Mom and Dad had planned to meet some friends in North Carolina, but they got COVID. A big snowstorm was headed for Columbia (which never happens) and we didn't want to be stuck inside all weekend. So we made a last-minute decision and headed to Charleston.
We rented a van so we could all fit together.
We ate at a really good barbecue place - Queology - just down from the marketplace.
Jalen's burger was almost as big as his head.
Special Sauce
Old market, just across from the custom house on the Ashley River.
Coates' Row - built between 1710-1841. A historic marker by the door of No. 120 says that "recently discovered documents and maps found in Scotland and the Netherlands" indicate that a seafarer's tavern was on this site as early as 1686, which would make this the oldest intact building in Charleston.
Famous Rainbow Row - In the 18th century, merchants had stores on the ground floor and lived on the upper floors.
Cool car
I love how Charleston houses have beautiful hidden gardens.
Streets of Charleston
Sweetgrass baskets - this lady was NOT happy that I took a picture. Whoops!
Example of a kitchen house.
Streets of Charleston.
We were excited to spot a candy shop across the street.
Unlike in Savannah, I resisted! I did have a sample of a praline though.
Unlike in Savannah, this time I resisted! (I did take a praline sample though.)
Custom House
Farmers and Merchants Bank was built in 1854 and is the only Moorish Revival building in Charleston.
The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon is where public slave auctions were held in the courtyard to the side of the building. By the 1770s Charleston’s population was around 12,000 people, half of whom were slaves. In one year, over 7,000 black Africans were channeled through the city to other parts of the colonies.
The Old Slave Mart is the only surviving building in South Carolina that had been used as a slave auction gallery. It was built in 1859 as a result of a city regulation that prohibited public sales of slaves.
The Old Slave Mart made it possible for the slave trade to continue in Charleston now that it had been moved to an indoor private location. It only operated for four years, closing its doors in 1863 in the idle years of the Civil War.
Built around 1712, the Pink House is believed to be the second oldest remaining structure in Charleston. It was a tavern and rumored to have housed a brothel on the upper floor. The Pink House was just one of the structures along cobble-stoned “Chalmers Alley” part of the bawdy, rollicking tavern and bordello district that lay adjacent to the wharves. It remained a tavern through the 1700s when the neighborhood became more residential. It is rumored to be home to ghosts.
St. Phillips Episcopal Church is home to the oldest congregation in South Carolina. Many notable people from the colonial era and post-Revolutionary War years are buried in the graveyard. Several colonial governors are interned there, including Rawlins Lowndes, the governor during the Revolutionary War. Prominent early Americans are also buried there such as Christopher Gadsden, a general in the Continental Army, Daniel Huger, a member of the Continental Congress, Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Charles Pinckney, a signer of the U.S. Constitution.
The Dock Street Theatre is home to the Charleston Stage Company, South Carolina's largest professional theater production company. However, it was built as a hotel around 1809.
Named The Planter’s Hotel, it is Charleston's last surviving hotel from the antebellum period. At that time the hotel’s guests were mainly planters from around the state who came to Charleston for the horse-racing season. The prior building from 1730 is believed to have been the first building constructed specifically for theatrical performances in America.
The Douxsaint-Macauley House was erected in by a French Huguenot Paul Douxsaint. It is traditional Charleston archetecture with its beaded weatherboarding on the exterior, 9-over-9 windows, and a roof with dormers. Charleston is known for it's homes with doors that open onto porches rather than into the actual home.
The French Huguenot Church came to be known as the Church of the Tides because Sunday services were held based on the tidal schedule as most in attendance came to town on boats from their up-river homes. Today's congregation was reestablished in 1983 and is the only French Calvinist congregation in the United States today.
The Old Powder Magazine was an arsenal of gunpowder from 1713 until 1748. At that time, the colony was young and was afraid of attacks by Native Americans, and French or Spanish forces also staking a claim in the New World. The city was so fortified that the colonists built a wall around it, making Charleston one of only three fortified cities on the entire eastern seaboard of British Colonial America. The magazine is also the oldest public building in the state of South Carolina. It was used as an arsenal again during the Revolutionary War, after that the building served as a stable, a print shop and a carriage house.
