Cistern Yard

Cistern Yard is the heart of the College of Charleston campus. It has served as a green space for generations of students and as a venue for convocation, spring commencement, concerts and other events. Shaded by giant live oaks and enclosed by iron fencing, this large Cistern Yard is bordered by Randolph Hall to the north. Porter’s Lodge and George Street is to the south. Towell Library and College Way is to the west and St. Philip Street to the east.

Spring Commencement, which takes place in Cistern Yard annually on Mother’s Day weekend, is one of the College’s most well-known and well-loved traditions. Since 1933, the Cistern has served as a stage for these graduation ceremonies. To support larger graduating classes, a stage is now constructed over the Cistern. Graduates wearing traditional white dresses and white dinner jackets process from Randolph Hall to take their seats on this stage facing the audience in Cistern Yard. At the end of the ceremony, they process out of Porter’s Lodge, finishing a journey started at convocation when incoming students assemble in Cistern Yard for their formal welcome to the College.

Cistern Yard also takes center stage in another annual tradition – the City of Charleston’s Spoleto Festival USA. In fact, opening ceremonies for the inaugural Spoleto Festival were held there on May 25, 1977. Also, Ted Stern leveraged the school’s resources to help launch the festival, and, for a time, managed Spoleto out of the President’s Office in Randolph Hall.