with our summer communications intern, NeShell White!

Joining us through ICEP program, we are thrilled to have NeShell join the communications team (be sure to follow us on TikTok for more from NeShell) for the summer!

This was the first stop on NeShell’s tour of HCF’s sites. Next up, the house museums! Stay connected with us for more!

Shop Historic Charleston is at the , both house museums and online. 🛍️

01/06/2026

Come learn about the College of Charleston’s plans to redevelop the site at 106 Coming Street into a student housing complex. On this approximately 1.6-acre site located between Coming, Vanderhorst, St. Philip and Calhoun streets, the college aims to add 1,000–1,200 student beds. This property is highly sensitive as it contains a former municipal cemetery (an 18th century “potter’s field”) where thousands of people were buried.

Learn more, ask questions, and provide input tomorrow evening:

Design & Commemoration Charrette
Tuesday, June 2 | 6:00–8:00 PM
Berry Hall – Honors College
80-A St. Philip Street, Charleston, SC 29424

Entry: Main Lobby on St. Philip Street (across from the Bell/AT&T Building)

https://today.charleston.edu/2026/05/28/106-coming-street-project-community-outreach-forum-design-commemoration-charrette-community-engagement-council/
Parking: PG Garage, 89 St. Philip Street, Charleston, SC 29403

The community forum is June 2; the council’s next meeting is June 4.

31/05/2026

With some 💪 support from our friends at Parker Receiving (and just in time for America250 celebrations) the original painting depicting The Battle of Fort Sullivan is back at the Nathaniel Russell House Museum.

This priceless, original oil painting has returned to the house museum after several months on loan to a partner institution, and now available to see in person with admission. Painted by a professional seaman turned artist named Lieutenant William Elliott c.1776, the work of art depicts the warships HMS Bristol, Active, Experiment, Solebay, Actaeon, Syren, Sphinx and the Bomb Vessel Thunder assaulting the small sand and palmetto log fortification on Sullivan’s Island on June 28, 1776. Originally called Fort Sullivan, the fort was renamed for Colonel Moultrie its commanding officer after the battle. We continue to celebrate the anniversary of this battle because it marked the beginning of South Carolina’s independence, and it was the ➡️ first major victory ⬅️ for the Americans in the Revolutionary War.

Open daily for tours, be sure to include the c.1808 Nathaniel Russell House Museum on your next visit to Charleston. 🌴 historiccharleston.org/house-museums

29/05/2026

In 2013, the the team at HCF easily identified a standout individual to be recognized at the annual Women Who IMPACT Preservation fundraiser. The event honored and celebrated Ms. Geona Shaw Johnson alongside the community, and as she now begins her next chapter, we loudly celebrate her again — and thank her for the decades of dedication to our city.

From a 2013 The Post and Courier article:

"Preservation is an area where women have been able to be active and thrive and lead," [Katherine] Robinson says. "Our founder was Frances Edmunds, who not only became an icon in Charleston, but across the nation."

[Geona] Johnson's work overall helps people to secure their futures and their lives in Charleston, Robinson says.

"Her office manages many activities that provide affordable housing to the people of Charleston. She has been a very effective leader," she says.

"In working with Historic Charleston Foundation and Habitat, Geona represents the very best of what preservation is all about."

Women Who Impact Preservation, a group of women ready, willing and able to support preservation efforts of the Historic Charleston Foundation, was looking for an honoree, says Robinson. It had a substantial list of qualified people.

"Geona's name rose to the top immediately," she says.'

https://www.postandcourier.com/archives/charleston-housing-director-honored/article_90649398-04aa-5ee9-b282-ddfe6e00d9c2.html

Geona Shaw Johnson, director of Charleston’s Department of Housing and Community Development, retires May 29.Her departure comes as the city embarks on ambitious housing plan called Project 3500. (Full story below.)

29/05/2026

Lisa Jones, Director of Advocacy at Historic Charleston Foundation, said the project is helping solve the problem of keeping Charleston’s character intact while providing housing for people who need it.

“What we’ve seen from the city is really extraordinary in what they’re trying to do, because it is combining this really important housing element that we desperately need,” Jones said. “In Charleston, we need more affordability. All across the peninsula now, it is difficult for people who work here to live here. And so Charleston is combining that with the urban design element to make sure that it’s also beautiful.”

She says a major reason the Historic Charleston Foundation supports the project is because of the priority of no displacement of people who are already living in the project areas.

Thank you Live 5 News!
Watch the full clip below

https://www.live5news.com/2026/05/27/upcoming-project-3500-community-meeting-to-highlight-impact-on-westside-community/

An upcoming community meeting plans to highlight how Project 3500 will affect the WestEdge and Gadsden Green neighborhoods within the Westside community on the Charleston peninsula.