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Charleston Photos

        

All About Charleston

In the closing pages of Gone With the Wind, Rhett tells Scarlett that he's going back home to Charleston, where he can find "the calm dignity life can have when it's lived by gentle folks, the genial grace of days that are gone. When I lived those days, I didn't realize the slow charm of them." In spite of all the changes and upheavals over the years, Rhett's endorsement of Charleston still holds true.

If the Old South lives on in South Carolina's Low Country, it positively thrives in Charleston. All our romantic notions of antebellum days -- stately homes, courtly manners, gracious hospitality, and, above all, gentle dignity -- are facts of everyday life in this old city, in spite of a few scoundrels here and there, from pirates to politicians.

Notwithstanding a history dotted with earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and Yankee bombardments, Charleston remains one of the best-preserved cities in America's Old South. It boasts 73 pre-Revolutionary War buildings, 136 from the late 18th century and more than 600 built before the 1840s. With its cobblestone streets and horse-drawn carriages, Charleston is a place of visual images and sensory pleasures. Jasmine and wisteria fragrances fill the air, the aroma of she-crab soup (a local favorite) wafts from sidewalk cafes, and antebellum architecture graces the historic cityscape. "No wonder they are so full of themselves," said an envious visitor from Columbia, which may be the state capital but has little of Charleston's style and grace.

In its annual reader survey, Condé Nast Traveler magazine named Charleston the number-three city to visit in America, which places it ahead of such perennial favorites as Boston; Washington, D.C.; and Santa Fe. Visitors are drawn here from all over the world, and it is now quite common to hear German and French spoken on local streets.

Does this city have a modern side? Yes, but it's well hidden. Chic shops abound, as do a few supermodern hotels, but Charleston has no skyscrapers. You don't come to Charleston for anything cutting-edge, though. You come to glimpse an earlier, almost-forgotten era.

Many local families still own and live in the homes that their planter ancestors built. Charlestonians manage to maintain a way of life that in many respects has little to do with wealth. The simplest encounter with Charleston natives seems to be invested with a social air, as though the visitor were a valued guest. Yet there are those who detect a certain snobbishness in Charleston -- and truth be told, you'd have to stay a few hundred years to be considered an insider here.

Frommer's Unlimited © 2009 Wiley Publishing

Events in Charleston

Battle of Secessionville Re-enactment

Nov 2009 (annual)
Boone Hall Plantation
The Boone Hall Plantation hosts the Confederate Heritage Trust's re-enactment of the Battle of Secessionville, commemorating...

Boone Hall Plantation

Daily
Boone Hall Plantation
Mount Pleasant's Boone Hall Plantation - one of America's oldest working plantations - has been open to the public since...

Charleston Boat Show

Feb 2010 (annual)
Charleston Area Convention Center and Coliseum
Hop aboard the annual Charleston Boat Show where the newest trends and models in the boating world are displayed in and outside the...

Charleston Comedy Festival

Jan 2010 (annual)
Theatre 99
The annual Charleston Comedy Festival brings four nights of laughter to city venues including Theatre 99, the American Theater and...

Frommer's Unlimited © 2009 Whatsonwhen Ltd

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