Why does a small city in American’s Deep South keep winning awards like ‘Number 1 U.S. Travel Destination’ ‘Best Food Destination’, ‘Friendliest American City’ and ‘Best Place for U.S. History and Heritage’? Judith Schrut’s come to Charleston South Carolina to find out for herself.
Charleston Charisma and Charm
It’s an exquisite, cloudless spring morning when my plane touches down at the small but bustling airport. A short Uber to town and Aparthotel check-in, and I relax, step out and gather my first impressions of Charleston South Carolina.
Simply, it is beautiful.
From the old City Market to the cobblestone streets and pastel villas of the French Quarter, from the harbourside parks, lush with pink and white azaleas, Civil War cannons and ancient oaks, to the historic homes on Church Street with their elegant wrought-iron gates, hanging gas lanterns and secret gardens, it’s hard to believe this is a living, modern city and not a movie set.
It’s beautiful not just to look at but to smell. Hot butter, melted sugar and roast nuts waft fragrantly from bakeries on King Street. Flowering plants and trees are everywhere: in seasonal turns, perfumed jessamine, sweet magnolia, gardenias; roses, crape myrtle, tea olive; plus many exotic plants I’ll need to look up.
It isn’t long before I’m completely taken in by Charleston’s charisma and charm. Although not normally drawn to ‘touristy’ things, when it comes to this place my hand is up for the whole hog, with gusto– the horse-drawn carriage rides, the swamp boat tours, the sunset harbour cruise to Fort Sumter, champagne in Hotel Bennett’s pink Camellias Bar. They’re all pieces in the colourful, rich, delicious and turbulent jigsaw making up Charleston, South Carolina.
A Walk through History
In Spring 1670, three ships, 150 English colonists, indentured servants and slaves landed in Charleston harbour and founded Charles Towne, named for King Charles II. By mid-18th century, Charleston had become a prosperous port, the wealthiest and largest city in England’s Southern colonies.
“Come quickly, have found Heaven,” wrote artist Alfred Hutty to his wife on first view of Charleston. Today’s Charleston still has an abundance of heavenly qualities, like coastal and island beauty, remarkable food, art and architecture, a world class music festival or two and large helpings of Southern hospitality.
My visit begins with a history walking tour from Walks of Charleston. Our guide, native Southerner and noted college basketball coach, Duggar Baucom, leads us on a 2-hour back-in-time stroll through 350 years of history— the old waterfront, Rainbow Row, cobbled streets made from stones used as ballast on Transatlantic ships, a selection of the 400+ churches (as well as the earliest American synagogue in continuous use), hence Charleston’s renowned nickname, the Holy City.
But what really fascinates me are the dozens of 17th, 18th and 19th century homes of Charleston’s old town known as Single Houses. We’re talking massive, colonnaded houses built for rice and sea cotton merchants, slave traders and plantation masters, who preferred to live and socialise in these plush, uber-comfortable town homes rather than their isolated country estates, especially in the hot, humid and deadly disease-prone warmer months. Here they were well-served by their town slaves, housed in cramped quarters out back, kept under close watch but concealed from public view.
Duggar explains how these homes have a unique one-room wide, narrow front with a street-facing outer door. But take one step sideways, and you see beyond the façade into an intriguing, hidden world. The outer door leads to a long, open porch, the “piazza”, held up by ornate columns. Mid-piazza is the home’s real front door, opening onto a luxurious living space 2-3 stories high, alongside immaculate semi-tropical gardens. This ingenious design gives ventilation in hot weather, privacy, and protection from fire. It also adds an air of mystery.
The Wonder of the Wander
The ease and variety of ways to get around in Charleston are a revelation— Uber, harbour boat, bike taxi, water taxi, horse and carriage, schooner, electric trolley. However, if you truly want to get close to Charleston’s heart, only good old-fashioned walking will do.
