Lost Charleston

Using classic archive images, Charleston’s greatest architectural and cultural losses are documented in chronological order from 1861 thru 2018.

Aside from the havoc wreaked by the Civil War bombardment, Charleston has endured a succession of fires, hurricanes and earthquakes over the last 200 years. Though famous for its grand ante-bellum buildings of the nineteenth century, there have been some significant losses, particularly those from the Great Fire of 1861.

From the dawn of the photographic era, Lost Charleston chronicles the markets, mansions, hotels, halls, church towers and cherished businesses that time, progress and fashion have swept aside.

Sites include: Castle Pinckney, Battery Ramsay, Institute Hall, Washington Race Course, Comingtee, Vendue Range, The St. Phillips Church ＂Lighthouse,＂ Mills House Hotel, Roper Hospital, Thompson Auditorium, King Street stores, St. Andrews Hall, the original Charleston Hotel, Jenkins Orphanage Band, Union Station, and Middleton Place plantation house.

A native South Carolinian, Leigh Jones Handal has been an avid student of Low Country history since she was a Brownie Scout. She is co-editor of the City of Charleston’s official Tour Guide Training Manual and organized Historic Charleston Foundation’s annual spring house-and-garden tours for 13 years, as well as the Preservation Society of Charleston’s Fall home tours. A graduate of the College of Charleston, Leigh has been a licensed tour guide for more than 20 years. She appears regularly to talk about local history on television network, Lowcountry Live.