CHARLESTON , one of the finest-looking cities in the US, today
spreads way beyond its original confines on the tip of a peninsula at
the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers, roughly one hundred
miles south of Myrtle Beach and north of Savannah, Georgia. It's a
compelling place to visit, its historic district lined with tall,
narrow houses of peeling, multicolored stucco, adorned with wooden
shutters and ironwork balconies wrought by slaves from Barbados. The
Caribbean feel is augmented by palm trees, a tropical climate and
easygoing atmosphere, while the town's pretty hidden gardens and leafy
patios evoke New Orleans.
Charleston's
Historic District is fairly self-contained, a
predominantly residential area of leaning lines, weathered colors and
exquisite hidden courtyards, bounded by Calhoun Street to the north and
East Bay Street by the river. It's best taken in by strolling at your
own pace - though that pace can get pretty slow at midday in high
summer, when the heat is intense. Attractive spots to pause in the
shade include the swinging benches at Waterfront Park
, a beautifully landscaped piazza with boardwalks leading out over the river, and
White Point Gardens
, by the Battery on the tip of the peninsula, where the flower-filled
lawns have good views across the water and a breeze even in the
sweltering summer.
Opposite the visitor center, the
Charleston Museum
, 360 Meeting St (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $7, or $18 with the
Joseph Manigault House and Heyward-Washington House; tel 843/722-2996),
is the nation's oldest, dating from 1773 (although the original
building no longer stands). It's something of a ragbag of city
memorabilia, with video presentations on subjects from rice growing to
the Huguenots. One intriguing room holds exhibits from its early
collections, where pickled snakes once shared space with Egyptian
mummies and casts from the British Museum in London. The "head of a New
Zealand chief" and a "fine electrical machine," however, were destroyed
in a fire of 1778.
The tiny (and free) Museum of Postal History located in the Post Office, at
557 E Bay St, is packed with fascinating stuff, such as a postage stamp
bearing the face of Confederate President Jefferson Davis that had to
be withdrawn because it made him look too much like Lincoln.
Charleston's
market area runs from
Meeting Street to East Bay Street, focusing on a long, narrow line of
enclosed, low-roofed, nineteenth-century sheds, but also spilling out
onto the surrounding streets. Undeniably touristy, packed with
hard-headed "basket ladies," this is one of the liveliest spots in
town, selling junk, spices, tacky T-shirts, jewelry and rugs.
Most of the city's fine
houses
are private, and can only be admired from the outside. The late nineteenth-century
Calhoun Mansion
, 16 Meeting St, is among the more extreme, with its ornate plaster and
woodwork, hand-painted porcelain ballroom chandeliers and other similar
extravagances (Wed-Sun 10am-4pm, closed Jan; $15; tel 843/722-8205).
The Charleston Museum's $18 combination ticket gets you into the 1803 Joseph Manigault House
, opposite the museum, and the
Heyward-Washington House
, 87 Church St, built by a rice baron. In the heart of Catfish Row,
this was the setting for Dubose Heyward's novel of black waterfront
life, Porgy
. Admission to each separately is $7 (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm).
The stately antebellum
Edmonston-Alston House
overlooks the harbor at 21 E Battery St (Tues-Sat 10am-4.30pm, Mon
& Sun 1.30-4.30pm; $8; tel 843/722-7171).
The Neoclassical Nathaniel-Russell House , 51 Meeting St (tel
843/724-8481), is noted for its daring flying staircase, which soars
unsupported for three floors. Tremendously elegant both inside and out,
its piazza-free design also sets it apart from the other mansions.
A
short walk north of the downtown area at the much scruffier and more
faded Aiken-Rhett House , 48 Elizabeth St (tel 843/723-1159),
the work-yard and slave quarters are intact, but the mansion itself has
been left almost entirely unfurnished, in fact almost empty - and all
the better for it. (Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; $7 each or $12 for
combination ticket).
An additional source for black history is the Avery Research Center for African-American History and Culture
, 125 Bull St (Mon-Sat noon-5pm; donation; tel 843/953-7609), where
there is a retired nineteenth-century classroom and an archive of
personal papers, photographs, oral histories and art, among other
items; the center hosts periodic films, lectures and exhibits.
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Charleston 