And I find I just can’t get enough of it. Not only because it’s a great way to work off those Cinnamon Bun, Lowcountry Boil and BBQ rib calories (about which more later), but because of the simple pleasure of viewing this astonishing city step-by-step, up close and personal. Frequent stops to read the fascinating plaques on houses, side trips to dip in and out of secret passageways, gardens, market stalls, a pink French Huguenot church here and there, and nightly shops at the wondrous Harris Teeter supermarket, open daily ‘til 11pm and stocked with everything an Aparthotel-ee could possibly need. When I need a rest, I jump on DASH, Charleston’s free shuttle service.
Museums, Culture and Charleston’s Darker Side
For a city this size, Charleston is incredibly well-endowed with museums, historic houses, theatres and other cultural spaces. Small but perfectly formed is the outstanding Charleston Museum. In fact, it’s America’s first museum. Here I discover an eclectic, lovingly displayed permanent collection including 400 years of weapons and artillery, an 18-foot crocodile with a scarily open jaw, biological specimens preserved in rum and a vast collection of fossilized animal teeth. A giant whale skeleton dangles precariously above the entrance hall.
It’s almost impossible to talk about Charleston’s history and culture without mentioning its darker side— its business in human slavery. Antebellum Charleston was the biggest port in North America for transport and sale of enslaved African-Americans. Its many plantations for rice, indigo and sea cotton, all dependent on slave labour, were hugely profitable. Slavery made Charleston one of the wealthiest cities in the colonial world.
Charleston Museum’s Low Country Hall leads me through the city’s past, including its deep slave connections. There’s some quite graphic memorabilia here, like copper slave badges used to mark enslaved people going off-plantation for outside work and handmade bricks marked with fingerprints of enslaved children who made them, alongside priceless silver, jewellery and clothing of their wealthy masters.
I also spend a memorable and moving afternoon in Charleston’s recently opened International African American Museum. It’s the newest of 100+ museums around the U.S. collecting, preserving and showing the story of Americans of African descent. IAAM is not just a powerful, inspirational museum with wondrous architecture and gardens but is considered a sacred site. What makes it so significant is its location: the museum is built on the waterfront, hovering 13 feet above historic Gadsden’s Wharf, the actual point where hundreds of slave ships disembarked and almost half of all enslaved Africans entered North America in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Daunting but equally worthwhile is Charleston’s Old Slave Mart Museum. In the heart of downtown and on the site of the city’s former main slave market, it tells the stories of thousands of men, women and children bought and sold into slavery at open air auctions, then sent on to farms and plantations across the country. Many of Charleston’s plantations are open to visitors. Of particular note is McLeod Plantation, one of the rare plantations which focusses on the enslaved people who lived and worked there.
See Food and Eat it
When you’ve had enough walking, horsedrawn carriages, bike taxis and DASH, it’s time to eat. You’re in luck: Charleston has a lofty reputation for its food.
Whether served in world-class restaurants like Husk, Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) and 82 Queen or more homespun hotspots like Hannibal’s Soul Kitchen, Fast and French and Nigel’s Good Food, the city’s cuisine is steeped in its maritime past and flavoured by its European, African and Native American heritage. Many eateries are re-purposed or restored buildings, so you may well get a side dish of history along with your food.
I’m greedy to try as many iconic specialities as my digestive system and purse will allow. I sample She-Crab soup, wood-fired oysters, fried green tomatoes and shrimp ‘n grits. I taste Hoppin’ John, Hush Puppies and Lowcountry Boil. I sweet-tooth on Benne Wafers, Cinnamon Buns, Carmella’s Cannoli Cake and Salted Pretzel Toffee Ice Cream and sip legendary drinks like Charleston Light Dragoon Punch, a heady, iced concoction of tea, rum, peach brandy and sweet spices.
Saving possibly the best for last, I enjoy a true hands on, meet-the-locals experience, an evening with Charleston’s BBQ ribs. Some say South Carolina is birthplace of the BBQ and home to the famous Four Sauces of the flame-cook world. I rarely eat red meat nowadays, but there is no way I can visit Charleston without trying this mouthwatering signature dish.
