Charleston is a village in the South Island of New Zealand located 30km south of Westport. It was founded as a goldmining town after a major goldrush in 1867, and is now an adventure tourist village noted for its extensive limestone caves and caving experiences.

Charleston's origins owe much to gold prospector William Fox. He was born in Ireland in about 1826 and as a young man became a sailor, then a gold prospector. He was on the Californian goldfields about 1850; then on the Victorian goldfields in Australia; and on the Tuapeka goldfield in Otago in 1861.

The population of Charleston during the goldrush is often exaggerated with 30,000 or even 100,000 being mentioned. At the peak of the gold rush, the population of the entire West Coast is believed to have been only 35,000. The early 1867 census, at the peak of the Charleston rush, showed 5,000 on the entire Charleston field and 6,000 on the Brighton field ten miles to the south.

Wikipedia articles for Charleston

• Charleston, New Zealand
• Charleston, New Zealand
• Little Totara River