Many people who explore Charleston love to stroll along the famous Charleston Battery with its impressive views and majestic houses.
This area used to have a battery of cannons along the seawall to protect the city and the mansions just beyond the wall, hence the name "The Battery."
It is now a beautiful slate promenade with terrific views of the harbor.
The mansions along the Battery are mostly single-family residences and still private homes.
The Battery was built from 1820 to 1825.
All the houses were built on landfills. These homes are not the oldest in the city, but they are still old. They were all built from 1820 on, and they have aged gracefully.
The Civil War started in the harbor, and the families who lived in the homes along the battery used to watch the early battles from their piazzas and roof terraces.
Residents soon fled the city as Charleston endured over 18 months of continuous shelling. The effects of the war were hard to miss.
From the Battery Walk, you can look out across the harbor to see Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie.
How to Get to the Battery
The main section of the Battery that Charleston visitors are looking for extends along East Battery Street from the Historic Charleston Foundation to the end at White Point Gardens.
The addresses span from 40 East Bay Street to 1 East Battery Street (by White Point Gardens).
The best way to get to the Battery is to take one of our Historic Charleston tours, either a guided walking tour or one of our self-guided audio tours.
If you wish to explore the Battery on your own, there is free street parking.
Keep in mind that there are parking limits now!
The residential side of the street is permit parking for those who live in the neighborhood.
I highly recommend not planning to drive and park around downtown Charleston. The Battery is easily walkable from the other historic sites.
Historic Homes on the Battery
Can you believe that the largest of the Charleston Battery homes is at least 10 times the size of the average American home?
The largest home along the battery is 20,000 square feet or 1,858 square meters!
The homes are humongous works of art, and we are lucky to have them to admire today.
Perhaps even more impressive than the survival of these homes and their sheer size is that many were built to be nothing other than summer homes.
Many of Charleston's wealthy residents had large plantation homes in the country and came to the city for the summers or special occasions.
Today, most homes along the battery and within the historic district are lived in all year.
The historic mansions on the Battery are:
Edmondston-Alston House circa 1825
21 East Battery
This historic home is open to the public as a historic house museum.
For a small fee ($5-15), you can visit inside to see the collection of silver, decorative arts, and furniture.
Many of the items are original to the house.
Julius M. Visanska House circa 1920
19 East Battery
The house was built for Jewish clothing merchant Julius M. Visanska and his wife, Sarah, who was a local civic leader in Charleston in the 1920s.
An older house was on this lot, but it was destroyed in the 1911 Hurricane.
As tastes changed through the 20th century, the yellow brick Palladian house was once called "the ugliest house in Charleston."
Robert W. Roper House circa 1838
9 East Battery
This house was built for grand entertaining and continued the tradition through renovations and expansions.
Visitors to the home include Prince Charles, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.
Inside the attic of this house is a piece of a 500-pound cannon from the Civil War. It is now part of the structural support of the building!
When the Confederates left the city in 1865, they intentionally blew up a giant gun along the battery.
This caused a piece of cannon to get lodged into an attic beam!
This historic home is no longer private, but it is temporarily closed.
Find out more about the house...
The Palmer House circa 1847
5 East Battery
This is one of the most photographed buildings in Charleston!
It was built for a wealthy railroad magnate and stayed in the same family for over 100 years.
While the house was a bed and breakfast for many years, it is now a private family residence again.
Tours of the Battery
The only historic home on the Battery that you can tour is the Edmonston-Alston House, but you can explore the Battery on many of our tours:
