EFFECTIVE MAY 3, 2022: The Museum follows CDC guidelines with respect to mask wearing. Charleston County's Covid-19 community level is currently listed as low. Masks are not required while visiting Museum sites.
Charleston Silver
In the Loeblein Gallery of Charleston Silver discover the impressive work of the South’s finest craftsmen and women, from the colonial era through the Victorian Age.
Until the outbreak of the Civil War, Charleston was one of the wealthiest cities in America. As Charlestonians built grand houses and purchased lavish goods to furnish them, increasing numbers of artisans of various trades came to work and live in the city. Among them were a number of silversmiths who produced extraordinary works.
By 1820, there were nearly seventyfive separate silversmith shops in Charleston. While many of these craftsmen received training or inspiration from England, they came from different backgrounds and their ethnic diversity brought an abundance of TransEuropean styles and tastes to “The Holy City.”
The changing styles of silver in the Lowcountry, from the early colonial period to the twentieth century, are thoroughly represented and exhibited in the Museum’s Loeblein Gallery of Charleston Silver.
The Charleston Museum has the largest known assemblage of Charleston-made silver. Over 400 pieces from this exquisite collection are regularly on exhibit in the Loeblein Gallery. They exemplify nearly three centuries of Charleston craftsmanship and decades of dedicated research and meticulous curatorial oversight.
In the Museum’s Armory, see excellent examples of historic weaponry, dating from 1750 to the twentieth century, with uses that ranged from military to more personal applications such as hunting and dueling.
In the Historic Textiles Gallery, the Museum features regularly rotating exhibits from its rich historic textiles and clothing collection, one of the finest in the southeastern United States.
In The Charleston Museum: The Early Days gallery, see exotic collections from around the world, representative of the Museum’s nineteenth century cosmopolitan collecting focus.
In the Lowcountry History Hall, see materials relating to the Native Americans who first inhabited the Lowcountry and the African American and European settlers who transformed the region into an agricultural empire.
In the Natural History gallery you will see an extraordinary array of birds, reptiles and mammals that have called the South Carolina Lowcountry home since prehistory, including contributions from noted naturalists.
The Charleston Museum is pleased to present Kidstory, a fun and exciting, hands-on exhibit for children, where the fascinating history of Charleston and the Lowcountry comes alive.
In the Loeblein Gallery of Charleston Silver discover the impressive work of the South’s finest craftsmen and women, from the colonial era through the Victorian Age.
