The Charleston Museum: Familiar yet Surprising
June 08, 2010
As I may have reported once or eight times, I am not from here. I am going to guess, though, that the Charleston Museum is the kind of place that you likely visited on school field trips in the 1st, 4th and 7th grades, and haven’t been back to in 20 years or so. If so, it’s a shame, because it’s a cool place full of surprises – for me, anyway.
Founded in 1773, the Charleston Museum claims to be America’s oldest. Its special, permanent and traveling exhibits include the typical Charleston historical stuff you would expect, but also:
- 19th century crazy quilts,
- Charleston silver,
- Charleston jewelry from antiquity to today,
- Natural history exhibits (the creepy, old-school, stuffed-and-mounted kind), and
- Cool weapons of war through the ages.
My favorite part may have been the exhibit of what the museum was like in the 19th century. A bunch of crazy old exhibits, as described in this program from 1826:
The Museum of South Carolina,
Consisting of an extensive collection of Beasts, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Warlike Arms, Dresses and other CURIOSITIES, such as:
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The HEAD of a New Zealand chief,
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The bones of an Ostrich as large as those of a Horse,
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Shoes of the Chinese ladies—four inches long, and
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A fine Electrical machine!
All of that freaked-out excitement for only 25 cents admission! Oh well, I guess it’s fun to laugh at the customs and attitudes of our 19th century forebears. Unfortunately, we can’t laugh in their faces…and that bugs me! Anyway, check it out. Visit the Charleston Museum website to learn more. And remember, parking is super-convenient at the Visitor’s Center.
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