Charlotte and I bid farewell to Savannah, and head further north to Charleston, SC
Like St. Augustine, every one I’ve met recently has recommended that I visit there.
It is an OLD town, dating back to the mid to late 1600s. It traces its history back to the time of King Charless II. He gifted a whole swathe of land in America to a handful of his supporters who were integral in restoring the throne to him that Oliver Cromwell took at the end of the English Civil War. They first settled around the Charleston Harbor and the rest, well you know how the saying goes.
Unfortunately the drive there is a little wet and windy – storms and showers keep us to the Interstate, and we descend upon Charleston Harbor a little worse for wear.
As many of you will know, I’m not particularly good with heights, so the drive over the relatively steep, long and high Charleston Bridge, which rises to 175 m above the water, in high winds, on a rainy day was less than ideal.
Charlotte was buffeted quite strongly from side to side by the winds, the rain hitting the windshield obscured my view quite a bit, so I admit nerves got to me a little. I’ve walked over the Sydney Harbour bridge on the way to work and back (not the Bridge Climb of course) so I’m not sure what was different here, but I admit to having to unclench my hands from the steering wheel once the descent was over.
I’d booked a walking tour for the next day with History of Charleston Walking Tours, so the next morning, with the weather still a little overcast and drizzly, I set of to the appointed meeting place at the old Customs House to meet the guide.
Our tour guide, Martha is one of two sisters who run the tours. She is a 13th generation Charleston girl, being able to trace her lineage back to the first boats to land here, as well as being a practicing archaeologist.
Our group is small, around 10 or so, and after everyone arrives we set off.
The next few hours are a delight. Martha takes us around the historic part of town, through alleyways, nooks and crannies to show off her city. We are shown houses of note and historical places, put into wonderful context. Her breadth of knowledge is very wide – it reaches from pointing out little items like the badges on houses that show they had bought fire insurance, to discussing the original walled settlement and its historic battles with the Spanish and French.
As walking tours are want to do, we overlap with other groups from other companies, which are much larger in number, so I’m glad I’m on a more intimate tour.
Everywhere we go Martha says hello to someone, she has lived her life here, and given the history of the family, she pretty much knows everyone in town.
It’s a delightfully friendly, informative and well paced tour which ends up in the back garden of her own family home, where we are given some home made lemonade and she tells us of the time Prince Charles came to visit. Seriously, he came to look at the houses restored slate roofs.
Due to the style and age of it’s buildings, Charleston feels more like an old village or hamlet than a modern city. In fact the venerable Pink House, Charleston’s oldest building from around 1700, would not look out of place anywhere in Europe.
As part of the tour we were shown the restored Battery Promenade, which only 20 years ago was in disrepair, but has been industriously revamped as money runs back into the city. Property prices have increased over 10 fold over that time – and you can see why, it’s now a beautiful row of pastel painted restored buildings overlooking the river.
In fact Charleston has done very well to preserve it’s history and look despite having fallen on economic downtimes during the latter half of the 20th century, which has only started to turn quite recently. Nothing can be built or renovated in the historic district without approval from the Board of Architecture, and even then building may be delayed until an archaeological dig can be done on the site to establish if there is anything of value underground.
It’s a brilliant city, one well worth visiting and taking time to explore. I hugely recommend Martha and her tours, for a unique perspective that only a local who practices archaeology can provide.
I would love to linger more, but time is running out until my Visa expires so it with a little reluctance that Charlotte and I bid farewell the next day and head on down the road
