I probably should have known better, but I had heard that at least some of Charleston’s carriage tours have improved in recent years since the establishment of the Palmetto Guild, a voluntary certification for local tour guides who pass a city test and, according to their website, represent “professionals who are committed to historical accuracy, continuing education, and providing an engaging experience for all visitors.”
I decided to give Palmetto Carriage Works a chance and left deeply disappointed and frustrated by the borderline impressive level of selective and whitewashed “history” shared on my tour. The word “slavery” was uttered a total of zero times, Black history and contribution was erased, and what was left was the encouragement to ogle at the unexplained wealth of countless white mansion owners. Similarly, Indigenous people were mentioned all of once, highlighting the Kiawah people as a particularly “friendly” tribe to Europeans, conveniently bypassing any honoring of them prior to the settler’s invasion. There were also numerous references to “Charlestonians” of the era as a homogenous group of Confederate-supporting white elites, ignoring that Charleston’s population was majority Black from the early 1700s to the 1850s.
I appreciate that a one-hour tour is inherently limited and it would be impossible to do full justice to the complex history of this city in this context; however, considering the undeniable significance of slavery to Charleston’s story, I feel it is inexcusable to simply entirely leave it out - especially for a tour company that claims to “pride [themselves] on providing authentic and historically rich carriage tours of Charleston,” according to their website.
I also appreciate that some of their tour guides may get much closer to the mark of an honest history lesson; however, if this cannot be guaranteed, then Palmetto Carriage Works is not living up to their advertised experience. In fact, after the tour, I asked to leave a comment and was directed to a manager. She expressed understanding of my feedback, but told me they ultimately “don’t police” their tour guides. She assured me all their tour guides are Palmetto Guild certified, though added they allow them to effectively pick-and-choose at their discretion what they share (or don’t) of the materials associated with the test to become a guild member.
The manager acknowledged that while some have communicated similar criticisms and concerns as I had, that other customers have been “offended” by the mention of slavery. I don’t doubt that this is tragically true; however, such a response by her tells me clearly the choice that Palmetto Carriage Works has made: To value appeasing those “offended” rather than committing to an accurate telling of history.
I hope Palmetto Carriage Works will re-consider their current “hands-off” approach and recognize the incredible opportunity, and I would add responsibility, they have to authentically educate the likely hundreds of tourists they interface with daily (and the likely tens of thousands annually) by setting a basic and minimum standard of historical inclusion for their tours. I believe this can be accomplished without “scripting” their tours (another justification the manager cited). Beyond it simply being the right thing to do, they should know that for every one patron they might lose, I can assure them there are many others of us interested in learning a more genuine history of Charleston.
In the meantime, I (obviously) would not recommend Palmetto Carriage Works given the quality of your tour is not currently ensured. I do highly recommend Alphonso Brown’s Gullah Tours. In a similarly short time, he manages to both entertain and, more critically, introduce you to the true history of Charleston.