CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Charleston has been named “The Best City in the South” by Southern Living magazine for the 10th year in a row; its architecture and brickwork reflect the people who built the city.
Approximately 350,000 bricks are made every day at Palmetto Brick Company in Wallace, South Carolina. It’s one of the few manufacturing brick facilities in the entire state. The fully robotic plant in 2026 is a striking contrast to how bricks were made in Charleston more than a century ago.
“Any brick building built prior to 1860 is the result of the brick making knowledge of our enslaved ancestors,” said Joseph McGill, founder and director of the Slave Dwelling Project.
The labor behind Charleston’s wealth
Ruth Miller, a certified tour guide, said the labor of formerly enslaved men, women and children on plantations created the wealth…