I have been planning this vacation since February. My first stop was Charleston. I flew American Airlines (perfect service!) and this is what I wore:
My slacks are Tracy Feith, my top is Adrienne Vittadini, and my jacket is Live 4 Truth. I bought most of my clothes and jewelry from Shein and Temu, so if it got lost or destroyed, I wouldn't care.
On April 23trd, I took the hop-on, hop-off bus. I wore a dress from NikiBiki and Tom's sandals. They are easy to walk in.
I ate at this deli because it reminded me of Jacki. I had a chili-cheese dog and tomato bisque, and it was absolutely delicious! I stayed at the Comfort Inn, and they provided free breakfast, so I would take extra fruit and granola bars for snacks.
We saw the Charleston Museum. They had a full-sized submarine out front. The museum was mostly about the Revolutionary War and photos were not allowed due to the fragility of the artifacts. It was the first museum ever opened in the United States, established in 1773.
Some of the homes and buildings were built in the 1700s. They were mostly brick like this one.
This is the First Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopalian Church. During a bible study in 2015, A neo-nazi named Dylann Roof killed nine people. He was trying to start a race war. He is now on death row.
In the middle of the city is Charleston College, a liberal arts school. In Charleston, there are six college-age women for every man, because of the Citadel, which I will show you later.
There are many beautiful old antebellum and Victorian homes.
They have this feature called a piazza. The front door at the street leads to a covered porch. During the summer, the people would sit on the piazza in their underclothes, which still fully covered them. They wore about 40 pounds of clothing daily.
This is the Citadel. It is a military school in which you can serve for four years, but without committing to a branch of the service afterwards. This accounts for the male shortage. The recruits are not allowed to date and must always be in uniform.
Their only free time is Friday night, where they can go out to eat. They must wear uniform. They get a free education in exchange. Most choose to enter the service afterwards.
Otto Jostens, the class ring company founder, went to the Citadel and donated this giant replica to mark the entrance to the stadium.
This corner is called the Four Corners of Law - there's a church, a courthouse, City Hall, and the Post Office and Federal Building.
This is the Charleston Fire Department. Notice how tiny the hole for the truck is. It barely fits.
This is the Charleston City Market. It covers four blocks and is over 200 years old. It was originally a slave and livestock auction house.
Some of the yards are just beautiful!
This is the Charleston Library. I went in to see if they had a book sale - I was going to get Doc a book, but they didn't do that. It was very fancy and very quiet in there.
There were also a lot of alleys between streets. They were all filled with greenery. The whole city is very green.
This shop, Buxton Books, is very typical of the shops on King and Meeting Streets. There is a shop on the ground floor and a flat up above.
Here are a bunch of gorgeous old homes. You can buy a nice one for around 1.8 million. A real fancy historical home costs about twice that.
This is Colonial Lake - a large man-made lake in the middle of town. It has a lovely walking path all the way around.
Some more beautiful house, with the oldest ones being brick.
I stayed in the Medical District, the home of MUSC - the Medical University of South Carolina. It will open in 2027. There were two very large associated hospitals there as well. One is MUSC Hospital, and one is the VA Hospital.
This is the MUSC School of Dentistry. They still use the old brick buildings.
Lotsa squirrels everywhere!
To get to the boat, I walked along the harbor breakwater, which is called the Battery.
This is the Coast Guard Headquarters.
Then I found my favorite spot in Charleston - White Point Gardens. This stele commemorates the collision of the USS Hobson with the USS Wasp, an accident in which 176 sailors lost their lives in 1952.
But here's the good part. The park was filled with a canopy of trees. Up in the trees were every kind of beautiful water bird - herons, egrets, kingfishers, storks, cranes, and many more. It was wonderful to see and hear all those birds making noise and flying about.
There is a pergola and a monument to William Gilmore Sims, a novelist and poet He was Edgar Allan Poe's favorite author. He was extremely pro-slavery.
Many huge historical mansions line the waterfront.
The old street ends at this layer of brick. Where the asphalt lies, one used to drop right into the harbor.
This is Rainbow Row, a street of colorful houses that use to be used as businesses that received cargo from the port.
This tavern was established in 1686 and still operates.
Here is the Old Exchange Building, where the landowners would have slave auctions.
This is another old brick tavern.
This is the Customs House, where sea merchants would pay their tariffs to be able to sell their imported goods.
This is the Schreiner-Comerford House, a good example of the piazza. It was built in 1842.
These are the Borough houses, which housed poor Irish laborers, as well as free blacks. They residents would all pitch in to raise the children together.
Then I got to the boat.
We motored out for about a half hour.
Along the way, we passed Fort Moultrie. It is on Sullivan's Island. It was attacked by the British Royal Navy in 1776, and the British were beaten back, saving Charleston from occupation.
Then we reached Fort Sumter. The flag was half-staff because of the death of Pope Francis. The first cannon shot in the Civil War was fired from here on April 12, 1861. Confederate troops garrisoned the fort for four years, resisting Union forces, then abandoning it before the capture of Charleston.
The siege transformed the Fort into a ruin, which this ranger explained.
These cannons were fired on Union soldiers. The biggest ones fired 400-pound mortars.
Here is a Union cannonball stuck in the wall.
This is the powder magazine, where all the ammunition was kept.
I walked back to the hotel and looked at more exquisite houses.
The William Elliott House, c 1730.
The James Brown House - not the "Give It to Me" singer!, c 1768
A really old brick home.
The John Prue house, c 1746.
The WM Wallace house, a newcomer, c 1900.
A round house, very unusual, since most homes are row houses.
The Williams Mansion, c 1878. This gilded age mansion is 24000 square feet and has 35 rooms.
Another row of colorful houses.
The Daniel Huger house, c 1760.
The Brunet Hall house, c 1743.
These old houses are in an almost constant state of repair and renovation due to their age.
The next day, April 25th, I went over to Mount Pleasant. I rode the city bus, which cost $2. I wore a dress from The Gap and the Tom's sandals. It was about an hour bus ride.
There is a maritime museum there, very similar to the one in Pearl Harbor on Oahu.
There is a small resort area. I took the water taxi back. It's $5 and is a shorter ride, but it drops you off downtown.
Then I walked back down King Street and had dinner in a Mexican restaurant.
On April 26th, I took the bus again to Town Center, a modern mall with a Trader Joe's. I got the requisite TJ plastic tote. I wore a dress from London Times and the Tom's sandals. They got a lot of use because they are very comfy.
On the way, I saw this crazy mansion that was turned into a bed and breakfast. The rooms are $800 a night! People pay that because the hotel is haunted and has been on TV for its paranormal activity.
On the way home, I walked around Colonial Lake again.
Here are my souvenirs - a tea towel.
Three pair of earrings from Belk, their department store, which is similar to Macy's.
Earrings and necklaces from Francesca's - four for $10!
I also got a Trader Joe's South Carolina bag, which I will show you in the next post.
Then I was off to Savannah - I took the Greyhound Bus. Stay tuned!
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