Charleston preservation group’s new excursions spotlight minority companies, civil rights | Enterprise

The Preservation Society of Charleston is offering a limited number of walking tours this month, including two that go beyond the group’s more traditional tours of historic homes and restored buildings.

The first of the three $ 25 guided events will shed light on the history of black and immigrant owned businesses on Morris Street, and the next will visit places that are important to the city’s civil rights history. The third is more conventional – a look at the restoration of an almost hundred year old theater.

The series begins on March 6th with a stroll through the Morris Street business district. It’s a small portion of the peninsula that society has explored, with the help of the College of Charleston’s Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, to document the stories of black and immigrant families who ran businesses in the area.

The information presented on this sold-out tour is part of a larger collaboration between the groups to highlight the “rich and diverse history” of Morris Street, according to the Preservation Society.

A second tour for March 14th is from another online project called the Charleston Justice Journey. It will include sites listed on a digital map of sites “important to the journey to equality” in Charleston, such as the Mark on Meeting and Broad streets recognizing Judge Waties Waring and the Briggs v Elliot case who challenged segregation and set the stage for Brown’s landmark decision against Board of Education.

The Justice Journey map is still in progress – Preservation Society Executive Director Kristopher King said he wants to “double or triple” the number of locations it contains – and to include locations that are either official locations or “in progress” beyond the peninsula. This month’s tour will only cover part of these locations, starting in Washington Park and ending at Mother Emanuel Church.

Both that and the Morris Street Tour are the kind of programs the nonprofit plans to offer more frequently at future events like the annual fall tours and the off-season, spokeswoman Victoria Futrell said.

We’re launching a weekly newsletter on the business stories that shape Charleston and South Carolina. Get involved – it’s free.

The group’s fall tours are a staple of Charleston’s fall tourist attractions. They were still offered last year as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with several modifications. Most importantly, the tours did not include visits to historic homes, rather the guides focused on the outdoor plazas, porches, and gardens.

Light illuminates a mural along the walls of the Sottile Theater. The Preservation Society is illuminating the theater this month with a special tour. File / Gavin McIntyre / Staff

Following the success of that format, society was thrilled to offer new tours this month, although they are still “socially distant” and mostly outdoors, Futrell said. Masks are also mandatory.

Of the three, only the third tour, a tour of the Sottile Theater near King and George Streets, ventures inside. The hour-long visit will provide background information on the history of the building, which was designed as the “Film Palace” in 1927.

At the annual Carolopolis Awards, the Society recognized the College of Charleston for years of restoring the interior of the sottile, including two large-format murals and an illuminated dome.

Due to COVID-19, society didn’t have many hiking tours planned on their calendar last year, but that could increase again in 2021. The group, which will be 100 years old in 2020, will celebrate Preservation Month in May with a series of events yet to be announced.

And autumn tours are on the calendar from October 7th to November 6th. According to Futrell, attendees can expect a format similar to the modified events for 2020.

The Preservation Society said a silver lining for hosting only outdoor events for smaller groups was that it had helped the group make progress on another goal: reducing the impact of tours on historic residential neighborhoods.