But how to choose a rib joint? Luckily, this is a winning topic of conversation with local Uber drivers, coffee shop baristas and random strangers in the DASH queue. When all votes are in and tallied, Lewis Barbecue is the winner, with Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog a close second.
Lewis BBQ is justly proud of its custom-made smoker, built by Pitmaster John Lewis (no, not the UK department store, MJQ Jazz superstar or late, great U.S. Congressman). Now, Lewis doesn’t take reservations so I walk to Charleston’s NoMo neighbourhood and join the line snaking out the restaurant door.
I don’t think I’ve ever had such a great time waiting in a food queue. This experience is the real deal. Not only does it give me the chance to preview the food as the line moves past customers eating at tables piled high with ribs, pulled pork, brisket, smoky pinto beans and green chili corn pudding, but it’s pure delight to meet and chat with the friendly locals in the line. I am particularly lucky because the three large, full body-tattooed men and best mates queuing behind me turn out to be frequent eaters here. They are thrilled to share with me their passionate reviews of each and every item on the menu, so by the time I reach the counter I know exactly what I’m going to order. As the saying goes, it does not disappoint.
Waterside Living and Playing
It would have been easy to spend my entire visit walking, exploring, eating in Charleston’s fascinating and full-on old town, but then I’d have missed out on the vast natural wonders which surround it.
Charleston is three sides water, so naturally water plays an outsized role in both its past and present. And when it comes to activities on, in, or near water, you are spoiled for choice. There are islands, harbours, beaches, salt marshes and creeks to explore. Hop on a kayak, swamp boat or luxury yacht. Stroll waterfront parks, wharves and piers. Satisfy your wilder side with shark-tooth hunting, a sunset dolphin cruise or a naturalist-led coastal marsh eco-tour.
To discover the saltier side of Charleston life, I head across the Arthur Ravenel Bridge to Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island, two of Charleston’s many island suburbs, for the Shores E-bike tour run by Rebellion Roads.
This turns out to be an unforgettable, uplifting 2½-hour adventure across miles of Atlantic shoreline on Rebellion Road’s new bike fleet. Led by Ben, a bubbly Brit, we whizz through Mount Pleasant Old Village with its vintage homes and moss-draped oak trees, Shem Creek with its harbour bars, cafés, sea life and bikeable boardwalks, along Ben Sawyer Bikeway with its stunning sea views and pathway to freewheeling joy on the fine, packed sand of Sullivan’s Island.
Charleston South Carolina Southern Hospitality
In Charleston, it doesn’t take long to discover that the cliché of Southern Hospitality is not a cliché. Without exception, locals seem genuinely welcoming and friendly.
My most memorable bout of Southern Hospitality happens a few days into my visit. I’m wandering in the French Quarter when the sky suddenly turns dark. Within seconds I’m caught in a heavy, warm flash flood and terrifying thunderstorm. Several rounds of fierce, close lightning later, I’m drenched from head to toe, knee deep in oncoming torrents of brown water. I’m feeling very wet and not very brave, when a tall, handsome blonde doorman appears out of a discreet hotel doorway. “C’mon in,” he insists.
And that’s when I experience true Southern Hospitality. While the storm rages outside, I’m hangin’ with doorman Elliott, fellow staff and guests, drying out on an enormous porch swing in the sumptuous, stylish veranda-lounge of the 5-star Loutrel (which I later discover is Charleston’s trendiest new hotel), refreshed with tea and snacks, and learning more than I ever thought possible to know on the love of Elliott’s life, Crystal Palace Football Club.
Flight to Charleston South Carolina
There are daily flights to Charleston South Carolina from the UK via Atlanta or New York.
Weather for Charleston South Carolina
With a mild climate and so much to see and do, Charleston is fabulous year-round. It’s especially busy in summer as well as humidly hot, so you’re likely to find spring and autumn the best times to visit.
Things To Do in Charleston South Carolina
For more information on the Holy City, click here.
Cover image: Downtown Charleston South Carolina, photo by Leonel Heisenberg for Unsplash