Historic Charleston, SC Offers Intriguing Look at the Past

From its stately historic mansions to its colorful, rainbow-hued homes to its horse-drawn carriages and cobblestone streets, Charleston, SC, is a city brimming with charm. It’s the perfect place to spend a weekend (or longer), especially if you enjoy feeling like you’ve taken a trip back in time.

Charleston City Market has been voted the city’s #1 attraction.

At the heart of the city is the historic Greek Revival-style Charleston City Market, a four-block area featuring boutique shops, handmade goods, fresh-made local delicacies, and more. Established in 1807, it has been voted the city’s #1 attraction as well as the “Best Place to Take a Tourist.”

Charleston is full of hidden alleys and walkways that inspire the imagination.

Within the two-story brownstone stucco and red sandstone market building, you can see the work of more than 100 local artisans, including the famous handmade sweetgrass baskets crafted by resident Gullah artisans. The Gullah people are the descendants of enslaved Africans who were brought to the southeastern United States, particularly the coastal areas and Sea Islands, to work on plantations. For more than 300 years, they have been weaving these baskets using locally harvested bulrush, a marsh grass that thrives in the sandy soil of the Lowcountry.

Those interested in learning more about Gullah culture can take tours led by Gullah descendants for an inside look into their distinctive Creole language, traditions like basket weaving and indigo dyeing, and unique cuisine based on seafood, rice, and coastal vegetables.

Tours of historic Charleston are also offered via vans or horse-drawn carriages, providing a great way to get the lay of the land and hear about the city established in 1670. These approximately one-hour tours take visitors to houses, gardens, mansions, and parks, as well as the many churches that make up the “Holy City.”

The French Huguenot church in Charleston was built in 1845, after numerous other churches were destroyed on the same site.

Speaking of churches, the city is home to some amazing historic graveyards, some of which are connected to nearby houses of worship. St. Philip’s Graveyard & Cemetery on Church Street is the resting place of John C. Calhoun, vice president of the United States under President Andrew Jackson. Two signers of the Constitution, John Rutledge and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, are buried at St. Michael’s Church, considered the finest example of Georgian church architecture in America. The graveyard of the Unitarian Church on Archdale Street is known for being haunted by the ghost of Lavinia Fisher, a highway robber and reputed serial killer. All of these churches are on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and are cited as U.S. National Historic Landmarks. They are usually open during church office hours.

The city itself is extremely walkable and provides numerous photographic opportunities. Some favorite stops include the large pineapple fountain at Waterfront Park, which recalls the city’s port town history when pineapple was rare and a symbol of wealth and hospitality. Just a few blocks over, Rainbow Row features multiple pastel-colored townhouses originally built in the late 1700s but later fell into disrepair. A local preservationist stepped in and began restoring the homes, and in 1931, the revived Rainbow Row was officially designated a historic landmark by the National Park Service.

From Waterfront Park, you can also view Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. To get a closer look, you can book a tour that includes a 30-minute boat ride across Charleston Harbor, where you’ll meet a National Park Service ranger who shares the history of Fort Sumter and its pivotal role in the War Between the States.

Charleston also offers a wide array of places to enjoy a delicious meal or a drink, with options ranging from waterfront restaurants to speakeasy-style hideaways to traditional Irish pubs. One of my favorite places was The Peacock, an over-the-top Art Deco-style restaurant that included a rooftop terrace overlooking the U.S. Customs House and Charleston Harbor. Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub is known for its live music and large portions, while Fleet Landing, set in a 1940s retired naval building, offers a casual setting along the water with a raw bar, numerous seafood choices—including she-crab soup—and the “Margarita of the Moment,” which changes with the tides. Brasserie la Banque, a neighborhood French restaurant nestled in historic downtown, provides an elegant backdrop for curated cocktails in a circa-1700s building that once served as a city bank.

Visitors can learn more about the city on horse-drawn carriage tours.

There are numerous accommodation options as well, from the Wentworth Mansion, a five-star luxury hotel, to the historic John Rutledge House Inn, to bed-and-breakfasts, chain hotels, and more. We chose to stay across the harbor from the city, and it was a quick 15-minute ride back and forth via Lyft, which also saved us the trouble of finding a parking spot. If you’re in this area, be sure to stop into the Holiday Inn Charleston-Riverview, where the 14th-floor bar and restaurant features 360-degree windows that provide panoramic views of the entire city from the air.

To learn more about all there is to do in Charleston, SC, visit www.charlestoncvb.com.