Oct 01

Charleston City Tours Scheduled for Friday Morning & Midday Monday

Charleston, South Carolina, offers many attractions that are guaranteed crowd pleasers. Everything from the South Carolina Aquarium and Fort Sumter to carriage rides through the historic district. Pick up your parasols and don your hoop skirts and have your photo taken on the Battery. Military aficionados can find interesting exhibits at the Museum of the Confederacy in the head house of the open market. Or visit the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point, containing the U.S. Medal of Honor Museum. The on-going excavation and restoration of the CSS Hunley is taking place a short distance away in North Charleston. Ft. Moultrie on nearby Sullivan’s Island is where Mr. E.A. Poe served his military duty, and was inspired to write The Gold Bug for those of a Goth persuasion. There is also the Charleston Museum, and several historic homes open for tours.Come early and stay late.

Costume-con 33 has made it possible for our members to get a great rate so you can not just come for the convention but also enjoy a bit of a mini vacation here in Charleston. Hotel rates for CC 33 begin Weds May 13, 2015 and go to Tues May 19, 2015 so you can check in the Weds prior to the con and check out the Weds after so you can spend a little extra time here in what Conde Nast Traveler has once again voted Americas favorite vacation spot.

With the free shuttle bus service that leaves from the downtown visitors center you can get to many attractions Charleston offers such as:

The South Carolina Aquarium: Home to more than ten thousand plants and animals including North American River Otters, loggerhead sea turtles, alligators, great blue herons, hawks, owls, lined seahorses, jellyfish, pufferfish, green moray eels, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, pythons, and sharks. The largest exhibit in the Aquarium is the Great Ocean Tank, which extends from the first to the third floor of the Aquarium; it holds more than 385,000 US gallons (1,460,000 l) of water and contains more than seven hundred animals. The Aquarium also features a Touch Tank, where patrons may touch horseshoe crabs, Atlantic stingrays, and other marine animals.

The Charleston Museum is the oldest museum in the United States founded in 1773 and opened to the public in 1824 Exhibits include: Charleston furniture, Charleston silver’ Lowcountry textiles, including costumes, quilts, and needlework South Carolina ceramics Egyptian artifacts, Nineteenth-century firearms and more.

Fort Sumter The fort that is best known as the site upon which the shots that started the American Civil War were fired, on April 12, 1861 marking the beginning of the bloodiest war ever fought on American soil.

Or you can rent a car and venture out to discover the “Low Country” around Charleston.

Patriots Point : A naval and maritime museum on Charleston Harbor with the center piece of the museum being the World War II aircraft carrier, the USS YORKTOWN. Patriots Point has become one of the state’s major tourist attractions with more than 270,000 visitors each year

Drayton Hall: An 18th-century plantation located on the Ashley River. An outstanding example of Palladian architecture in North America and the only plantation house on the Ashley River to survive intact through both the Revolutionary and Civil wars

Magnolia Plantation: Founded in 1676 by the Drayton family, has survived the centuries and witnessed the history of our nation unfold before it from the American Revolution through the Civil War and beyond. It is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry, and the oldest public gardens in America.

Costume-Con 33 is also offering to its members 2 tours for those who cannot stay the extra time but would still like to see Charleston with all it’s beauty.

The first tour will take place on Friday May 15th (day one of the con) at 9AM. Registered CC33 members will meet in the hotel lobby where you will board a GrayLine tour bus for the “City and Harbor Tour”. $46.00 adults $31.00 Children (tour takes approx 3 hours) This tour will cover 100+ historic points of interest along with an informative harbor cruise. (We are told that the bottlenose dolphin sightings are complementary.)

The second tour will take place on Monday at 11:00AM Registered CC33 members will meet in the hotel lobby where you will board a GrayLine tour bus for the “City and Plantation Tour”. $64.00 adults $37.00 Children (This tour will take most of the day)This tour will include the 100+ historic points of interest in the downtown area then you will be whisked off to Historic Boone Hall Plantation, one of America’s oldest still working plantations. There you will be able to take a guided tour through the mansion as well as a self guided tour through the orignal slave cabins and learn the history through storytellers.

Both of these tours will require a minimum of 12 adults and will require a $25.00 deposit per person in advance so we may commit to these tours.

To sign up please send your deposit via check made payable to Costume-Con 33 (be sure to put either “City and Harbor tour or City and Plantation tour in the note line on your check)

Mail to: Costume-Con 33 Tours

C/o Con-Chair Sandy Swank

199 Cabrill Drive

Charleston, South Carolina 29414

Your balance can be paid when you pick up your con registration packet upon arrival. Sign ups and deposits must be received no later than April 30, 2015. If the minimum number of tour participants is not meet your deposit check will be returned with your con registration packet.

Members will also find discount coupons in their welcome packages for other tours and attractions they may want to explore on their own.