Charleston church shooting

The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, often referred to as Mother Emanuel, is a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1817, Emanuel AME is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the Southern United States. This, the first independent black denomination in the United States, was founded in 1816 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mother Emanuel has one of the oldest black congregations south of Baltimore. Black Baptist churches were founded in South Carolina and Georgia before the American Revolutionary War.

Citadel Square Baptist Church was the fourth Baptist church built in Charleston, South Carolina. The church began as an outgrowth of the First Baptist Church when, in 1854, a dozen members sought permission to establish a new church for the upper peninsula. The new church was to have been known as the Fourth Baptist Church but, when an existing Baptist church closed, leaving only three Baptist churches, the name was changed to Citadel Square Baptist Church. The name refers to the church's location on upper Meeting St., immediately across from Marion Square, which at the time was the location of the Citadel. The Charleston architectural firm Jones & Lee designed the building and construction of the church at 328 Meeting St. began in June 1855. The new building was opened on November 23, 1856. A hurricane in 1885 blew over the original steeple and a year later, the 1886 Charleston earthquake damaged the tower. The tower was repaired and a steeple designed by the Boston, Massachusetts architect Edward Silloway was installed. Following Hurricane Hugo, which blew the steeple off of the church, it was rebuilt at 210 feet, shorter than the steeple of St. Matthew's across Marion Square; the choice was to avoid a race for the tallest steeple.A Sunday school building added in 1891 was replaced in 1921. In 1911 the existing organ was replaced with two new organs (a three-manual great organ and a celestial organ) built by the Moller Company, controlled by a single console. In April 1951, an educational building was added to the campus.The church was the first in Charleston to televise its services, doing so for more than 40 years until ending the practice in 1998.Seven churches have been created under the auspices of Citadel Square Baptist Church including the Emma Abbott Memorial Chapel. Steve Heron has served as Lead Pastor since August 2017 when a church plant merged in with Citadel Square to strengthen the existing congregation.

St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church is a historic African-American Anglican church in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1906 and occupying a building built in 1850, the church is a member of the Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of the Southeast.

The Second Presbyterian Church is the fourth oldest church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The Middleton-Pinckney House is a historic three-story home built on a raised basement at 14 George Street, Charleston, South Carolina in the Ansonborough neighborhood. Frances Motte Middleton (a daughter of Jacob and Rebecca Brewton Motte and widow of John Middleton) began construction of the house in 1796 after purchasing a second lot adjacent to one bought by her father on George St. The house was completed by her and her second husband, Maj. Gen. Thomas Pinckney, whom she married in 1797.The couple lived in the house at least from 1801 until, on February 26, 1825, the couple sold the house to Mrs. Pinckney's son, John Middleton, for $10,000. One exception occurred in 1816, when the family resided on Legare Street, perhaps to permit the reworking of the house in the then-popular Regency style. A real estate listing ran in the Charleston City Gazette in 1816 for the sale of the house which described an "unfinished Brick Building, intended for a dwelling house" along with a kitchen house and another brick dependency. John Middleton died in 1826, and the house was sold to Mrs. Juliet Gibbes Elliott, at which time the house became known as the Elliott Mansion. The house remained a private residence until Jesse W. Starr Jr. bought it from Mrs. Elliott's estate in 1879 and resold it to the Water Works Company of Charleston in 1880. The water company was a private company until the City took over its operation in 1917. In 1988, the house became the location of the headquarters of the Spoleto Festival USA. The City of Charleston donated the house to the festival in 2002, which undertook a rehabilitation of the property. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Charleston Historic District.

Anson Street African Burial Ground is a recently rediscovered historic cemetery and archeological site where enslaved people of African descent were buried in 18th-century Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The burial ground was in use from approximately 1760 to 1790. The graves were uncovered during the 2013 excavation of a trench for the construction of the Galliard Auditorium. Initial impressions were that the bodies had been buried in four closely aligned rows, oriented east to west, all lying near the corner of Anson Street and George Street. Grave goods included British coins, one of which was found in the eye socket of a skull. The remains of a wooden coffin and buttons from what was possibly a boy's coat were also unearthed. The previously unmarked remains will be the site of a memorial sculpture featuring "a fountain ringed with bronze hands, all modeled from Black residents of similar ages to the 36 people found". Efforts to identify the origins of the buried people include DNA research, to identify genetic background, as well as isotope mapping, to pinpoint geographic locations for the birthplaces of persons from this and some other sites, as part of an ambitious project to get more insight into the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The Charleston County Public Library is a public library in Charleston, South Carolina. It began operations in 1931 as the Charleston Free Library.

