Charleston Museum

Founded on January 12, 1773, and opened to the public in 1824, the Charleston Museum holds the distinction of being the oldest museum in the United States. Its collections span natural history, decorative arts, and Lowcountry social history, and it operates two historic house museums: the Heyward-Washington House and the Joseph Manigault House. The museum also holds the only known fossil of the extinct *Pelagornis sandersi*, possibly the largest flying bird ever discovered.