Slave Trading Complex

Front: This was the south end of a large slave trading complex known as The Mart or Ryan’s Mart. It was opened in 1856 by Thomas Ryan after the City banned auctions of enslaved people and other goods from near the Exchange building. At that time, this Chalmers St. lot was an alleyway that led to the rest of the complex, which extended one-block north to Queen St. In 1859, the Mart’s second owner had the alley covered and converted it into a formal auction space. Reverse: Behind this lot was a large “slave pen,” kitchen house, four-story “jail” building, and a small structure later recalled as a “dead-house.” None remain. Bombardment during the Civil War forced the Mart’s abandonment in 1863. Sales of enslaved people continued at other sites until Confederate forces evacuated Charleston in 1865. The Mart buildings later became tenements, portions of which African Americans occupied for decades. The Old Slave Mart Museum opened here in 1938.