A Tour Company
With a Mission

To Share And Nurture Charleston

Our love for Charleston – its history, people, places, food, and culture – inspires our desire to share it. Not just because we want you to love it, too, but because we believe that when we get to know and love a place, we’re exponentially more likely to nurture it – keep it healthy, unique, interesting, and vibrant.

This notion is what we’ve built our business – and our team – on. We designed a sustainable tour model that invests a portion of all ticket proceeds back into the properties we tour, ensuring that Charleston’s most historically significant – and often complex – landmarks, structures, sites, and stories, are preserved for future generations to see, hear, consider, and explore.

We believe walking through Charleston is the way to know and love her. To inhale the perfume of tea olive in bloom. To meet and delight in her people. To see the enslaved mason’s fingerprint in a single brick. To hear church bells marking time. To touch a name from the past etched in stone. Taste the ocean in her food. Feel the heavy gauze of her tropical air. And discover new things on streets we’ve walked before.

That’s why we offer a diverse mix of history, culinary, and ghost walking tours and exclusive access to Charleston’s most fascinating places. That’s why our licensed tour team are also endlessly curious, passionate storytellers. And, that’s why our true mission is more than entertaining, more than informing, it’s ultimately about creating meaningful and lasting connections between people and Charleston, and always, to one another.

OUR HISTORY

Our founder, John LaVerne, has a deep love for Charleston, history, and storytelling. While being a tour guide was initially just a hobby, about 60 seconds into giving his first tour, John was hooked – by his enthralled audience and the chance to share his love of Charleston with others. He founded Bulldog Tours to raise funds for the preservation of The Old Exchange Building. The rest, as the tour team says, is history.

Supporting The Community That Supports Us

We are practitioners of and believers in sustainable tourism. That means we invest a portion of all ticket proceeds back into the properties we tour. This ensures that the historically significant landmarks, structures, and sites, integral to Charleston’s charm and culture – these places we love and love to share – are preserved for future generations to enjoy. Since 2001, we’ve raised nearly $4 million for the restoration and preservation of the Old City Jail, Circular Church’s graveyard, Old Exchange, Magnolia Cemetery, and other significant local preservation projects.