Homes of Charleston, South Carolina

While exploring Charleston, I was captivated by the buildings. Historic buildings dating to the 1700s stood right next to newer buildings. Buildings from each century stand in this city as witnesses to the history that has taken place there. They have witnessed the renaming of the town from Charles Town to Charleston after the American Revolution and major events and battles of the Civil War. As city that is home to a major seaport and prime manufacturing location (because of easy transport in the harbor), the city has grown and maintained life throughout history. It has also been home to many political figures and other well-known individuals.

I loved walking down the streets and experiencing the personalities and history amongst homes. I was particularly taken with the homes. Looking at homes and wondering what history lies within, what families lived there and what history they have stood through was mind blowing. 

I was also captivated with the vast styles found from home to home, but yet they still seemed to all create a unique style that creates Charleston. As you may be able to tell from the images below, the doors and house numbers particularly stood out to me. In addition to the color of the house, this is one place that homeowners' personalities really showed through. 

The first images you see here are of Rainbow Row, a row of several brightly colored houses on East Bay Street in Charleston. They got their name from a journalist who called them that when he wrote about them during their construction and painting. Each house stands right up against the next, but you can tell where one stops and starts by the change bright color. This is definitely an iconic sight of the historic city. 

Another interesting thing about the homes in Charleston are the porches. Because the lots are mostly narrow with small street fronts and because of the direction of the breeze off the ocean, the large homes lucky enough to have porches have them on the side facing the neighboring house. The homes were built to accommodate the breeze in order to cool the homes before the invention of air conditioning. Most of the porches look like you would expect with a rectangle shape and large columns, but the most elaborate porches are round, like the house pictured further down in this post. 

I hope you enjoy these homes as much as I do. If you want to read more about other things we did in Charleston, our visit to Boone Hall Plantation, the food we ate while we were there or where we stayed on Isle of Palm explore the other recent posts on my blog!