Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon

For most of its history, the building known today as the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon served as an important civic institution and meeting place for the people of Charleston. But its eerie basement holds secrets of a darker past.

Built between 1767 and 1771, the Exchange was originally used for a variety of purposes, including as a custom house and public market. It was also where South Carolina’s revolutionary leaders met to plan the colony’s role in the coming fight for independence. But the most infamous use of the building came in 1780 when, after the British captured Charleston, it was used as a military barracks and its basement became a military prison for colonial rebels. Isaac Hayne, a colonel in the South Carolina militia, was one such rebel. After reneging on a pledge of loyalty to the Crown he was captured and held in the basement dungeon until his execution served as an example for other would-be traitors.

Even before the current building was erected, the site on which it stands had a notorious history. In 1718, it was occupied by a colonial waterfront fortification known as the Half-Moon Battery and it was where the gentleman pirate Stede Bonnet was imprisoned after he and his crew were captured by order of the South Carolina governor. While awaiting trial, Bonnet escaped by dressing in women’s clothes, was recaptured, and was ultimately convicted for his pirating crimes and hung by the neck until dead. Remnants of the Half-Moon Battery can still be seen in the building’s basement today.

After the Revolutionary War, the Exchange was the location of South Carolina’s convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution and it hosted several events during George Washington’s visit to Charleston in 1791.

Today, all three floors of the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon are open to the public, including the dark and dank basement dungeon that once held both pirates and patriots.