The “Original Charleston Lantern”

Carolina Lanterns specializes in handcrafted copper lanterns that do not rust, pit, or lose color and can be fueled by natural gas, propane or electricity.

The most popular styles are exact reproductions of specific gas lights found on historic Charleston buildings dating back to the 1850’s.

Each copper lantern is named for the area of Charleston from which they were borrowed, such as The Ashley Avenue, The High Battery, The Tradd Street, and The St. Michaels. And each style can be mounted in ways to conform to all homes, yards and outbuildings, whether the owner wants one copper lantern or outdoor lighting fixtures on every corner.

Next to the unique products (or House Jewelry, as owner Jan Clouse calls them), Carolina Lanterns’ most important ingredient for success is customer service.

Carolina Lanterns will come to your house, size up the job, come back with a variety of appropriate copper lanterns and actually hold them up so you can see what they will look like.

Additionally, they will have a replacement usually in two days, and even will make “house calls” to check on problems and recommend solutions, even if it’s not their installation.

But the customer service policy closest to the heart of Jan Clouse would be “there is no job too small.”

Years ago when she was building her house in Charleston, Jan went to a local lighting store to choose outdoor lighting fixtures for the front door.

The first question the clerk asked was, “What is your lighting allowance?” The answer was “somewhere in the area of $3,000,” which seems rather impressive for two copper gas lanterns.

It apparently didn’t impress the sales person, however, who proceeded to turn her back on Jan and help another customer. That experience has become something of a legend in the Charleston retail community.

“A week doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t come in to the store asking, “Where’s the woman who was snubbed in the lighting store?”, Jan said. “I think it probably helps business because almost everyone has had an experience like that.”

In ten years Carolina Lanterns has grown so much that their customers extend to every state in the U.S. and into Canada. There is simply no substitute for an original. When you take into account the graceful copper lanterns, the unbeatable customer service and the only place to find “the woman who was snubbed,” Carolina Lanterns is truly a Charleston Original. *The lanterns we sell are manufactured by companies dedicated to quality.