About Sweetgrass Compass

Sweetgrass Compass is an independent visitor guide to tours and experiences in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s named for the sweetgrass baskets that the National Park Service describes as a Gullah-Geechee tradition, still woven and sold in Charleston today (NPS). Our sister guides are Coquina Compass (St. Augustine, Florida) and Tabby Compass (Savannah, Georgia).

What we do: compare the tours visitors actually book — ghost walks, the Fort Sumter ferry, harbor cruises, plantation visits and the Holiday Festival of Lights — on price, length, departure point and who they suit, so you can choose quickly.

How we work: every guide is researched from operators’ official pages, attractions, the National Park Service, Charleston County Parks, Explore Charleston and public booking listings. Each lists its sources and the date its facts were last checked. Our guides are written with the help of AI tools, then fact-checked against those sources before publishing. We don’t publish invented reviews or pretend to have taken tours we haven’t.

Independence: we’re not affiliated with any tour operator or plantation, the National Park Service, Charleston County Parks or Explore Charleston. See our affiliate disclosure for how the site is funded.

Images: the holiday-lights and graveyard scenes are our own illustrations. Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Rainbow Row and Battery Street houses — Thomson200 (CC0); aerial view of Charleston harbor — Carol M. Highsmith (public domain); U.S. flag over Fort Sumter — National Park Service (public domain); Boone Hall Avenue of Oaks — Gary Todd via Flickr (CC0).

Spotted an outdated price or a closed tour? Corrections are welcome. The fastest fix is to check the linked source, and we re-check every guide regularly.