March to the Sea - Doing the Charleston

 

Rainbow Row

Charleston, South Carolina has to be one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S. The historic buildings and antebellum architecture conjure up images of cooling off with sweet tea on the verandah on a humid summer evening. Except in our case it was winter, with the unseasonably warm winter making it a very pleasant time to visit. Our first morning in South Carolina began with breakfast downstairs at the 1837 Bed and Breakfast, an egg quiche with fruit:

Following breakfast we headed out to explore the downtown area. The Cistern Yard of the College of Charleston was adorned with lights for the holiday season:

Walking through Wragg Mall Park:

We spent time in Charleston's only surviving urban plantation, the 1820 Aiken-Rhett House: 

Before glimpsing the antebellum life, we walked through the stark slave quarters:

The slaves lived behind the main residence, above the kitchen and stables:

Entering the main part of the house:

 

Taking a break on the verandah:

The rough condition of some of the rooms is intentional. The house is managed by the Historic Charleston Foundation with the intention of conserving and preserving the property, instead of restoring it:

The self-guided tour ended in the small art gallery:

Next up was the Historic Charleston City Market, the highlight of my wife's visit to the city. The market covers four city blocks, and has a history spanning more than 200 years. It was packed with visitors, not all of whom were wearing masks in this red state:

Shu-E purchased some bottles of hot sauce, while I fell victim to all the ads for Moon Pies:

Lunch that day was the only disappointment of our trip. All the restaurants in the vicinity of the market were full, with waits of an hour or more the norm. We ended up walking for a while before seemingly finding a place where we could be seated immediately. Except that it took more than an hour for our lunch to finally arrive at Gaulart & Maliclet Fast and French Inc. (the name might need to be revised). And while the O'Salmon lunch with a bowl of vegetarian miso soup (although my daughter suggested miso is usually vegetarian, right?) was tasty, the long wait didn't really equal what we ended up paying:

Back on the street, and passing by the Postal Museum, housed in an 1896 building. We didn't go inside:

We did, however, enter the Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, housed in a stately Georgian Palladium customs house erected in 1771:

Rice, not cotton, was the major cash crop for Charleston's plantation economy:

The cramped dungeon was used as a prison for pirates, and for American revolutionaries detained by the British during the American Revolution:

And of course later on the Civil War was fought over "states' rights" and not to preserve slavery, right?:

Looking down Broad Street from the second floor:

The penultimate point of interest that day was Rainbow Row, a stretch of colorful homes on lower East Bay Street. That's the wife preserving the memory on digital:

With the focus being on Charleston's historic architecture, it was easy to overlook the city's role as a trading port. As we rested at a public pier, a cruise ship made its way past us, with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in the distance:

Seeing as we didn't have lunch until almost 1500 hours that day, Shu-E wasn't particularly hungry as dinner time rolled around, so she elected to stay in the room. Amber and I, however, went out in search of a meal, passing by the Cistern Yard again and its holiday evening light show:

We ended up at the unpretentious Mama Kims on King Street, where the bibimbap was delicious and reasonably priced, and the service was quick:

Breakfast the following morning was homestyle pancakes and sausage, with a side of fruit:

Waiting for the girls to get ready while relaxing with a milk tea (purchased the night before from a Vivi's near the Korean restaurant) in the rocking chair on the verandah outside our room. One could get used to this Southern living:

On this day the itinerary was Shu-E's, who wanted to see the ocean. So off we drove through the quieter roads to the south of the city center:

Our first stop was the Angel Oak Tree, estimated to be 300-400 years old. It turned out the park where the tree lives is temporarily closed on Wednesdays, so we couldn't go inside. It was still possible, however, to have a good look through the fence at the "largest Live Oak Tree east of the Mississippi":

From there we drove down to Folly Beach on a gloriously clear day:

Folly Beach is home to a wishing tree, where I scrawled the word "health" onto a shell, and wedged it between a couple of branches:

Searching for shells to bring home for the snail we keep in a small aquarium in the kitchen, the only survivor after the fish my wife had bought from a pet shop died:

We soon discovered the actual Wishing Tree was further down the beach. Does this mean my wish to stay healthy has been seriously compromised?:

Someone left a couple of dead horseshoe crabs among the branches. I'm not sure what they were beseeching the gods by doing so:

A lot of people were out enjoying the sunshine, though the water was too cold for swimming, judging from the reaction of a young couple who ran into the waves, only to turn around and run back to their towel on the sand:

As lunch time approached, we drove to Center Street and miraculously found a free (for two hours) parking space in front of The Crab Shack. I ordered a Sweetwater IPA to go with the Shrimp & Grits:

My wife went for the Snow Crab Bucket:

 

And with Key Lime Pie on the menu, there's always room for dessert:

Taking a walk along Front Street following lunch:

We returned to Charleston in the late afternoon, and parked at the Battery on the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula:

The area is noted for its stately homes:

We also took a stroll past the cannons and military hero statutes in White Point Gardens:

While the girls were getting ready for dinner back at the B&B, I took another stroll, passing by this magnificent college building:

King Street in the late afternoon:

I did some browsing at Record Shop Charleston (and wishing I'd held onto my turntable and LP's) and Blue Bicycle Books:

We ended the day at Chucktown Brewery, another brew pub in this hip college town. I'm trying to convince Amber to go to school at the college so I'll have an excuse to visit Charleston again:

To be continued even further: