Charleston

Charleston is a historic port city dating back to the 1670s. A beautiful park called the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site consecrates the spot where the first English settlers arrived more than 400 years ago. The Fort Sumter National Monument sits in its harbor, where the first shots of the American Civil War were fired in 1861. Several historic estates are scattered around the city as well, including the Boone Hall Plantation and Magnolia Plantation. And many museums are situated within Charleston—like the Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon and the Old Slave Mart Museum—that chronicle the extensive past of both the city and South Carolina.