Charleston’s Powder Magazine, completed in 1713 at 79 Cumberland Street, is the oldest surviving public building from the former Province of Carolina and one of the city’s best-preserved colonial structures. Authorized during Queen Anne’s War to strengthen local defenses, it stored gunpowder through the American Revolutionary War. Its thick stuccoed brick walls, few doors, and distinctive roof were engineered to channel any blast upward and reduce danger to the surrounding neighborhood, with sand in the roof intended to help smother fire. Later used for other purposes, including as Gabriel Manigault’s wine cellar, it has operated as a museum since the early 1900s and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain