CHARLESTON , one of the finest-looking cities in the US, today
spreads way beyond its original confines on the tip of a peninsula at
the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, roughly one hundred
miles south of Myrtle Beach and north of Savannah, Georgia. It's a
compelling place to visit, its historic district lined with tall, narrow
houses of peeling, multicolored stucco, adorned with wooden shutters and
ironwork balconies wrought by slaves from Barbados. The Caribbean feel
is augmented by palm trees, a tropical climate and easygoing atmosphere,
while the town's pretty hidden gardens and leafy patios evoke New
Orleans.
Founded in 1670 by a group of English aristocrats as a specifically
money-making venture, Charles Towne swiftly boomed as a port serving the
rice and cotton plantations. It became the region's dominant town, a
commercial and cultural center which right from the start had a mixed
population, with immigrants including French, Germans, Jews, Italians
and Irish, as well as the English majority. Nevertheless there was still
slave unrest, culminating in the abortive Veysey slave revolt of 1823,
after which the city built the Citadel armory and later the military
university to control future uprisings.
The Civil War started on Charleston's very doorstep, at Fort Sumter in
the harbor. Fire swept through the city, destroying large chunks, in
1861; more damage was inflicted when it was taken by Union troops in
February 1865. The decline of the plantation economy and slump in cotton
prices led to an economic crash after the war, made worse by a
catastrophic earthquake in 1886. As the upcountry industrialized,
capital steadily deserted the city, and it only really recovered when
World War II restored its importance as a port and naval base. Since
then, a steady program of preservation and restoration not helped by the
devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 has made tourism Charleston's main
focus. Despite the crowds, however, it has kept its atmosphere, while
maintaining all the energy and life of a real, working town. The gullah
traditions of the sea islands are a tangible presence here, too:
''basket ladies'' weave their sweetgrass baskets all around the market
and near the post office, and many people black and white speak the
distinctive gullah dialect.
The City
Charleston's Historic District is fairly self-contained,
a predominantly residential area of leaning lines, weathered colors and
exquisite hidden courtyards, bounded by Calhoun Street to the north and
East Bay Street by the river. It's best taken in by strolling at your
own pace - though that pace can get pretty slow at midday in high summer,
when the heat is intense. Attractive spots to pause in the shade include
the swinging benches at Waterfront Park , a beautifully landscaped
piazza with boardwalks leading out over the river, and White Point
Gardens , by the Battery on the tip of the peninsula, where the flower-filled
lawns have good views across the water and a breeze even in the
sweltering summer.
Opposite the visitor center, the Charleston Museum , 360 Meeting St (Mon-Sat
9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $7, or $18 with the Joseph Manigault House and
Heyward-Washington House; tel 843/722-2996), is the nation's oldest,
dating from 1773 (although the original building no longer stands). It's
something of a ragbag of city memorabilia, with video presentations on
subjects from rice growing to the Huguenots. One intriguing room holds
exhibits from its early collections, where pickled snakes once shared
space with Egyptian mummies and casts from the British Museum in London.
The "head of a New Zealand chief" and a "fine electrical machine,"
however, were destroyed in a fire of 1778. The tiny (and free) Museum of
Postal History located in the Post Office, at 557 E Bay St, is packed
with fascinating stuff, such as a postage stamp bearing the face of
Confederate President Jefferson Davis that had to be withdrawn because
it made him look too much like Lincoln.
Charleston's market area runs from Meeting Street to East Bay Street,
focusing on a long, narrow line of enclosed, low-roofed, nineteenth-century
sheds, but also spilling out onto the surrounding streets. Undeniably
touristy, packed with hard-headed "basket ladies," this is one of the
liveliest spots in town, selling junk, spices, tacky T-shirts, jewelry
and rugs.
Most of the city's fine houses are private, and can only be admired from
the outside. The late nineteenth-century Calhoun Mansion , 16 Meeting St,
is among the more extreme, with its ornate plaster and woodwork, hand-painted
porcelain ballroom chandeliers and other similar extravagances (Wed-Sun
10am-4pm, closed Jan; $15; tel 843/722-8205). The Charleston Museum's
$18 combination ticket gets you into the 1803 Joseph Manigault House ,
opposite the museum, and the Heyward-Washington House , 87 Church St,
built by a rice baron. In the heart of Catfish Row, this was the setting
for Dubose Heyward's novel of black waterfront life, Porgy . Admission
to each separately is $7 (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm). The stately
antebellum Edmonston-Alston House overlooks the harbor at 21 E Battery
St (Tues-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Mon & Sun 1.30-4.30pm; $8; tel 843/722-7171).
The Neoclassical Nathaniel-Russell House , 51 Meeting St (tel
843/724-8481), is noted for its daring flying staircase, which soars
unsupported for three floors. Tremendously elegant both inside and out,
its piazza-free design also sets it apart from the other mansions. A
short walk north of the downtown area at the much scruffier and more
faded Aiken-Rhett House , 48 Elizabeth St (tel 843/723-1159), the work-yard
and slave quarters are intact, but the mansion itself has been left
almost entirely unfurnished, in fact almost empty - and all the better
for it. (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; $7 each or $12 for combination
ticket). An additional source for black history is the Avery Research
Center for African-American History and Culture , 125 Bull St (Mon-Sat
noon-5pm; donation; tel 843/953-7609), where there is a retired
nineteenth-century classroom and an archive of personal papers,
photographs, oral histories and art, among other items; the center hosts
periodic films, lectures and exhibits.
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Vacation Rentals in Charleston |
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