Exchange and Provost Building, Colonial museum in Charleston, United States.
The Exchange and Provost Building is a sturdy two-story masonry structure with a hipped roof, featuring three large round-arch openings on its ground level that open to a grand interior hall. The architecture reflects colonial design standards of the 1700s, and today it operates as a museum preserving this historic space.
The British Colonial Government completed this building in 1771 as the economic and political center of South Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, the structure took on a new and darker purpose when its cellars were converted to hold prisoners.
This place served as the venue where South Carolina's leaders made decisions that shaped the state's future during a critical moment in American history. Visitors can feel the weight of those moments when walking through the main hall where such gatherings took place.
The museum sits near the waterfront in a walkable area with other historic sites nearby, making it convenient to visit as part of a broader tour of Charleston's colonial past. Wear comfortable shoes and allow time to explore both the main hall upstairs and the cellars below, as each space tells part of the story.
The underground cellar chambers held captives during the Revolutionary War, including British soldiers and those involved in the slave trade confined in harsh underground conditions. These dark spaces reveal a lesser-known and more troubling chapter of the site's history that visitors often overlook.
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