Theodora Park is a small public park in Charleston, South Carolina operated by the City of Charleston. The park was masterminded by David Rawle, public relations and marketing firm founder, who lives nearby in the historic Ansonborough neighborhood. The park, named for his mother, is one of Charleston's most unusual pocket parks.Previously, a playground known as the Ansonborough Tot Lot occupied the location, but it was underused; there were few children in the neighborhood, and a newer playground opened not far away. The design for the new park was inspired by Paley Park in New York City on 53rd Street. The centerpiece of the park is a 32-foot-long fountain pool with handmade ceramic tiles by the noted artist Paul Heroux. The park also features a gate made by Charleston blacksmith Philip Simmons. The gate is presented as a stand-alone piece of art. Sheila Wertimer was the landscape architect for the project and the Charleston Parks Conservancy helps maintain the park.The New York Times has called Theodora Park "a beautifully tranquil public garden." And The Post and Courier hailed it as "a new gem . . . a model for the future."The park was officially opened to the public on Saturday, June 6, 2015.

The Daniel Legare House is the oldest surviving house in the historic Ansonborough area of Charleston, South Carolina. The land upon which the house was built was sold to Daniel Crawford in May 1745 for a price that was much lower than expected for a house at the time, thereby suggesting a construction date after that time.When Crawford's estate sold the property in 1760, the deed included a reference to buildings on the grounds. Details about the house suggest two different construction periods. For example, there are breaks in the vertical woodwork between the second (main entrance) floor and the third floor, suggesting that the third floor is a later addition. Daniel Crawford possibly erected the roughly finished basement and first floor of the house while Daniel Legare, a man of means, perhaps expanded the house by adding the upper floor.Later owners included Bishop William May Wightman. Wightman served as the first president of Wofford College.

TD Arena is a 5,100 seat multi-purpose arena in Charleston, South Carolina, United States that opened in 2008 and replaced John Kresse Arena as the home of the College of Charleston Cougars basketball and volleyball teams. The South Financial Group of Greenville purchased the naming rights to the new facility and it opened in 2008 under the Carolina First Arena name. After the 2010 sale of the corporation to Toronto Dominion Bank, the arena's name changed to TD Arena. The playing surface is named John Kresse Court in honor of legendary Charleston men's basketball coach John Kresse. Originally to be named Carolina First Center, the facility was renamed Carolina First Arena to avoid confusion with the bank's south coast main offices in Charleston which are located in an office building by the same name. The first game played at the arena on November 14, 2008 was a first round game of the inaugural ESPN Charleston Classic between Texas Christian University and Western Michigan University won by TCU 67-63. Perhaps the biggest game in arena history was an 82-79 Charleston victory in overtime over then-No. 9 ranked and defending national champion North Carolina on January 4, 2010. The arena not only plays host to Cougars' basketball games, but it also hosts many other campus events, including orientations, campus tours, award ceremonies, and external events (including concerts for Hootie & Spoleto Festival). The TD Arena is overseen by Richard Bouknight, Director of Operations. He is assisted by Nate Place, Assistant Director of Operations.

John Kresse Arena is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Charleston, South Carolina. It was the home to the College of Charleston Cougars basketball team from 1982 to 2008. The facility opened as the F. Mitchell Johnson Arena in 1982. In 1994, it was renamed after the school's longtime head basketball coach John Kresse--making Kresse one of the few active collegiate coaches to coach in an arena that is named for him. It hosted the 1997 and 1998 Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball tournaments. It was replaced by Carolina First Arena, now TD Arena, which opened in October 2008.

The Gaillard Center is a concert hall and performance venue in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened in 2015 and replaced the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. Both buildings were named after John Palmer Gaillard Jr., mayor of Charleston from 1959 to 1975. Constructing the new facility was a central priority of mayor Joe Riley's administration. The opening, planned for early 2015 in time for the city's Spoleto Festival, was delayed by six months due to budgetary overages. Yo-Yo Ma performed at the opening of the center.The original structure, the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium and Exhibition Hall, opened in July 1968. For over 40 years, it served as Charleston’s star venue for thousands of memorable performances and civic events. When it first opened, the contemporary Gaillard Auditorium was a symbol of ambition for Charleston’s economic prosperity, cultural growth, status, and civic pride. With its 1,800-seat Rivers Performance Hall and a large multipurpose exhibition facility, the Gaillard became Charleston’s largest performing arts venue. The Gaillard became home to the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in the early 1980s, and with the founding of Spoleto Festival USA in 1977, it helped propel Charleston onto the world stage.