Photo courtesy of Historic Charleston Foundation

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Welcome to The Powder Magazine!

The Powder Magazine, a National Historic Landmark, is owned and operated by The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of South Carolina. The building, completed in 1713, is one of the two surviving fortified structures of its kind in what were the Thirteen Original Colonies. It is the oldest public building in the Carolinas, if not in all the former British colonies, and is one of the few remaining surviving military structures associated with the siege and capture of Charleston by the British in 1780.

The Powder Magazine is a visible reminder of the era of the Lord Proprietors and their founding of the government of the Carolinas, and of the fortifications which protected the city and made Charleston one of the three fortified cities on the eastern seaboard of British Colonial America.

In the mid 1990s, having assumed the responsibility for the operation of The Powder Magazine under a lease agreement, Historic Charleston Foundation factually and faithfully restored the building to its 18th Century appearance. Since the return of The Powder Magazine to The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in The State of South Carolina in 2003, more repairs have been completed and the museum is now available to the public.   

The Powder Magazine and The State Society would welcome a visit from you! Please look at our VISIT US page.