Historic Sites in South Carolina: Hours and Admission

We list 59 historic sites you can visit in South Carolina: 9 National Park Service units, state historic sites, museums, battlefields and house museums. 12 are free. Hours and admission were read from each operator’s own page.

Header photo: The Exchange and Custom House in Charleston, built in 1771, as recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS SC,10-CHAR,72-.

59historic sites
12free to visit
9National Park Service units
4regions covered

Upstate
Midlands
Pee Dee
Lowcountry
Free sites

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Historic sites in South Carolina by region

Upstate (7)

Upstate events →

Site	Type	Where	Hours	Admission	What to see
Cowpens National Battlefield Free	NPS unit	Chesnee, Cherokee	Visitor center Wed-Sun 9-5; grounds 9-5 daily	Free	Site of Daniel Morgan’s January 17, 1781 double-envelopment victory; visitor center film, museum, battlefield trail and loop road with audio tour
Ninety Six National Historic Site Free	NPS unit	Ninety Six, Greenwood	Visitor center Wed-Sun 9-4:30; grounds dawn-dusk daily	Free	Earthen Star Fort and siege works of 1781, sites of two vanished towns and a trading post, historic log house (open on special occasions)
Battle of Musgrove Mill State Historic Site	Battlefield	Clinton, Laurens	Main gate and battlefields daily 9-6; visitor center Thu-Mon	$3 adults; $1.50 SC seniors; $1 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	Site of the August 19, 1780 patriot militia victory; visitor center; Horseshoe Falls; also manages Blackstock Battlefield
Fort Hill (John C. Calhoun House)	House museum	Clemson, Pickens	See official site	See official site	Home of John C. Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson on land the Cherokee called Esseneca; NHL; open for public tours
Oconee Station State Historic Site Free	State historic site	Walhalla, Oconee	Grounds daily 9-5	Free (donations appreciated)	Stone blockhouse of the frontier outpost and the William Richards House, one of the earliest brick houses in the Upstate
Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site	State historic site	Union, Union	Grounds daily 9-6; house tours Thu-Mon at 11, 1 and 3	Grounds free; house tours $10 adults, $6 SC seniors, $5 ages 6-15	Home of ‘Secession Governor’ William Henry Gist; furnished house, gardens and outbuildings
Upcountry History Museum	Museum	Greenville, Greenville	Tue-Sat 10-5; Sun 1-5; Mon closed	$14 adults; $13 seniors 65+ and college students; $10 ages 3-18; 2 and under free	Regional history museum for the South Carolina Upcountry

Midlands (16)

