Charleston, SC Surprises

11/16/2018

Charleston, SC Surprises

By Sandy

Although many people told me Charleston was a great place to visit, I honestly did not expect to enjoy the city due to the fact that I am in no way a fan of history (thanks to my high school teacher) and Bill doesn’t have an interest either.  We approached the town from the north, coming from Myrtle Beach.  All along the route to town were stands, unattended in November, but designed to sell handmade sweet grass baskets.  Taking the bypass around the city, it was evident the northern outskirts had much development and growth underway, and it looked like a nice area.  One thing we did notice was a stench of what we thought was rubbish/landfill areas nearby.  We didn’t find a cause, but there was both swamp surrounding much of the town and a paper factory spilling out pollutants, both a likely source.

From a really nice campground, near every high end car dealership you can imagine (ie Ferrari, Mazaretti, Alfa Romeo) giving us the idea this town probably offers more than we were expecting, we set out the next day for a Grayline historic tour of the city, then followed that with walking King Street, a retail/restaurant mecca.  We found that this city isn’t as old as imagined.  Most of the 1600’s and 1700’s buildings have been destroyed from Civil and Revolutionary Wars, hurricanes, fires and earthquakes, along with general tear down and rebuild activities.  One unexpected twist was that growth in the city is taking place courtesy of land fill.  As they need more space, they bring in landfill to expand into the harbor.

The next day we toured the Boone Hall Plantation, complete with slave quarters and some history.  The main home was not as grand as the movies make plantations look, but still elaborate for the time period of 1800’s.  Isle of Palms, a beach town with gorgeous newer beachfront homes but little in terms of town amenities, and Folly Beach, a random mix of smaller older homes with a few restaurants but not offering much else, both had limited beach access.

Overall, I thought Charleston was much nicer and a more modern city than I expected and the neighborhoods being developed outside of town to the north look inviting.  For history buffs, there are so many more historical sites to visit.  But we did get the impression that the people here are not as ‘warm and inviting’ as other areas of the country. Could it be that Bill was treated almost like a terrorist for carrying a backpack of raincoats and water bottles into a government building and getting kicked out for it?  

Random piece of information:  At any given time, I have 10-11 towns listed in my weather app, deleting towns after we leave them and adding more.  Home and daughters’ towns, current location, winter location, next winter location to see how the other side of the country compares and to help with that route planning, and 5-6 upcoming locations, to help in determining when to move on and/or when to schedule those outside vs inside excursions for best weather selection.