CLS Wine Club // Whites of the Iberian Peninsula
2026-04-22 17:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States
As the season warms, CLS Wine Club, created through members in our Fellows Lounge, continues with great acclaim. with the academic and nuanced insights from our founding and beloved aficionados Jerry Mitchell and Tim Cantopher. Their learned preferences and curiosities from storied outings and clubs centered around the complexities of wine, coupled with our partner, The Wine Shop of Charleston, allow just the right blend of lesser-known vineyards and small-production varietals blended with a bit of wit and wisdom, to boot. Capacity is limited, so please reserve your seat soon! The Spring series always focuses on a white varietal – this April we will explore the viticulture of the Iberian Peninsula!
Please Note: These wines are available in limited and time-sensitive quantities; therefore, we must secure them ahead of time. For this reason, your admission also includes one of each of the four bottles to take home. (Avg $35/bottle) For those who come as a couple, there is an option for two people and four bottles. Seating is limited in order to host a conversation-style wine tasting where the experts will walk us through four specifically chosen bottles and dissect the nuance associated with each. Part of participating in the wine club is the opportunity to purchase wines that would otherwise not be available at retail.
About The Wine Shop of Charleston
The Wine & Spirits Shop of Charleston has been a downtown destination for wine lovers for over three decades. Located at City Marina, they have proudly served the Charleston community for 31 years, building a reputation for quality, expertise, and personalized service. Their selection is the result of thoughtful curation and careful tasting, developed over the last 31 years to ensure they offer the very best wines from around the world. Whether you’re seeking a special bottle, an everyday favorite, or expert pairing advice, their collection reflects a passion for wine and commitment to bringing exceptional choices to their customers.
There are two ticket options available:
*Single $285 // $145 ticket price + $140 wine price (4 bottles to take home)
*Couple $430 // $290 ticket price + $140 wine price (4 bottles to take home)
Fellows members will have the first option for securing seats.

Tiny Tales In The Rabbit Hole
2026-04-22 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-04-15 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-04-08 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-04-01 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-03-25 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-03-18 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-03-11 10:30 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time and Tiny Tales, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our new addition to the Rabbit Hole! During this half-hour, baby-centered program, children ages 0-2 and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and participate in movement and tummy time.
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Happy Earth Day!
2026-04-21 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read Plants Can’t Sit Still by Rebecca Hirsch, and the craft will be flower pots!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Big Machines, Little Builders
2026-04-18 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Shannon, our part-time Children’s Librarian. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Shannon will read All Of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors by Davina Bell, and the craft will be paper plate steering wheels!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
Saturday Story Time will repeat every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 am. We hope you can join us!

Bond Street REIT Speaker Series // Deepak Srivastava
2026-04-16 18:00 - 19:00
Join us for the first of this year’s Bond Street Series, focused on the importance of cultural institutions in fostering creative conversation and enhancing opportunities for democratic engagement. Founder of Bond Street REIT, Michael Reynolds, will host a rare conversation with Special Guest Deepak Srivastava, President of Gladstone Institutes in California, and one of the nation’s leading physicians in the science and technology of stem cell research and opportunities to combat congenital heart disease.
About Deepak Srivastava
Deepak Srivastava, MD, is President of Gladstone Institutes, a nonprofit biomedical research institute that uses visionary science and technology to overcome disease. He is also a senior investigator and director of the Roddenberry Stem Cell Center at Gladstone. In addition, he is a professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry and Biophysics, and the Wilma and Adeline Pirag Distinguished Professor in pediatric developmental cardiology at UC San Francisco (UCSF). Srivastava received his MD from the University of Texas, then trained in pediatrics at UCSF and in pediatric cardiology at the Children’s Hospital of Harvard Medical School. Before joining Gladstone in 2005, Srivastava was a professor of pediatrics and molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He became Gladstone’s president in 2018, and has since been steering the organization toward a new era of convergence between technology and biomedical research. In his lab, Srivastava investigates the genes responsible for normal heart formation and congenital heart disease, and harnesses this knowledge to engineer cells that can repair heart damage. Srivastava is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Medicine. He served as president of the International Society for Stem Cell Research in 2019–2020. In addition, Srivastava has co-founded two biotechnology companies, iPierian Inc. and Tenaya Therapeutics, where he continues to sit on the board of directors and on the scientific advisory board. Srivastava was recently recognized in the San Francisco Business Times’ Power 100 list for his leadership in business and research in the Bay Area.
About the Bond Street REIT Speaker Series
Orchestrated by Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Michael D. Reynolds, who passionately served as a member of the Board of Trustees and also Treasurer of the Charleston Library Society, the Bond Street REIT Speaker Series strives to honor the institution’s cultural enrichment, intellectual exploration, and literary legacy through a series of lively discussions and thought-provoking lectures. Bond Street is dedicated to preserving the Charleston Library Society’s renowned collection and historical significance, as an immensely valuable repository of history in the South. Bond Street Real Estate Investment Trust, headquartered in Charleston, is a private real estate investment trust uniquely invested in convenience retail centers across ten states in the Southeast.
In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville toured America and visited Charleston in search of the special ingredient that made America’s democracy so powerful. What he discovered was that the glue that created community and civic discourse was its profoundly thriving cultural institutions. Libraries, theaters, museums, and other cultural spaces served as the foundation for civic engagement and public dialogue. This insight is as relevant today as it was then, and the Library Society remains vibrant because of this very truth.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Big Machines, Little Builders
2026-04-16 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-04-14 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read All Of the Factors Of Why I Love Tractors by Davina Bell, and the craft will be paper plate steering wheels!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - At the Pond
2026-04-11 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Shannon, our part-time Children’s Librarian. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Shannon will read Over and Under the Pond by Laura Messner, and the craft will be paper frogs!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
Saturday Story Time will repeat every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 am. We hope you can join us!