Midlands events →

Site	Type	Where	Hours	Admission	What to see
Kings Mountain National Military Park Free	NPS unit	Blacksburg, York	Visitor center Wed-Sun 9-5; grounds 9-5 daily	Free	Battlefield of the October 7, 1780 patriot victory; visitor center film and museum; battlefield trail; Howser House
Andrew Jackson State Park	State historic site	Lancaster, Lancaster	Park daily (8-6 Nov-Mar; 9-9 Apr-Oct); museum Sa-Su 1-5; schoolhouse mid-Mar to Nov weekends	$3 adults; $1.50 SC seniors; $1 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	Museum and exhibits on Andrew Jackson’s boyhood in the backcountry, 18th-century replica schoolhouse, Anna Hyatt Huntington statue Boy of the Waxhaws; birthday celebration each March
Camden Battlefield and Longleaf Pine Preserve Free	Battlefield	Camden, Kershaw	Daylight hours	Free; guided tours ticketed at Historic Camden’s Cunningham House, 222 Broad St.	476-acre core battlefield of the August 16, 1780 Battle of Camden; monument where Baron de Kalb was mortally wounded; walking path (about 1.5 hours)
Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens	House museum	Columbia, Richland	Guided tours Wed-Sat 10:30 and 3; Sun 1 and 3; gardens Mon-Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4	Tours: see official site; gardens free	1818 mansion interpreted through all the people who lived and worked there over 200 years; free public gardens
Historic Brattonsville	Historic village	McConnells, York	Tue-Sat 10-5 (tours 11 and 2); Sun 1-5 self-guided; Mon closed	$12 adults 18-59; $10 seniors 60+; $8 ages 4-17; 3 and under free	More than 30 historic structures of the Bratton plantation (begun with a 1766 purchase of 200 acres, later more than 4,000 acres) presenting Scots-Irish and African American upcountry history; burial ground; animal feedings
Historic Camden Revolutionary War Site (Kershaw-Cornwallis House)	Historic village	Camden, Kershaw	Tue-Sat 10-4:30; Sun 2-4:30; guided tours Tue-Sat 10:30 and 2:30, Sun 2:30	$5 adults under 65; $4 seniors 65+, military, students 16 and under; under 6 free	107-acre outdoor museum including the reconstructed Kershaw-Cornwallis House, used by Cornwallis as headquarters in 1780-81, two circa-1800 log houses, nature trail
Kings Mountain State Park (Living History Farm)	State historic site	Blacksburg, York	Daily 7-6 (7-9 during Daylight Saving Time)	$3 adults; $1.50 SC seniors; $1 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	1800s Living History Farm recreating a 19th-century yeoman farm; CCC-built dam spillway; Dickey-Sherer House
Landsford Canal State Park	State historic site	Catawba, Chester	Daylight until dark, daily	$6 adults 16+; $3.75 SC seniors; $3.50 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	Remains of a canal on the Catawba River used by boat crews about 200 years ago; walk the earthen canal floor between stone walls at the Davie Mill site, about a mile down the trail
Mann-Simons Site	Historic village	Columbia, Richland	Group/school tours and Free Sunday program	See official site	Site of the home of one African American family for nearly 130 years, tracing Columbia’s Black community from enslavement through urban renewal
Modjeska Monteith Simkins House	House museum	Columbia, Richland	Group/school tours and Free Sunday program	See official site	Home of civil rights leader Modjeska Monteith Simkins; U.S. Civil Rights Trail featured site
Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home	Museum	Columbia, Richland	Semi-guided tours Wed-Sun 1:30; gardens Mon-Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4	Tours: see official site	Museum on the Reconstruction period in the 1871 home of young Woodrow Wilson, South Carolina’s only remaining presidential site
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site	State historic site	Beech Island, Aiken	Grounds daily 9-6; house tours on a limited schedule – call 803-827-1473	Grounds free; house tours $10 adults, $6 SC seniors, $5 ages 6-15	1859 mansion of James Henry Hammond, extant slave quarters, magnolia allée planted 1860; stories of the Henley, Goodwin and Wigfall families
Robert Mills House and Gardens	House museum	Columbia, Richland	Guided tours Wed-Sat 12; Sun 3; gardens Mon-Sat 10-4, Sun 1-4	Tours: see official site; gardens free	Classical Revival mansion begun in 1823 (the Ainsley Hall House), named for architect Robert Mills; NHL
South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum	Museum	Columbia, Richland	Tue-Sat 10-5; first Sunday 1-5	$6 adults 18-61; $5 seniors 62+; $5 military; $3 ages 10-17; 9 and under free	Military history collections of South Carolinians from the Revolution onward; shares the Columbia Mills Building with the State Museum
South Carolina State House	Other	Columbia, Richland	Guided tours weekdays on the half hour 9:30-3:30 (no 12:00/12:30 Jan-May; no 12:30 Jun-Dec); Saturdays 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30	See official site (walk-in tours welcomed)	National Historic Landmark capitol (designated 05/11/76), begun in 1851; walk-in guided tours and self-guided brochures; U.S. Civil Rights Trail site
South Carolina State Museum	Museum	Columbia, Richland	Tue-Sat 10-5; Sun 12-5; Mon closed	$13 adults; $11 seniors 62+; $10 ages 3-12	State history galleries in the Columbia Mills building, plus planetarium and 4D theater

Pee Dee (4)

