(843) 723-1541

188 Meeting St. c.1841
To see a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph of this building click here. --

 City Market stands on the site of filled in creek and marshy lands donated by the Pinckney family for a city market, with the stipulation that the property revert to the family if used for any other purpose. The market was built sometime between 1788, when the land was donated, and 1807, when a city ordinance was adopted for regulating the "Central Market" here. The first market consisted of a beef market at the Meeting Street end of Market Street, behind which was a country produce market. On the other side of East Bay there was a fish market. The present Market Hall, erected in 1841, was designed by Edward B. White in the Roman Revival style. Sheep and bull skulls decorate the stucco frieze, symbolizing the presence of a meat market. In the past, the proximity of the meat market was indicated by buzzards (Charleston eagles) who scavenged the debris thrown in the street at the end of the market day. For providing that valuable service, the buzzards were protected by law. Other ordinances regulated butcher cuts and weights, required vendors to wear clean white aprons, etc. No produce could be brought to market for sale a second time. The second floor of the Market Hall houses the Confederate Museum and is the headquarters of the Charleston chapter of the "United Daughters of the Confederacy." The market sheds behind the hall are difficult to "date" as the market has been rebuilt several times due to fires and tornadoes.
(Rogers, Charleston in the Age of the Pinckneys , pp. 86-87; Ravenel, pp. 163-165; Fraser, Reminiscences , pp. 32-33; Rhett & Steele, pp. 54-55; Whitelaw & Levkoff, pp. 148, 210, 226;Nielsen, DYKYC, Sept. 2, 1935; Stockton DYKYC, April 15, 1974)
http://www.ccpl.org/ccl/meeting_st_business.html