I have about a gazillion pictures from Charleston, this is seriously only a handful, but hopefully it gives you an idea of the awesomeness and beauty of the area...and the history!
Here I am, walking down a street in Charleston. While on this walk, Tyler and I were stopped by a man in a pin-striped suit, who interviewed us and put us on an internet segment for a local newspaper. Check it out:
http://www.postandcourier.com/manonthestreet/
We had a lot of good southern food. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a seafood fan, but I was very daring and tried the following seafoods: Crab Ravioli, Fish and Chips (in the Irish Pub pictured above) and Shrimp and Grits. I don't like Shrimp, but the grits were good. And the other dishes were pretty good too.
While we were in Charleston, a friend of Tyler's sister Emily, hooked us up with a free carriage ride/tour. His sister works for the Palmetto Carriage Tour Company. It was super good, and I liked enough that I would have paid. :p Laverne and Shirley were the mules pulling our carriage.
Okay, take a look at the blue painted above the porch. You will find this all over Charleston. It's called "Haint Blue". "Haint" meaning "Haunt" meaning "Ghost/Spirit." The premise is that if you paint Haint Blue above your porch, you are safe from ghosts.
This is "The Market". It's pretty cool. Some people are under the misconception that it was a place for selling slaves. However, it's really a market mostly run by slaves. Thus a "slave's market". Now there are just tons of vendors selling their wares. My favorite part was all the old black ladies who weaved baskets and roses and things out of sweet grass. So cool!
Welcome to the College of Charleston campus. Talk about gorgeous! I was in love with it, and Tyler and I decided he can go to school here if for no other reason than because it's so PRETTY! It is one of the oldest colleges in America. It was built back in the 1700's. That's right folks.
Here is a sample of the beautiful campus. This is the admissions building. Like I said...BEAUTIFUL!!!
Chalmers Street is the longest cobblestone road in Charleston. Interesting fact: This used to be a waterway and the cobblestones came from ships. Go figure.
Welcome to Rainbow Row. Back when Charleston was known as "Charles Town" and was an english colony, this area was the slums. A few years back...I don't know exactly how many...they were going to tear these homes down. Then National Geographic came through and took some black and white photos of the area. In the magazine, they described the homes as looking like a rainbow...and Rainbow Row was born. At the time it wasn't even painted these awesome colors, that came as a result of the magazine article.
This is the old Exchange Building. I don't remember the actual purpose...probably to make exchanges of some sort. What I do remember is that to the left of the building was one of the "favorite" spots to sell slaves. That is...until people coming from other places in the world where slavery had already been abolished saw it...they were apalled! Since Charleston was a business venture town, they wanted people to be happy, so they moved the slave selling indoors.
Here we have the famous Palmetto Tree. Tyler told me all about it, the importance, etc...but I can't remember. I just know it's all over the place and on the flag and he said something about being strong enough to withstand cannon fire???
I just found Charleston so picturesque, I had to share!
Here I am, walking down a street in Charleston. While on this walk, Tyler and I were stopped by a man in a pin-striped suit, who interviewed us and put us on an internet segment for a local newspaper. Check it out: http://www.postandcourier.com/manonthestreet/
We had a lot of good southern food. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a seafood fan, but I was very daring and tried the following seafoods: Crab Ravioli, Fish and Chips (in the Irish Pub pictured above) and Shrimp and Grits. I don't like Shrimp, but the grits were good. And the other dishes were pretty good too.
While we were in Charleston, a friend of Tyler's sister Emily, hooked us up with a free carriage ride/tour. His sister works for the Palmetto Carriage Tour Company. It was super good, and I liked enough that I would have paid. :p Laverne and Shirley were the mules pulling our carriage.
Okay, take a look at the blue painted above the porch. You will find this all over Charleston. It's called "Haint Blue". "Haint" meaning "Haunt" meaning "Ghost/Spirit." The premise is that if you paint Haint Blue above your porch, you are safe from ghosts.
This is "The Market". It's pretty cool. Some people are under the misconception that it was a place for selling slaves. However, it's really a market mostly run by slaves. Thus a "slave's market". Now there are just tons of vendors selling their wares. My favorite part was all the old black ladies who weaved baskets and roses and things out of sweet grass. So cool!
Welcome to the College of Charleston campus. Talk about gorgeous! I was in love with it, and Tyler and I decided he can go to school here if for no other reason than because it's so PRETTY! It is one of the oldest colleges in America. It was built back in the 1700's. That's right folks.
Here is a sample of the beautiful campus. This is the admissions building. Like I said...BEAUTIFUL!!!
Chalmers Street is the longest cobblestone road in Charleston. Interesting fact: This used to be a waterway and the cobblestones came from ships. Go figure.
Welcome to Rainbow Row. Back when Charleston was known as "Charles Town" and was an english colony, this area was the slums. A few years back...I don't know exactly how many...they were going to tear these homes down. Then National Geographic came through and took some black and white photos of the area. In the magazine, they described the homes as looking like a rainbow...and Rainbow Row was born. At the time it wasn't even painted these awesome colors, that came as a result of the magazine article.
This is the old Exchange Building. I don't remember the actual purpose...probably to make exchanges of some sort. What I do remember is that to the left of the building was one of the "favorite" spots to sell slaves. That is...until people coming from other places in the world where slavery had already been abolished saw it...they were apalled! Since Charleston was a business venture town, they wanted people to be happy, so they moved the slave selling indoors.
Here we have the famous Palmetto Tree. Tyler told me all about it, the importance, etc...but I can't remember. I just know it's all over the place and on the flag and he said something about being strong enough to withstand cannon fire???
I just found Charleston so picturesque, I had to share!
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