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - At the Pond
2026-04-09 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-04-07 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner, and the craft will be paper frogs!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Silly Storytime!
2026-04-02 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-03-31 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson, and the craft will be silly sunnies!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

'Malice in Wonderland' // Hugo Vickers on Cecil Beaton
2026-03-31 18:00 - 19:00
Visiting from the UK, author and renowned speaker Hugo Vickers brings us Malice in Wonderland, an investigation into the whirlwind life of the photographer, diarist, painter, interiors and costume designer that was Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton. Cecil Beaton invited Hugo Vickers to be his authorized biographer only days before his unexpected passing. Undeterred, Vickers used diaries, letters, and precious friendships and connections in Beaton’s circle to compose, in paper, the story of this life well-lived. For five years, Vickers travelled the world and talked to some of the most fascinating and important social and cultural figures of the time, including royalty such as the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, Lady Diana Cooper, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, Irving Penn and Diana Vreeland. As part of our ongoing partnership with The Royal Oaks Foundation, we look forward to this special reflection and a personal exploration of the a legacy of a man enveloped by a disappearing era of glamour.
If you are unable to attend the event, but would like to purchase one or more copies, please visit Buxton Books.
About the Book
The witty and perceptive diaries kept by Cecil Beaton’s authorized biographer during his many fascinating encounters with extraordinary—often legendary—characters in his search for the real Cecil Beaton. Vickers was entrusted with Beaton’s papers, diaries, and, most importantly, access to his friends and contemporaries. In Malice in Wonderland, Vickers shares excerpts from his personal diaries kept during this period. Drawn into Beaton’s world and accepted by its members, Vickers, the emerging biographer, also began his own personal adventure. The outsider became the insider – Beaton’s friends became his friends. Malice in Wonderland is a fascinating portrait of a now-disappeared world, and vividly and sensitively portrays some of its most fascinating characters as we travel with Vickers on his quest.
About the Author
Hugo Vickers is well known as a biographer, lecturer, and broadcaster, and is an acknowledged expert on the Royal Family. His first book was about Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough (1881-1977), in whom he became interested when he was 16 years old. When he was 23, he found the Duchess in the psycho-geriatric ward of a mental hospital and talked to her for two years until her death at the age of 96. He researched in Europe and America and published Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough in 1979. Because there was considerably more material available 40 years on, he revised this book for a new edition, published in 2020, as The Sphinx (and paperback in 2021). It received positive reviews. Hugo is called upon to comment on important state occasions and at times when the Royal Family is in the news. He has covered events from the first wedding of the Prince of Wales, many royal weddings, and the funerals of Diana, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, the State Funeral and Committal of The Queen, and the Coronation of Charles III. The Financial Times has described him as: ‘the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet.’ When he spent an hour with Jacqueline Onassis in her office at Doubleday in 1990, she said to him: ‘You look like a poet, but your head must be full of information.’ Hugo has written many biographies of 20th century figures, including Cecil Beaton, Vivien Leigh, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Andrew of Greece, and the Queen Mother. His book, The Quest for Queen Mary, sold 40,000 copies in various forms. He attacked the sixty episodes of the Netflix series The Crown in his book, The Crown Dissected, available as an e-book. In May 2021, he published Malice in Wonderland, with extracts from his own diaries about researching the life of Cecil Beaton. A year later, he published a book with HRH The Duke of Kent, entitled A Royal Life. In 2023, he updated his 2013 book, Coronation, and has lectured about the Coronation in London, New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, and Sonoma. That year, he gave 44 lectures, with four trips to the USA. Hugo published his first novel, Pining in Paradise, a study of the super-rich on holiday at the Cipriani Hotel in Venice in 2024. Later that year, he published his biography of Clarissa, Countess of Avon (widow of Anthony Eden). When not writing, Hugo travels through the Commonwealth