Set on cobblestone Chalmers Street in the Historic District, the Old Slave Mart survives as a vestige of pre-Civil War Charleston. The museum is the only existing building in South Carolina where slaves were once auctioned. Built in 1859, the structure was originally open-ended; an imposing iron gate closed off its arched entrance. Inside the mart today, you'll hear the haunting and disturbing stories of some of the Africans who were brought to the coast of South Carolina and sold as slaves. Displays recount the African experience in South Carolina from Charles Towne's founding through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.