In 1681, Charles Town settlers including English Congregationalists, Scottish Presbyterians, and French Huguenots built a wooden meeting house in the northwest corner of the walled city. As non-followers of the Anglican Church, these settlers were considered dissenters and as such were not allowed by law to call their place of worship a ‘church'. They were allowed to call it a meeting house, and the street that led to the wooden building was called "Meeting House Street” later shortened to Meeting Street.
The current church building stands on the exact site of the wooden house. A century after its construction, the wooden meeting house was replaced with a circular brick building designed by esteemed architect Robert Mills. That church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1861. In 1890 the present-day Circular Congregational Church was constructed. The church is striking due to its Romanesque style that stands out among the surrounding buildings. The graveyard is the city’s oldest burial ground with monuments dating from 1695
This intersection is called the "Four Corners of the Law" since the four buildings situated here represent four arms of law -- city, state, federal and ecclesiastical.
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is the ecclesiastical corner and is the oldest church in Charleston. The church was built between 1752 and 1761. The church steeple was an easy target for British ship gunners. At one point, the congregation had the steeple painted black hoping to decrease its visibility. The reverse effect occurred and it was even more visible against the blue sky. Pew Number 43 was used by George Washington in 1791 and later, in 1861, General Robert E. Lee sat in the same pew. I wish we could have gone inside and see the pew.
The Post Office and Federal District Court is the federal element on the Four Corners of the Law.
Built in 1896 in the Renaissance Revival style, the post office is on the first level and above are the courtrooms. The interior is palatial with balustrade balconies, carved mahogany woodwork, a marble staircase, brass and ironwork, and stone columns. Dad and I really wanted to see the inside, but it was a Saturday so it was closed.
The Charleston County Courthouse is one of the most significant buildings in South Carolina as it served as the provincial capital for the state when it was still a British colony. The building serves as the judicial corner. The first building was built in 1753 and it was here in 1776 that the first public reading in the colony of the Declaration of Independence took place on the second story balcony overlooking Meeting Street. The first building was destroyed by a fire that occurred towards the end of the Revolutionary War and a new building was erected in 1792. The building took another hit as it was badly damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. It has since been restored to its 18th-century splendor.
City Hall is the hub of municipal government and was constructed between 1800 and 1804.
The kitchen was elevated and there was a little elevated dining area too.
Jalen had a little loft room upstairs.
It wasn't fancy, but it was fine. We kind of wished we had stayed in Charleston, but this was definitely cheaper.
Sunday morning, we watched stake conference via Zoom. Then we headed to the old Sheldon Church. It's such a beautiful ruin. I was glad I got to share it with Mom and Dad.
I love this picture of Baylie. She must have taken it with my phone.
They have the best cider, jam, pastries, and more.
I thought this sign was amazing.
We decided to go to the old lighthouse. I'm actually surprised we never did that before. The pathway was spray painted and mostly it was positive messages. It was cool.
The lighthouse used to be on shore, but now it's an island. It's pretty cool.
I took so many pictures.
We even saw a dolphin! It was hard to get a good picture.
There was also a little jungle path.
We stayed one more night and on Monday morning headed to Middleton Place. It was beautiful. It's always so strange to be in such a beautiful place where such terrible things happened. It's hard to understand. Middleton Place was a rice plantation.
Our next stop was the Carolina Cider Company. This was a fun place that mom, Tiff and I had visited when we went on our girls' trip prior to my wedding.
We then headed to Folly Beach. We had only been there once shortly after we moved to South Carolina. Since then, I've read a few books that take place there and I've wanted to go back.
I tried to get a good picture of a wave crashing at the base of the lighthouse. I think this is the best one.
Jalen ate so much garbage that I asked him how he was feeling with so much sugar in his body. He said, "That's why I'm such a snack!"
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