Founded in 1773, The Charleston Museum is the oldest museum in America. Exploring the natural, industrial and social history of Charleston and surrounding regions, the museum boasts impressive collections of historic replicas and relics and caters

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Founded in 1773, The Charleston Museum is the oldest museum in America. Exploring the natural, industrial and social history of Charleston and surrounding regions, the museum boasts impressive collections of historic replicas and relics and caters to children with a variety of hands-on exhibits.

In Kidstory, the children's area of the museum, you can hear tall tales of the Lowcountry region, featuring an interactive storytelling station; learn more about the area's ecosystem and wildlife at Natural Discoveries; explore the life of a 19th-century lighthouse keeper in Lighting Up the Coast; and learn about turn-of-the-18th-century life in Charleston through the eyes of a young slave boy in The Port City. The Heyward-Washington house offers kids an opportunity to experience life as a child in colonial Charleston by playing with reproductions of period toys and trying on 18th-century costumes.

The museum isn't huge, which makes it particularly family-friendly. You can see a lot in an hour or two.

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