If you are looking for the oldest museum in America that is actually in South Carolina, The Charleston Museum in Charleston is the one, founded in 1773 and proudly known as America’s First Museum. Walking through it feels like stepping into a complete story of the Lowcountry, where natural history and human history sit side by side, from fossils and wildlife that explain the region’s deep past to artifacts and exhibits that trace Indigenous life, colonial Charleston, the Revolution, and the Civil War era. It is the kind of place where you can connect the landscape to the people who lived on it, and if you want to take that experience further, the museum is also linked to historic homes like the Heyward Washington House and the Joseph Manigault House, which add a lived-in, street-level layer to what you see in the galleries.
Check out my video from my visit.
