It’s celebrated as one of the most beautiful cities in the country, and students at the College get to call it home for a few years.

Founded in 1670, Charleston has grown from a small, walled English settlement to a bustling port town full of architectural masterpieces.

South of Broad Street sit stately mansions, the famed Battery and Rainbow Row. North of Broad Street, along King and Meeting Streets, are the many civic and commercial edifices worthy of long looks and snaps of the camera, from Charleston’s City Hall to the Old Citadel overlooking Marion Square. And outside town, along Lowcountry rivers, sit fabulous plantations.

There’s Middleburg Plantation – the oldest known plantation house in South Carolina – built about 1699 on the Cooper River. On the Ashley River, there’s Drayton Hall, commonly credited as being the finest example of Georgian Palladian architecture in the country. It has been preserved in near-original condition. And next door to Drayton Hall is Middleton Place, an 18th-century rice plantation and home to beautiful gardens.

And all this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Charleston is chock full of beautiful buildings, including fine examples of Georgian, Federal, Greek and Gothic Revival, Italianate and Victorian architecture.

Many church steeples pierce the low skyline, giving Charleston its nickname – the Holy City. And these steeples are framed by the majestic Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, completed in 2005 and named for a College alumnus and longtime public servant.

The College’s campus itself is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, as well as its Blacklock House on Bull Street.

Charleston is, of course, also home to the renowned single house – a multi-story home featuring identical three-room floor plans that feature a central hall and staircase. Charleston’s single houses, commonly built perpendicular to the street, often have side porches overlooking a garden that offer privacy and exposure to breezes.

Many students choose to rent historic homes throughout the city while at the College, weaving their own lives into Charleston’s historic fabric.