A visit to Charles' Town

After having arrived to Charleston on sunday evening, we started early on monday morning, Memorial Day, and drove from our hotel in North Charleston into Charleston, a pittoresque, but pretty touristy town of about 130.000 people. Since the last time we had been here (at least 15 years ago) it hasn’t changed that much. It has been touristy before and still is, but nevertheless it’s a „must-see“.


The city was founded in 1670 as "Charles Town" in honor of King Charles II of England and is considered one of the oldest European settlements. It is also called the „Pearl of the Old South“ and architecture is just amazing. Old town is situated between City Market and Battery Park - on the waterfront, at the confluence of Ashley and Cooper River. Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, always has and still plays an important economical role.

But first of all, Charleston is known for its rich history and well-preserved architecture. South Carolina was the first state which separated from the Union and therefore in April 1861 the Civil War started with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, offshore Charleston on an island, by the Confederates.

There was a saying, that after having been hurt badly in Civil War, the city was „too proud to white-wash“. Therefore a whole lot of old architecture was preserved and since it was a very wealthy city in the 19th century, until Civil War started, the mansions were really stately and luxurious, as well as the gardens surrounding them were magnificent. Also, interiors of houses (some of them can be visited) were very elaborate, mostly European style, with imported furniture, tableware, artwork etc.

The wealthy (white) plantation owners knew how to live and let their slaves, captured in Africa and shipped over by the Brits, work for them on the plantations, mostly on rice, indigo or cotton fields in the surroundings of the city. Most of the farmers owned city mansions to do their business and trade slaves and goods and, in addition, plantation homes on the country site, esp. for times when it was too hot and humid in the city. And, it can REALLY get humid and warm here – even in May! Still nowadays, the city seems to be pretty wealthy and we were wondering about who owns all these fantastic homes and how astronomically high real estate prices will be. Sweetgrass artwork (see pic) is very common in Charleston and baskets made by Afroamericans are sold at many locations, e.g. at the famous city market.

After a long walk in Charleston, we wanted to visit three of the surrounding plantations: Middleton, Magnolia Place and Drayton Hall. Unfortunately in the late afternoon, at Drayton Hall, we noticed that one of the tires of our rental car showed a strange "bubble" and, closer inspections showed a crack as well. So, out of necessity, we had to skip the other two plantations and instead drove to Charleston Airport to exchange the car for another one, which was equally „old“ and a bit run-down, but, at least we didn’t have to be scared about a burst tire anymore. After having gotten a Hyundai Elantra for the old Chevy Cruz, with over 50.000 mi. on the tachometer, we decided to call it a day and drove to the Tanger Outlet Center first and to dinner at Jim & Nick’s BBQ then. The day ended good, with a meal of pulled pork and beef brisket to go with a local brew.