and Overseas Territories, establishing Commonwealth Walkways, and as such has visited many countries from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, to the Cook Islands, the Falklands, and, as he puts it, was once obliged to spend seven weeks touring the Caribbean. In July 2022, Prince Edward unveiled the Platinum Jubilee Walkway in Birmingham. Queen Elizabeth II visited the Walkways eight times when he was Chairman. Hugo is a Deputy Lieutenant for the Royal County of Berkshire and has been involved with the College of St George since February 1966. He is Captain of the Lay Stewards of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, having served as a Lay Steward since 1970. In 2019, he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Hugo has lectured in the UK, the USA, Australia, France, Italy, Denmark and the Bahamas – in the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, at Windsor Castle, in Marlborough House, Kensington Palace, St James’s Palace, Spencer House, Blenheim Palace, and the British Embassy in Paris – as well as on board transatlantic liners and many a village hall. He appeared frequently on Larry King Live between 1997 and 2005, and had his Andy Warhol moment of fame when he appeared with Stephen Colbert in his programme, My Fair Colbert, about the 2011 royal wedding. He lives in London and Wiltshire and has three grown-up children. When possible, he disappears to a tree house in Dominica.
About the Royal Oak Foundation
The Royal Oak Foundation seeks to raise awareness of and advance the work of the National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland by inspiring support from the United States for the Trust’s efforts to preserve  and protect historic places and spaces—forever, for everyone. In the United States, Royal Oak offers a wide range of programs and activities focused on the National Trust, British art and architecture, fine & decorative arts, gardens, and history, as well as conservation and historic preservation. These tours and day trips, as well as our Royal Oak Lecture Series, are offered in cities across the U.S. As an independent American not-for-profit organization, Royal Oak fundraises for National Trust priorities and offers Americans a tax deduction for their contributions and membership dues. Overly nearly 50 years, the Foundation has raised and granted almost $20 million to support the work of the National Trust. Projects range from the acquisition of important coastline to restoring historic houses, to helping re-acquire works of art separated from their original properties. Royal Oak also sponsors selected Fellowships for Americans who wish to learn more about the National Trust and the rich heritage of Great Britain.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Welcome Spring!
2026-03-26 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-03-24 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes, and the craft will be paper flowers!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Green!
2026-03-21 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Shannon, our part-time Children’s Librarian. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Shannon will read Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and the craft will be shamrock pinwheels!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
Saturday Story Time will repeat every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 am. We hope you can join us!

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Green!
2026-03-19 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-03-17 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, and the craft will be shamrock pinwheels!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Life Long Learning: The Originals in Fashion & Design // Six-week Course
2026-03-16 10:30 - 2026-04-27 12:00
The trendsetters of the last 20 years may, in fact, take direction from those before (or even before). Join fashion historian Caroline Rennolds Milbank and former interiors designer Diana Hambleton for an engaging Life Long Learning course to delve into the true originals of each category, and the lasting influence of each on what remains en vogue today.
DATES: March 16th, 23rd, 30th, April 13th, 20th, and 27th
*Note: There will be no class on Monday, April 6th, the week after Easter. The course will continue on April 13th.
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Course Time: 10:30 am-12:00 pm, Six Consecutive Mondays
Tickets: Sold only as a six-week-long course (Seating is limited to 40)

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Rainbows
2026-03-14 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Shannon, our part-time Children’s Librarian. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Shannon will read A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman, and the craft will be rainbow mobiles!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
Saturday Story Time will repeat every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 am. We hope you can join us!

