A 1.5 hour culinary walking tour in downtown Charleston, SC with expert Robert F. Moss!
We have been in business for 20 years for a reason: we consistently deliver a quality Charleston tour experience better than anyone else.
Julian T. Buxton III founded Tour Charleston LLC on September 5, 1996, at first simply calling the company The Ghosts of Charleston. He grew up in Charleston and graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in American History.
Besides putting Charleston's supernatural activity on the world map, he has served his home city in many ways: as the City of Charleston Tourism Commission Chair (where he worked effectively to balance the quality of life for residents and the needs of the tourism industry), Vice-Chair of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Governors, Hospitality Industry Vice-President for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and in other capacities.
Julian is now focused primarily on the creative work he loves: developing quality tour experiences for Charlestonians and for visitors to the city, and writing new books (including a sequel to his nationally popular book The Ghosts of Charleston).
Tour Charleston's licensed guides are experts in the city's rich history and supernatural lore. They tell up to date accounts of the stories in The Ghosts of Charleston which remains the primary source book for all recounting of Charleston's supernatural history.
Culinary Walking Tour - $42.00 + tax
For Robert Moss Walking Tour
Robert F. Moss, the Restaurant Critic for the Post & Courier and author of five books on Southern dining history, will guide guests on a unique culinary history walking tour of Charleston.
These special outings will offer a different take on Charleston dining history than other culinary tours, for it will focus not on the food served in Charlestonians’ homes but rather on what they ate in restaurants, hotels, and other commercial venues.
Along the way, guests will hear culinary stories that haven’t been widely told before, including the following:
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The evolution of Charleston fine dining during the antebellum period, as taverns and boarding houses gave way to hotels, restaurants, and saloons.
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The remarkable individuals who were the foremost practitioners of the culinary arts in 19th century Charleston — many of whom came from some very surprising backgrounds.
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The boisterous era of the Blind Tigers, some three decades before National Prohibition, when Charleston’s saloonkeepers fought tooth and nail with the state government in Columbia over laws restricting the sale of alcohol.
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The real origins of she-crab soup, shrimp and grits, mint juleps, hopping John, country captain, and many other Lowcountry classics, plus the scandalous history of pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes, which aren’t actually Southern dishes at all...
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The emergence of Charleston as a fine dining destination in the last three decades, including the city’s emergence on the national scene with the New Southern movement in the 1990s, its gaining international fame in the early 21st century, and its continued evolution through today — including plenty of restaurant recommendations for those seeking to experience the very best city has to offer.
Departing from Buxton Books (160 King Street) and lasting approximately 1.5 hours, the 1.4 mile tour is the perfect preamble for guests seeking to explore Charleston’s vibrant culinary history as well as its present-day dining scene. The stories told will connect the past with the present, explaining the deep-running roots of the dishes and styles that so distinguish the city’s acclaimed restaurants today.
At the end of the tour, guests are invited to congregate in the bookstore for refreshments, more conversation and to have Robert sign and personalize books. Your tour ticket includes $10 off Robert's book, The Lost Southern Chefs.
