Charleston has a surfeit of tours led by guides eager to show the usual landmarks and regurgitate historical facts. But the most memorable way to experience a place — and uncover its local character — is to spend time with someone who’s called it home for years. These two guides bring fresh perspectives, weaving in their own stories and insights that help make the city come alive.

City Tour With Ed Macy

Ed Macy is a professor and historian who has authored two books about haunted Charleston. Our two-hour tour, arranged by the Travel Office, wasn’t about ghosts, but that didn’t stop him from dishing on the city’s dearly departed while interlacing personal anecdotes and local lore. His folksy style and booming delivery are not for everyone, and his colorful language sometimes turns blue, but it all made for a highly entertaining outing. At one point, he scorned the City Market as a “train wreck” with some “cool local crafts makers but mostly tourist crap” before diving into its layered history. Between the one-liners, Macy spoke about the influence of Black culture on Charleston’s identity, as well as the roles of race and religion in shaping the city. He drove us through downtown and the French Quarter, amid narrow alleys, pointing out celebrity homes and architectural features we’d otherwise have missed. If you want to laugh and learn — and don’t mind a little irreverence — Macy will give you the “whole tamale.”

Charleston Tea Party Private Tours

The inimitable Laura Wichmann Hipp is a Charleston native who has been giving private tours for over 40 years. As the founder of Charleston Tea Party Private Tours, she welcomes small groups of two to six guests to her home five days a week. Tours start there, looking over the green to the Ashley River on the tip of the Peninsula by the low Battery wall. Guests first enjoy a tour of her garden before visiting the gardens of her friends, whose homes are located in the historic district. On a previous trip to Charleston, we toured the magnificent William Pinckney Shingler House with her, which is usually closed to the public. Throughout, the ever-engaging Hipp would quote freely from Charleston literature. The tour concluded with a light lunch in Hipp’s well-kept home. The experience was in every way a delight, and I unreservedly recommend it.