The Dock Street Theatre in the French Quarter of Charleston was a place we hadn’t even been planning on visiting, but due to felicitous timing, ended up being a favorite stop on our trip.

We were walking down Church Street, in the heat of the day, and saw a sign which invited us to come in out of the heat for a tour. Since we were all so hot, we figured it couldn’t hurt, and so we went in the theatre. The woman working inside was both kind and helpful, and after we had cooled off a bit, and enjoyed a drink from the water fountains, we explored the building, as we had been invited to do.

The outside of the building, which caught my eye before we ever ventured inside, was full of amazing details:

The inside of the theatre was full of wonderfully beautiful details. We explored just about everything except the theatre itself, (which was occupied by a rehearsal for Aladdin)…we even saw the upstairs tap room!

After walking around inside, we also peeked into the beautiful courtyard out back:

I had no idea that this building, the first built specifically for theatrical performances in America (the original building was constructed in the 1730s), even existed before our trip. I’m very glad that we happened to stop in and have a look around!