Old Village, Mount Pleasant, SC

Old Village Real Estate | Where a Certificate Governs the Exterior

The Old Village is the historic core of Mount Pleasant, sitting at the town's southern end where it meets Charleston harbor, with roots reaching back to 1803. It is a quiet residential district of shade trees, deep front yards, and harbor-side views toward Charleston, James Island, and Sullivan's Island, and it holds Pitt Street, a small commercial run that functions as the neighborhood's center. The range of Old Village homes for sale runs from smaller cottages around $1 million to harbor-front property well above $5 million.

The fact that most affects ownership here has nothing to do with price. The Old Village is a designated historic district, and exterior changes, additions, and demolition are reviewed through the Old Village Historic District Commission by a Certificate of Appropriateness process. That means a buyer who intends to alter a house externally, extend it, or replace it is not simply subject to the town's building rules but to a design review with its own standards and its own timetable. It is the reason the streetscape looks the way it does, and it is a real constraint on what an owner may do. Establish what applies to a specific property before making an offer, not after.

Published prices here vary more than in almost any market covered on this site, and the reason is sample size. Redfin recorded a median of about $4.1 million over the three months ending May 2026, reported as up 165.9 percent year over year, on four sales, with days on market at 170 against 38. A 166 percent move on four transactions is arithmetic rather than a market event. Other measures give a median listing price around $3.64 million, a 2026 range of roughly $3.1 to $3.7 million, and figures as low as $1.8 million and $2.5 million depending on what is being counted. The honest reading is a market somewhere in the low millions where a single unusual sale moves every published number.

The Andy Bovender Team serves the Old Village from a Compass office at 708 South Shelmore Boulevard in Mount Pleasant, a few minutes away, alongside offices in Charlotte, Columbia, Wilmington, Fort Mill, Greenville, Lake Murray, and the Outer Banks. Two things make representation matter here more than in most markets. First, with a handful of sales a year, the comparable set for any given house may be two or three transactions over eighteen months, and pricing depends on judgement rather than on data. Second, this is a coastal historic district: the preservation regime, the age of the housing, flood zone and base flood elevation, and insurance cost with its recent trend all bear on value, and they interact in ways that a buyer from an inland market will not anticipate.

What to Love About the Old Village

A Streetscape That Is Actually Protected

Exterior changes, additions, and demolition in the Old Village go through the Historic District Commission's Certificate of Appropriateness process. That is a constraint on an owner and a guarantee about the neighbors, and it is why the district looks as it does rather than as a collection of individual decisions.

Pitt Street Bridge at the End of the Road

Pitt Street Bridge at 972 Pitt Street is a small waterfront park on the old causeway, with benches, a kayak launch, free parking, and marsh and harbor views that residents walk to at sunset. It is one of the most highly rated public spaces in Mount Pleasant.

A Commercial Street You Can Walk To

Pitt Street holds Post House, Wine Shop OV, Gala Cafe and Bakery, and a handful of shops within a few blocks, which is a genuine neighborhood center rather than a retail strip. Most of the district can reach it on foot or by golf cart.

Alhambra Hall on the Water

Alhambra Hall at 131 Middle Street sits on the harbor with lawns, mature trees, and a hall the town lets for events, and residents use the grounds daily. The sunset view from there is among the best publicly accessible ones in the region.

Harbor Views Toward Three Places at Once

The district's waterfront edge looks across Charleston harbor toward the peninsula, James Island, and Sullivan's Island, all covered on their own pages. Very few residential streets anywhere have that particular outlook.

Two Centuries of Housing on One Grid

With roots to 1803, the Old Village carries housing across a very long span of eras on a compact street grid under mature trees. It is the historic core of a town that has otherwise built almost entirely since the 1990s.

Old Village Sub-Areas | A Buyer's Guide

The Old Village is small enough to walk across, so what varies is position relative to the water and to Pitt Street, and how a house has been treated under the district's review regime. Four groupings cover it.

The Harbor-Front Streets

Property along the district's waterfront edge, looking across Charleston harbor, is the top of the Old Village market and among the most expensive residential ground in the region. Product runs to substantial houses on deep lots, some of them historic and some comprehensively rebuilt, priced on position rather than square footage. Inventory is extremely thin. The diligence here is unusually layered: the coastal set of elevation certificate, base flood elevation, storm history, and insurance cost with its trend, plus the preservation regime, plus whatever a private dock or waterfront structure requires by way of permitting. Establish all three strands before an offer, because on a harbor-front historic parcel they interact.