Pee Dee events →

Site	Type	Where	Hours	Admission	What to see
Atalaya (Huntington Beach State Park)	State historic site	Murrells Inlet, Georgetown	Atalaya daily 9-4 (to 5 during DST); may close for events	Park $8 adults, $5 SC seniors, $4 ages 6-15; Atalaya $2 ages 6+	Winter home and studio of sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington; part of the Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens NHL
Brookgreen Gardens	Other	Murrells Inlet, Georgetown	Daily 9:30-5 (gates close 4:30)	$25 adults 13-64; $23 seniors 65+; $14 ages 4-12; 3 and under free (7-day admission)	Sculpture gardens on former rice plantations; Low Country history exhibits and creek excursions; part of the Atalaya and Brookgreen Gardens NHL
Hopsewee	House museum	Georgetown, Georgetown	See official site	Guided house tour $22 (other ticket type $15 – see site)	Guided tours of an 18th-century house, its families and the enslaved who lived and worked on the plantation; NHL designated 11/11/71
Rice Museum	Museum	Georgetown, Georgetown	Tue-Sat 10:30-4:30	See official site	Museum of Georgetown’s rice economy

Lowcountry (32)

Lowcountry events →

Site	Type	Where	Hours	Admission	What to see
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site Free	NPS unit	Mount Pleasant, Charleston	Grounds 9-4:30; visitor center hours vary (check NPS)	Free	Snee Farm, a plantation of Constitution signer Charles Pinckney; exhibits on Pinckney and the Africans he enslaved; nature trail
Fort Sumter	NPS unit	Charleston, Charleston	Ferry only: Liberty Square departures 9:30, 12:00, 2:45 (Feb 27-Nov 30; fewer in winter); Patriots Point 10:45, 1:30	Ferry fare: see official site	Masonry fort where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War on April 12, 1861; about 60 minutes on the fort per ferry trip
Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square Free	NPS unit	Charleston, Charleston	Daily 9-4:30	Free	Exhibits on the road to secession and the opening of the Civil War; main ferry departure point (340 Concord St.)
Reconstruction Era NHP – Camp Saxton Site Free	NPS unit	Port Royal, Beaufort	See official site	Free	Site where some of the first African Americans joined the U.S. Army and where the Emancipation Proclamation was celebrated on January 1, 1863
Reconstruction Era NHP – Darrah Hall and Brick Baptist Church Free	NPS unit	St. Helena Island, Beaufort	See official site	Free (NPS sites)	Brick Baptist Church (built by enslaved people in 1855, turned over to freed people in 1862) and Darrah Hall within the Penn School NHL District
Reconstruction Era NHP – Old Beaufort Firehouse Visitor Center Free	NPS unit	Beaufort, Beaufort	Grounds sunrise-sunset; visitor center hours vary by location – see official site	Free	Park visitor center in historic downtown Beaufort, within walking distance of dozens of Reconstruction-era properties
Aiken-Rhett House Museum	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	Mon 1-4; Tue-Sun 10-4	$16 adults; $7 youth; combo $24 / $12	Historic house museum (part of the Aiken, William, House and Associated Railroad Structures NHL, designated 11/04/63); self-paced audio or guided tours
Battle of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site	Battlefield	Ehrhardt, Bamberg	Daily 9-sunset	Free; Saturday tours $5 adults, $2.50 SC seniors/disabled/military	Battlefield of one of the Confederacy’s early attempts to stop Sherman’s march across South Carolina; the only preserved battlefield in the SC State Parks system (per park page)
Beaufort Historic District Free	Historic district	Beaufort, Beaufort	Public streets, always open	Free	NHL historic district (designated 11/07/73) of South Carolina’s second-oldest town; includes Robert Smalls House NHL
Beaufort History Museum (The Arsenal)	Museum	Beaufort, Beaufort	Tue-Fri 10-4; Sat 10-3 (call to confirm staffing)	See official site	Local history museum in the Beaufort Arsenal (713 Craven St.)
Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site	State historic site	Charleston, Charleston	Grounds daily 9-5; visitor center 9-4	$12 adults; $7.50 SC seniors; $7 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	Site of the 1670 founding of Charles Towne; replica 17th-century trading ship (Adventure), replica settler’s dwelling, archaeology, Animal Forest
Charleston Historic District Free	Historic district	Charleston, Charleston	Public streets, always open	Free	One of the first NHL historic districts (designated 10/09/60); more than 1,400 historically significant buildings in the Old and Historic District per NPS
Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site	State historic site	Summerville, Dorchester	Daily 9-6 during Daylight Saving Time; 9-5 rest of year	$3 adults; $1.50 SC seniors; $1 ages 6-15; 5 and under free	Remains of the colonial town of Dorchester, abandoned at the start of the Revolution: an oyster-shell tabby fort (the park calls it the best-preserved tabby fortification in the country), the brick bell tower of St. George’s Anglican Church and its cemetery
