Charleston City Market

The Charleston City Market has been around since its erection in 1804. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney ceded the land in 1788 for the strict purpose of the market being used as a public area to buy produce such as meat, fish, and veggies. Rent for these booths back when the market was first made was $1 or $2 for having a marble slab for fish. Butchers in the market would toss the carcasses and trimmings of their meat in the streets for these Turkey Buzzards to eat. A fun fact about these buzzards; in Charleston it became a trend to call the buzzards, “Charleston Eagles.” Harming these “eagles” was a fine of $5 at the time which roughly translates to about $150 with today’s inflation. These Turkey Buzzards were protected by law since they ridded the area of scraps.

Many who visit Charleston believe that the City Market was used to sell slaves, that is starkly incorrect. In fact, only food was sold at this market until the 1840s where the city market became a place for locals to meet and plays games, eat, drink and converse. The City Market was spread out at the beginning of its creation. Beef was sold at Meeting and Broad Streets, fish was sold at Queen Street and farm produce was sold at what was known as Tradd Street and now known as South Adger’s Wharf; finally, butter was sold on the peninsula.

The market has seen a lot of trials and tribulations since its erection decades ago. Anything from tornadoes, hurricanes, even bombardments. Hurricane Hugo is a prime example of these hardships. It’s well known how Hugo affected the Lowcountry with decimating winds and detrimental waters, there are still in fact water lines in the market from Hugo. These marks can be seen in most of the market and can be recognized by the significant wash of paint.

The Charleston City Market Hall underwent significant repairs between the years of 1881 and 1882. In fact, the mayor at the time worked out of the City Market Hall. It wasn’t until 1899 that the United Daughters of the Confederacy (Chapter 4) began using the City Market Hall to house the Confederate Museum. This museum housed dozens of Confederate artifacts and other examples of items used during the Civil War; many of these artifacts and examples were exclusively from the city during the Civil War time period.

Come visit my booth in the Charleston City Market to pick up a one of kind print of the beautiful area that is Charleston, SC!  We are open every day from 9:00am to 5:00pm and are located in the building off of East Bay Street near the Customs House. If those times don’t work then check us out from 6:00pm to10:30pm (Night Market starts on March 18th) on Fridays and Saturdays in the same location!

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-Justin