Charleston Sacred Architecture and History Tour

Known as The Holy City, Charleston is home to more than 150 churches and synagogues. Together they demonstrate the colony’s early support of religious freedom, where Anglicans co-existed with Scottish Presbyterians, English Congregationalists, German Lutherans, Sephardic Jews, and French Huguenots. Unitarians, Catholics, and free and enslaved Africans who founded the first AME church in the South also contributed to this diversity. The architecture of their places of worship is as varied as their religions. St. Michael’s Anglican Church, built in the 1750s, is modeled after a neoclassical church in London. The Unitarian Church has a Gothic Revival interior. The Romanesque-style Circular Congregationalist Church is round in form. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim’s synagogue is considered the city’s finest Greek Revival building. Bringing Charleston’s history to life through sacred architecture, the tour leads through 3 historic neighborhoods, featuring eight places of worship in depth and many more in passing.

-The tour begins at Mother Emanuel, the South’s 1st African American Methodist congregation and site of the tragic 2015 shooting. -Passing through the Ansonborough historic district, we will visit St. Philip’s, the 1st European-American religious congregation in South Carolina, the French Huguenot church in the French Quarter, and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, 2nd-oldest synagogue building in the United -Walking down Meeting Street, we will explore Circular Congregational Church, founded in 1681, before entering Charleston’s oldest historic district to visit Saint Michael’s, the earliest church building in Charleston, and First Scots, founded in 1731. -On Broad Street, we will stop at the Catholic Cathedral, consecrated in 1845, before visiting the Unitarian Church, started in 1774 and located in the Harleston Village neighborhood. -Visiting hours vary at locations, but we will enter at least two sanctuaries and several churchyards.