Charleston’s Athenaeum

Charleston is filled with historic treasures—both on display and hidden from public view—but one trove stands alone for the sheer volume and scale of its wonders: the Charleston Library Society. A font of inspiration and information, the Society houses carefully preserved and protected literary gems and papers, such as original collections of Elizabethan Shakespeare (the Bard’s second folio!), and a letter from then Chief Justice John Marshall hurling snark and insults at Thomas Jefferson circa-1808. Alongside these rarities are countless other materials that are still being combed through and cataloged as part of the institution’s active and ongoing curatorial mission. And nearly three centuries after the Library Society first began gathering inventory, it’s still the kind of place anyone would relish getting lost in.

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