Maritime Power Before the Making of America
2026-03-13 12:00 - 13:00
Join early American historian Benjamin C. Schaffer who reveals a number of lesser-known truths about America’s earliest naval forces in his new book, The First Fleets: Colonial Navies of the British Atlantic World, 1630-1775. As both factual resource and engrossing narrative, the book provides insight into the newly established British colonies of pre-Revolutionary America, and the foundations of maritime trade that led to the powerhouse navy we know today. Intertwined with major political and military dynamics of the time, historians and military enthusiasts alike won’t want to miss this opportunity to dive deeper into America’s first fleets.
The ticket price below includes a boxed lunch for you to enjoy during the program.
If you are unable to attend the event but would like to purchase one or more signed copies, please visit Buxton Books here.
About the Book
A revealing study on the little-known and misunderstood provincial navies established by North American British colonists. In The First Fleets, Benjamin C. Schaffer reveals how, contrary to widespread beliefs, the American colonies had a long tradition of independent naval defense decades before the Revolution. He demonstrates that Anglo-American governments established and maintained significant provincial naval forces and that the history of provincial navies illuminates broader aspects of colonial history and the colonies’ ultimate break with the British Crown. Based on meticulous research, Schaffer recounts the sea-borne threats that American colonies faced from the French, Spanish, pirates, and others. He reviews colonial governance and the relationships between colonial governments and Great Britain. Highlighting Britain’s scant naval power in North America, Schaffer demonstrates how the vulnerable coastal colonies undertook their own self-defense. Schaffer’s readable study offers many fascinating episodes from colonial history. Establishing a navy was controversial in pacifist-minded, Quaker-dominated Pennsylvania. South Carolina deployed its scout-boat navy to pursue enslaved Africans who fled colonial capture. The first paper money issued in North America was an initiative to pay for a naval expedition against French Quebec in 1690. These and other episodes show the intimate connection between these little-known provincial navies and the major sociopolitical developments of their day. The First Fleets will be of great interest to historians and readers of early American history, particularly colonial maritime and naval activities. Readers interested in the political and military dynamics of pre-Revolutionary America, as well as enthusiasts of naval history and maritime trade, will find The First Fleets both a valuable resource and an engrossing narrative.
About the Author

Benjamin Schaffer is a historian of early American history, with a special focus on maritime conflict and society in the British Atlantic world of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He has a Ph.D. In early American/Atlantic-world history from the University of New Hampshire (2021). His doctoral research inspired my first book (which is set to be published in early 2025 with the University of Alabama Press): The First Fleets: Colonial Navies of the British Atlantic World, 1630-1775. This book investigates how Anglo-American naval efforts against European, piratical, and Indigenous maritime threats informed the development of the American naval tradition on the eve of the American Revolution. Overall, his research is not limited to traditional military history studies alone, but considers the wider connections between maritime conflict and larger socio-political issues in the Atlantic world, including diplomacy, slavery, the economy, etc. In addition to this book, he has published work (or has articles in press) at The Northern Mariner and The South Carolina Historical Magazine. He also regularly presents research at conferences such as the McMullen Naval History Conference at the United States Naval Academy, the North American Society for Oceanic History, and many others.

Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Rainbows
2026-03-12 15:30 - 16:30, 2026-03-10 15:30 - 16:30
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Justine, our Children’s Programming Coordinator, to read in the Rabbit Hole and make an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Justine will read A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman, and the craft will be rainbow mobiles!
Story Time will repeat every Tuesday and Thursday at 3:30 pm–we hope to see you there!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.

Saturday Story Time In The Rabbit Hole - Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!
2026-03-07 10:00 - 11:00
Due to the high enthusiasm surrounding Story Time, we will be offering this to members only. To join the Library Society, please click here.
Join us for our beloved Story Time in the Rabbit Hole! During this hour-long, kid-friendly program, children and their parents/caregivers will join Shannon, our part-time Children’s Librarian. She will be reading in the Rabbit Hole and making an on-theme craft to bring home.
For this Story Time, Shannon will read Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss, and the craft will be paper plate cows!
To RSVP to this free event, please fill out the form below.
Saturday Story Time will repeat every Saturday from 10:00-11:00 am. We hope you can join us!
