There is something special about discovering a wonderful city and adding it to your list of favorites. I have felt that way about a number of cities I have explored – San Francisco has always been my favorite, but other cities have also touched and amazed me. New Orleans, Victoria and Washington D.C. captivated me as well as several others that I was happy to get to know. As I walked around Charleston taking in all the historic buildings and streets, I was transfixed by the beauty and historic preservation. I am so glad that much of it was not destroyed as has happened with other cities. Charleston is a real delight with many treasures to enjoy.
I think seeing Charleston on foot is the best way to experience it close up and personal. Plus the narrow streets make driving difficult, especially when you have a truck like we do as the streets were designed in the 1700’s for horse and wagon traffic. It is fun to be able to explore the narrow alleys like Stoll’s pictured above. Unlike other cities we have visited, I couldn’t find any Hop on or Hop off busses or trolley tours. Perhaps that is a reason walking tours are so popular in this city and there are many of them to choose from. I briefly considered scheduling a group walking tour, but perhaps you should meet Mark, an “anti groupie.” When I am joining a group to tour an attraction, museum, etc., he is usually finding a bench to sit and wait. He doesn’t mind waiting and is supportive of my group tours, just doesn’t want to participate in the activity himself.

Before we arrived to Charleston, I had already picked out two self guided walking tours for the city from my South Carolina AAA book. Although the guided tours are more informative and we probably missed out on some great architectural and historical tidbits, walking on our own means we can go at our pace instead of hurrying along. I like to soak in the ambience which is hard to do with a group of people all standing together on the sidewalk trying to pay attention to what a guide is saying. As an example, during one of our walks we came upon the longest cobblestoned street in the city and soon after, a guided tour came by. After they had seen it and left, I was still admiring the stones and testing them out on foot. Below a picture of the “pink house” on that cobblestoned street. It was built in the early 1700’s, was once a tavern and is considered either the first or second oldest house in the city.
Charleston, founded in 1670 by English colonists, is one of the oldest cities in America and one of the original 13 colonies. The city prospered as a busy seaport and from plantations growing rice, cotton and indigo. As a result, the city is full of many beautiful and stately homes. As we walked around the historic area, it seemed like most of the houses were built in the 1700’s or 1800’s with plaques and descriptions of who first owned the home. It is amazing that so many are still standing because the city was attacked during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, endured a major earthquake in 1886 that damaged over 2,000 buildings and suffered through Hurricane Hugo in 1989. After each disaster, the city has bounced back. Many of the homes have “earthquake bolts” which are iron rods placed into the house for stabilization and visible from the exterior. Below you can see two of those “x shaped” braces. This house was built in 1740 and became the first post office for Charleston.
Our walk took us down to Battery Street next to the waterfront with some of the grander homes in the city. An elevated walking path takes you above the street and by the water with remarkable views in every direction.
The homes on this street are really more like palaces or mansions. I thought the prettiest was this pink palace, built in the 1840’s. The homes on the Battery are worth a fortune and this house is no exception. In 2016 it sold for 6.5 million. Prior to the sale it was a Bed and Breakfast but was being bought as a private residence.
Charleston has a few nice parks near the waterfront. The most well known is Whitepoint Gardens off Battery Street near all those mansions. It is full of huge oaks, monuments and a gazebo. When we came upon the park there was a peaceful demonstration going on with Confederate flag wavers and people dressed up in Civil War attire. In the picture below, Mark relaxes next to the park.
Below is a picture of Waterfront Park, a lovely area with shade trees, benches and my favorite, azaleas in bloom.
The pineapple fountain near this park is a favorite monument and popular with youngsters who like to splash in the water. Here in Charleston the pineapple is a symbol of “Southern Hospitality.” I could feel that hospitality as we explored this charming city with friendly people and great ambience. Do you have any favorite cities to share? Thanks for “strolling” along with us – until next time.
Definitely want to visit Charleston after seeing all your beautiful pictures. Are you getting “road weary”, or not yet? It all sounds amazing!!
Be safe!
Arlene
Thanks Arlene for the nice comment! You really should visit Charleston, you would so enjoy it. Especially all the walking and exploring! Not too road weary yet – sometimes all the traveling and sightseeing might be a little tiring, but there is always so much to see and do, it is hard to resist! We try not to go too gung ho all the time and have down days. One thing nice about being able to spend more time in each area is we don’t have to cram a lot of places and activities in each day. We can just visit one or two places each day.
We loved the pictures of Charleston! Perhaps we will get to visit it in the future. Dad
Thanks dad! Glad you liked seeing the pictures and appreciate the comment. Yes, you would really enjoy visiting Charleston!
Wow what interesting quaint town. Thanks for sharing your interesting places.
Thanks for the nice comment Sharon!
Charleston looks amazing. I’ve read in many articles that in addition to being a great historic town, it is also “up in coming” in terms of modern characteristics and overall livability, sounds like the perfect blend of both new and old!? Are the colors of the houses similar to that of the 18th century? Love how green it is as well. In terms of a city I love to share, I definitely love Seattle, but it lacks the historic ambiance, the rugged frontier city it was established as has been long taken over by the tech and modern aesthetics, much to the chagrin of long time locals. Cheers to Charleston for keeping up with their historical feel!
Also, the picture of Beth smiling with the guidebooks is one of my favorite pictures on the blog so far!! Definitely captures the traveler and adventurer I love so well. Very fun
Thanks Matt for the sweet comment!
Matt, yes Charleston is perhaps the best city we have visited to keep that historical ambience and charm. So many of the houses and buildings were from the 1700 and 1800’s, it was truly amazing. I really applaud the city keeping everything restored and in great shape. As far as the colors of the houses: I am not sure if many of them have kept or tried to keep the original colors. There is “Rainbow Row” that features a street full of pastel painted houses in a row that is famous. They were actually painted that way in the 1930’s. I was going to post one of my pictures from that street, but wasn’t crazy about the photos I had. It would have been nice to take an architectural tour to learn more about the buildings – I would recommend that.
I think this is my favorite city so far on your adventures. The pictures are just gorgeous.
Thanks so much Tabitha for the comment! I adored Charleston and am glad you liked the post and pictures. I had many more photos I would have liked to post but couldn’t post too many, have to limit myself, ha, ha. Charleston is my favorite city of our trip, along with St. Augustine, Florida. I still plan to blog about St. Augustine one of these days – hard for me to keep up with all the places we have seen!