Drayton Hall	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	Wed-Mon 9-4:30 (front gate closes 3); closed Tue	$30 online / $35 on-site; youth 7-15 $15 online / $18 on-site	Unrestored main house founded 1738, the nation’s earliest fully executed Palladian architecture; galleries and landscape; NHL
Edmondston-Alston House	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	Guided tours Wed-Sat every 30 min, 11:15-2:45	$15 adults; $10 students 14+ with ID; $5 ages 6-13	Historic house built circa 1825, shown by guided tour
Fort Moultrie	Fort	Sullivan’s Island, Charleston	Daily 9-4:30	$10 per adult site fee	Site of the June 28, 1776 patriot victory over the Royal Navy from a palmetto-log fort; later heavily damaged by Union bombardment while defending Charleston harbor for the Confederacy
H. L. Hunley Submarine (Warren Lasch Conservation Center)	Museum	North Charleston, Charleston	Sat 10-5; Sun 10-3 (weekends only)	$24 ages 13+; $15 ages 6-12; $20 seniors/military; 5 and under free	The Confederate submarine that sank the USS Housatonic on February 17, 1864, under conservation; exhibits
Hampton Plantation State Historic Site	State historic site	McClellanville, Charleston	Grounds daily 9-5; mansion by guided tour Fri-Tue at noon and 2	Grounds free; house $10 adults, $6 SC seniors, $5 ages 6-15, 5 and under free	Unfurnished Georgian mansion shown as an architectural study house, kitchen building, excavated slave-dwelling foundation, rice fields and rice trunk; NHL
Heyward-Washington House	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	See official site	See official site	Historic house museum operated by The Charleston Museum; NHL designated 04/15/70
Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park	Historic village	Hilton Head Island, Beaufort	Daily 6 a.m.-9 p.m.	See official site (park grounds)	Site of Mitchelville, described by the park as the nation’s first self-governed town of formerly enslaved people
International African American Museum	Museum	Charleston, Charleston	Tue-Sun 10-5 (Sunday 12-5 from July 2026; last entry 4); Mon closed	See official site	Museum at Gadsden’s Wharf, a disembarkation point for tens of thousands of enslaved Africans from the late 1760s through 1808
Joseph Manigault House	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	See official site	See official site	Historic house museum operated by The Charleston Museum; NHL designated 11/07/73
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	See official site	See official site	Ashley River plantation gardens; the homepage links History and Tours & Experiences pages
McLeod Plantation Historic Site	House museum	James Island, Charleston	Guided tours 9:30, 11, 12:30, 2 (days: see official site)	$20 ages 13+; $15 ages 60+; $6 ages 3-12; 2 and under free	Plantation interpreted through daily life before and after emancipation, the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau and Gullah culture
Middleton Place	House museum	Charleston, Dorchester	See official site	See official site	Plantation landscape gardens, house museum and stableyards; NHL designated 11/11/71
Mother Emanuel AME Church	Other	Charleston, Charleston	See official site	See official site	1891 Gothic Revival church; NPS calls Emanuel the oldest AME church in the South, with the oldest Black congregation south of Baltimore; site of the June 17, 2015 racist attack that killed nine; U.S. Civil Rights Trail site
Nathaniel Russell House Museum	House museum	Charleston, Charleston	Mon 1-4; Tue-Sun 10-4 (last tour 4)	$16 adults; $7 youth; combo with Aiken-Rhett $24 adults / $12 youth	Historic house museum on Charleston’s peninsula (Russell, Nathaniel, House NHL, designated 11/07/73); self-paced audio or guided tours
Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon	Museum	Charleston, Charleston	Mon-Sat 9-5; Sun 11-5	$16 adults; $12 children	Built in 1771 as a commercial exchange and custom house (Exchange and Provost NHL); non-profit historic site focused on the American Revolution and colonial Charleston, including the Provost Dungeon
Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum	Museum	Mount Pleasant, Charleston	Daily 10-5 (ticket window closes 4)	See official site	Aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Laffey, both National Historic Landmarks
Penn Center (York W. Bailey Museum)	Museum	St. Helena Island, Beaufort	Museum Tue-Sat 10-4; docent tours daily 10, 12, 3; welcome center Tue-Sat 9-4	Self-guided $10; docent-led tour and documentary $15; campus map $5; 5 and under free	50-acre Penn School NHL District campus, founded as a school for freed people in 1862; York W. Bailey Museum
South Carolina Historical Society Museum	Museum	Charleston, Charleston	Tue-Sat 10-4 (last admission 3:15)	$1; 5 and under and SC educators free	Interactive exhibits on South Carolina people, places and movements inside the Fireproof Building, a National Historic Landmark (100 Meeting St.)
The Charleston Museum	Museum	Charleston, Charleston	Homepage showed 9-5 on 2026-10-20; full schedule see official site	See official site	Regional history museum; operates the Heyward-Washington and Joseph Manigault house museums