The Pitt Street Blocks

The streets around Pitt Street sit at the district's functional center, within a walk of its restaurants, its wine shop, its bakery, and its handful of retail. Housing runs to period cottages and mid-sized historic houses on smaller lots than the waterfront carries, and this is the most accessible position in the Old Village, which in this market is a relative term. It is also the busiest part of a very quiet district, with parking pressure on the surrounding streets when Pitt Street is active. For a buyer who wants to walk to dinner rather than to look at the harbor, this is the trade.

The Interior Streets and the Marsh Edges

Away from both the harbor and Pitt Street, the district's interior streets hold most of its housing under the mature tree canopy that defines it, with marsh frontage along parts of the western edge. Product spans a very long range of eras and conditions, from original cottages that have never been substantially altered to houses rebuilt within the review regime, and the difference between those two is the largest single variable in pricing here. Establish what has been done to a specific house, when, and under what approvals, because in a district with design review the permit history is part of the property's value rather than a formality.

The Shem Creek Boundary

The district's northern edge runs toward Shem Creek and Coleman Boulevard, which carry Mount Pleasant's restaurant row and are covered on the Mount Pleasant page. Housing on this edge trades some of the Old Village's quiet for a shorter walk to considerably more activity, and prices reflect both the historic address and the convenience. This is also where a buyer should confirm whether a specific property actually sits inside the Old Village Historic District boundary, because the district line and the neighborhood name as commonly used are not necessarily the same thing, and the review regime follows the former.

Property Types Across the Old Village

Three categories cover the district and one variable cuts across all of them. Historic houses that retain their original fabric are the character stock and carry the most exacting diligence, including systems, structure, envelope, and storm history on buildings that in some cases predate the Civil War. Renovated and expanded historic houses are the largest category and the hardest to price, because what was done, when, and to what standard varies enormously. Rebuilt and recently constructed houses on historic lots sit at the top on a per-foot basis. Cutting across all three: whether the property sits inside the historic district boundary, what the Certificate of Appropriateness process would require of an intended change, flood zone and base flood elevation for the exact parcel, and insurance cost with its five-year trend.

Living in the Old Village | Dining, Shopping, and Things to Do

Dining

The Old Village's dining is confined to a few blocks of Pitt Street, which is deliberate and is part of what the district is. The larger restaurant concentration at Shem Creek and along Coleman Boulevard sits just beyond the district's northern edge and is covered on the Mount Pleasant page.

Post House, at 101 Pitt Street, is the district's restaurant, working a short seasonal menu through duck, ribeye, fish and grits, and cornbread with benne seeds, in an inn dating from the neighborhood's earlier life. Open seven days, lunch and dinner with a break between.

Wine Shop OV, at 115 Pitt Street, is a small wine shop and bar with charcuterie boards, by-the-glass pours, and a proprietor known for opening bottles to taste. Open seven days from mid-afternoon.

Gala Cafe and Bakery, at 123 Pitt Street, handles coffee, pastries, and daytime food, and takes bookings for afternoon tea. Closed Mondays, and it closes at 5.

Shopping and Everyday Errands

Pitt Street is the Old Village's commercial street and it is small by design: a restaurant, a wine shop, a bakery, a pharmacy, and a handful of independent shops in a few low-rise blocks with the sidewalk running past their doors. It covers a coffee, a bottle of wine, and a prescription, and it does not cover a weekly shop. For that, Coleman Boulevard and the Highway 17 corridor sit a few minutes north with the full range of grocery, pharmacies, and services, both covered on the Mount Pleasant page. Mount Pleasant Towne Center is a short drive for larger retail, and downtown Charleston is fifteen to twenty minutes across the Ravenel Bridge. Buyers should understand that the Old Village is walkable within itself and to Pitt Street, and that everything beyond that is a drive, which is the arrangement most residents describe as the point.

Parks, the Water, and Things to Do

For a residential district of this size the Old Village has an unusual amount of publicly accessible waterfront. Pitt Street Bridge at 972 Pitt Street occupies the old causeway at the end of Pitt Street, with benches, picnic space, a kayak launch, free parking, and long views over the marsh and harbor; residents walk, run, and fish there, and it is among the highest-rated public spaces in Mount Pleasant. Alhambra Hall at 131 Middle Street sits on the harbor with lawns under mature trees and a hall the town lets for events, and the grounds are used daily by residents walking dogs and watching the sunset. Between the two, the district's outdoor life is largely its own waterfront.

Beyond the district, the Old Village's position does the rest. Shem Creek and Coleman Boulevard sit a few minutes north with Mount Pleasant's restaurant concentration, covered on that page. Sullivan's Island is roughly ten to fifteen minutes east and Isle of Palms a little beyond it, both covered in Volume 8. Downtown Charleston is fifteen to twenty minutes across the Ravenel Bridge for the museums, theaters, and restaurant scene covered on the Charleston Downtown and peninsula pages, and Charleston International Airport is about twenty-five minutes northwest.