Charleston, South Carolina
As you read in my last post about Isle of Palm, my family recently spent a week in South Carolina. Although we stayed outside of Charleston this historic city was easily one of my favorite parts of our trip. We made the 30-minute drive to Charleston multiple time during the week to eat and explore the city.
The very first thing we did in Charleston was a carriage ride around the historic downtown part of the city. Our horse, Dyna (short for Dynamite), and driver escorted us around historic streets and taught us a lot about the buildings, real estate trends and general history of the town. The buildings are all so close together, the streets are fairly tight, there is hardly any grass to be found in the neighborhoods, and the price of real estate is completely ridiculous, but yet there is something captivating about the city and it's people, personality, homes and cobblestone and brick streets. It really was the perfect way to get acquainted with the town before we explored it on our own.
During another trip to Charleston we had reservations on a boat tour around the Charleston harbor. Throughout the ride we saw dolphins, large cargo ships, sailboats, Fort Sumter, the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge and Patriot's Point — home to the USS Yorktown (an aircraft carrier), the USS Laffey (a destroyer) and the USS Clamagore (a submarine).
After getting familiar with the town and harbor, we explored a little bit on our own, which was one of my favorite parts because I then got to take my time with my camera — thanks family.
One of the biggest tourist sights of the city is the City Market. The covered, open buildings that houses countless vendors carrying everything from handmade jewelry and sweetgrass baskets to homemade nuts and cookies to bath soaps and purses. There were even a few photography booths that I enjoyed exploring for inspiration on printing materials and display. For those of you who have been to Charleston or any surrounding area, you have probably picked up on the fact that they are known for handmade sweetgrass baskets, but I will write more about my experience exploring this art when I talk about Boone Hall Plantation in an upcoming post.
We explored two of the Charleston's parks, Waterfront Park and White Point Garden. White Point Garden is positioned right along the coast and has a history for being the location on which law enforcement would hang pirates so that other pirates could see them from the sea. We explored this park from underneath umbrellas in the rain, but the tall trees surrounding us were so green, I didn't mind. You might want to ask the rest of my family their opinion though since it was my idea to venture out in the rain. Do what you gotta do for the best picture, right? Maybe just me.
We went to Waterfront Park on the last night of our vacation, and it couldn't have been more perfect. With beautiful views of the downtown buildings, multiple unique fountains, beautiful trees, and stunning views of the harbor, it was a perfect way to say farewell to a city I was not quite ready to leave. I couldn't have asked for anything better.
If you want to read more about the homes of Charleston, our visit to Boone Hall Plantation, the food we enjoyed throughout our vacation or where we stayed on Isle of Palm, read here!