Free historic sites in South Carolina

These list no admission charge on their own pages (parking, tours or special programs may still cost money):

Beaufort Historic District, Beaufort
Camden Battlefield and Longleaf Pine Preserve, Camden
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, Mount Pleasant
Charleston Historic District, Charleston
Cowpens National Battlefield, Chesnee
Fort Sumter Visitor Center at Liberty Square, Charleston
Kings Mountain National Military Park, Blacksburg
Ninety Six National Historic Site, Ninety Six
Oconee Station State Historic Site, Walhalla
Reconstruction Era NHP – Camp Saxton Site, Port Royal
Reconstruction Era NHP – Darrah Hall and Brick Baptist Church, St. Helena Island
Reconstruction Era NHP – Old Beaufort Firehouse Visitor Center, Beaufort

Types of sites on this list

Type	Sites
House museum	14
Museum	13
State historic site	10
NPS unit	9
Historic village	4
Battlefield	3
Other	3
Historic district	2
Fort	1

What we could not verify

Prices could not be read on the official pages for Middleton Place, The Charleston Museum and its Heyward-Washington and Joseph Manigault houses, the International African American Museum, Patriots Point and Magnolia. Check their sites before you go.
The Old Exchange page gives the children’s ticket ages two ways, 6-12 and 7-12.
The Old Slave Mart Museum, Powder Magazine, Santa Elena History Center and Burt-Stark Mansion are not listed because their official pages would not load when we checked.
Battle counts differ: the state tourism site says more than 200 Revolutionary War battles and skirmishes were fought in South Carolina; SC250 says more than in any other colony but gives no number.

We re-check these when the source pages change. Spot something we missed? Use the corrections page.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get to Fort Sumter?

Only by ferry. Fort Sumter Tours, the only park-authorized boat, leaves from Liberty Square (340 Concord St., Charleston) and Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant. The trip takes about 2 1/4 hours with about an hour at the fort. Private boats are not allowed and federal passes are not honored (source: NPS: Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie hours).

Where can you visit Revolutionary War battlefields in South Carolina?

The main ones are Kings Mountain National Military Park, Cowpens National Battlefield and Ninety Six National Historic Site (all free), Musgrove Mill State Historic Site, Camden Battlefield and Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island. The Liberty Trail offers free digital tours of many of these sites (source: The Liberty Trail: South Carolina).

Which Civil War battlefield is preserved in a South Carolina state park?

Battle of Rivers Bridge State Historic Site near Ehrhardt is the only preserved battlefield in the SC State Parks system. It marks one of the Confederacy’s early attempts to stop Sherman’s march. Entry is free; Saturday tours cost $5 for adults (source: SC State Parks: Battle of Rivers Bridge).

How much are the Charleston house museum tours?

Historic Charleston Foundation’s Nathaniel Russell House and Aiken-Rhett House cost $16 for adults and $7 for youth each, or $24 for an adult combo ticket. Both open Monday 1-4 and Tuesday-Sunday 10-4, with self-paced audio or guided tours (source: Historic Charleston Foundation: House Museums).

Last checked October 20, 2026 by the It’s South Carolina editors against each operator’s, agency’s or organizer’s own page.

Sources

Cite this page: It's South Carolina, “Historic Sites in South Carolina: Hours, Admission and What to See”, itssouthcarolina.com/history/historic-sites/ (updated 2026-10-25). By the It's South Carolina editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.