The Historic Dock Street Theatre

In 1736 the Dock Street Theatre first opened. Built on Dock Street (now known as Queen Street) was the first building in America built exclusively to be used for the theatre. Flora, the first opera performance in America, took place at the Historic Dock Street Theatre.

The original Dock Street Theatre was probably destroyed by the Great Fire of 1740. This fire destroyed many of the buildings in Charleston’s French Quarter. In 1809, the Planter’s Hotel was built on this site. In 1835 the wrought iron balcony and sandstone columns of the Church Street facade were added. A number of notable persons worked and patronized the Planter’s Hotel like the noted 19th Century actor Junius Brutus Booth (father of John Wilkes Booth). Robert Smalls, an African-American Civil War hero, served as a waiter in the hotel’s dining room. Charleston’s famed Planter’s Punch was first introduced here.