Back Porch Tours

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Back Porch Tours See the real South beyond the guidebooks. Private Charleston & Lowcountry tours designed around you — no scripts, no crowds, all soul.
🔗 backporchtours.com

10/10/2026

Everyone knows the legend of why Lowcountry porch ceilings are painted sky-blue—to trick mischievous spirits and keep them away from the house 👻...

​...but do you know where the actual paint came from?

​Long before commercial paint stores existed, 18th-century Gullah communities created the original "Haint Blue" wash from scratch using raw, local Lowcountry ingredients:

​🌿 Indigo dye (for the pale blue pigment)

🥛 Milk & pit clay (to bind the paint mixture)

🪨 Lime / Calcium hydroxide (to create a durable wash)

​The addition of lime in the recipe gave it an unexpected practical bonus: it acted as a natural lye solution, keeping wasps, mud daubers, and spiders from nesting on the porch! 🐝

​Every shade, shutter, and historic lane in the Lowcountry has a story painted right into it.

​🔗 Ready to uncover the hidden history of our coast? Book your guided tour today — link in bio!

10/09/2026

October 9, 1837.
The passenger steamboat SS Home tore apart in a gale off the coast. Built strictly for speed rather than safety, the ship carried only two lifeboats for over 130 passengers—costing 90 lives.

​The public outcry forced Congress to pass the landmark Steamboat Act of 1838. Every maritime safety code, vessel inspection, and lifejacket requirement enforced on the water today traces back to the wreckage off our shoreline.


10/08/2026

⚡ WHAT MAKES A LOWCOUNTRY HERO?

Heroes aren’t always found in capes and comic books.

Sometimes, they’re found on the docks of Charleston. In the streets of Beaufort. In classrooms, churches, ships, and communities across the Lowcountry.

Think of Robert Smalls, who risked everything to commandeer the Planter and sail himself, his family, and others to freedom.

Think of Septima Poinsette Clark, the Charleston teacher and civil rights pioneer who believed education could be a powerful tool for changing lives.

Think of Denmark Vesey, who, after purchasing his own freedom, risked his life organizing against the system that kept others enslaved.

Different eras. Different battles. But a common thread:

⚡ UNSHAKABLE GRIT — Holding the line when the pressure peaked.
⚡ AUDACIOUS COURAGE — Moving forward when the math was against them.
⚡ CULTURAL VIGILANCE — Keeping the soul of this coast intact.

This is the Lowcountry’s history.

Not just a collection of dates and names — but stories of people who refused to accept that the world had to stay the way it was.

Today, on National Heroes Day, we remember the people who showed us what courage looks like.

And we keep telling their stories. ⚡

10/07/2026

On October 7, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe passed away at just 40 years old. But long before he became a household name in American literature, he spent 13 months right here on Sullivan’s Island.

​In 1827, a young Poe enlisted in the U.S. Army under the alias Edgar A. Perry and was stationed at Fort Moultrie. He spent his days exploring the desolate salt marshes, maritime forests, and shifting dunes—an isolated landscape that directly inspired his story The Gold-Bug.

​His mark on the island remains today: Poe Avenue, Goldbug Avenue, Poe’s Tavern, and the local Edgar Allan Poe Library all honor his time here.

​Today on October 7th, we’re honoring Poe and the time he spent along our coastline.

10/06/2026

When Clint Eastwood brought Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil to the screen in 1997, 2 East Taylor Street became Hollywood’s stand-in for Joe Odom’s house. Sitting directly on Monterey Square, its grand exterior and raised porch gave the film crew the perfect visual backdrop—even though the real story took place a few blocks away.

The actual Joe Odom was a former tax attorney turned jazz pianist, real estate speculator, and master of charming chaos. At his real home on 16 East Jones Street, Odom ran a legendary open-door house party where the front door was rarely locked, the piano was constantly playing, and midnight gatherings routinely stretched straight into the morning light.

Dodging creditors and utility cutoffs with effortless charisma, Odom filled his home with an ever-shifting mix of eccentric locals, touring musicians, and uninvited travelers who walked in for a drink and ended up staying for days. Eastwood chose 2 East Taylor Street to recreate that endless, late-night hospitality on camera, cementing this address in movie history while the genuine midnight madness lived in the music and memories of Jones Street.

📍 2 East Taylor St, Savannah, GA

10/05/2026

On October 5, 1945, over 1,000 workers—predominantly Black women—struck against racial wage gaps at Charleston’s Cigar Factory (701 East Bay St).

On the picket line, striker Lucille Simmons began leading the crowd in an adapted gospel hymn: "We Will Overcome."

​Charleston strikers brought the song to Tennessee’s Highlander Folk School. There, Zilphia Horton and Pete Seeger learned it, modified "will" to "shall", and taught it to movement organizers.

By the 1960s, it became the defining anthem of the Civil Rights Movement—sung at sit-ins, protest marches, and rallies across the South.

​Seeger never claimed authorship, always crediting the Charleston workers. In 1960, a copyright was registered under Ludlow Music strictly to keep commercial labels from locking down the song and suing activists for singing it.

​Seeger took $0 in royalties. Every dollar earned was funneled directly to Highlander’s Freedom Music Fund to support Black civil rights organizers.

​In 2018, federal courts declared "We Shall Overcome" public domain—returning the anthem legally to the public, where it first took root on an East Bay Street sidewalk.

​📍 701 East Bay St, Charleston, SC

10/04/2026

Happy National Golf Lover's Day from the Lowcountry! ⛳️

​Around here, "playing it as it lies" requires a bit of negotiation—and a very safe distance. Down on the 18th green, the water hazards bite back. 🐊

​Fun Lowcountry Golf Fact: The Lowcountry is actually the birthplace of American golf! The nation's very first golf club—the South Carolina Golf Club—was established right in Charleston back in 1786 at Harleston Green.

​

10/03/2026

Today marks an extraordinary milestone in transportation history. Exactly 196 years ago today—on October 3, 1830—just one day after track laying was completed, the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company pulled off the impossible.

Linking Charleston to Hamburg, they forged 136 miles of continuous track, creating the longest railroad line in the entire world at the time. Powered by pioneering early steam engines like the legendary Best Friend of Charleston, this massive feat of engineering changed trade, travel, and geography forever.

Fun fact: because early steam engines were still experimental and prone to mechanical hiccups, passengers rode in open-air bench cars while a flatcar loaded with earth and a guard carrying a leather bucket of water trailed right behind the locomotive to protect against stray sparks! 🚂💨

10/02/2026

For 17 years, the Old Citadel sat under federal lock and key. When it was finally handed back on this day in 1882, the doors were unlocked—but the 189 cadets who marched onto Marion Square didn't walk into a functioning college.

​The building was stripped bare and battered from years of military occupation. With no formal equipment or uniforms ready, they showed up in everyday civilian coats and denim just to take their barracks back.

​From those bare floors, they had to scrub, repair, and piece the institution back together themselves, turning an empty post-war shell back into a living academy.

​We cover the layers of Charleston's post-war history and recovery on our custom routes. Link in bio to book.
​

10/01/2026

Fall in Charleston doesn't need a pumpkin spice latte to make its entrance.🍂

When that heavy summer humidity finally breaks, the Lowcountry transforms on its own terms. Between the marsh turning a brilliant gold, the pluff mud gas clearing out, and the air finally cooling down enough for a proper walk outside, October is hands down the best time of year to explore the region on foot.

(Local rule of thumb: If you can sit on a porch past 5:00 PM without sticking to the chair, autumn has officially arrived.)

📍 Join us for an autumn guided walk—link in bio to book your tour.

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Charleston, SC

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+18438436542

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