Today was devoted to downtown Charleston.
Lots-a walking - my fitbit recorded 15,000+
steps.
We are staying in the James Island County Park Campground
just across the Ashley River from downtown Charleston. For $10/person they will shuttle you over to
the Visitors Center. From there you can
catch a free trolley around town, or set off on foot. We initially took the trolley south down King
Street, but figured out pretty quickly that we walk faster and if we were
walking we wouldn’t miss the wonderful sights along the way.
Our first destination was Legare Street, south of Broad, in
the most historic (read expensive), and lovingly restored parts of town.
We were in search of “single houses” and
wrought iron gates.
Charleston has a unique
architectural style called the single house.
The single house is only one room wide as it faces the street.
From the street you see 2 windows upstairs,
and 2 windows and a door downstairs.
The
door looks like your and my front door, but actually leads on to an open air
porch that extends the length of the house.
The rest of the rooms open up on to the porch all the way back to the
rear of the house.
The same with
upstairs.
(There are pictures of what this looks like at the end of this post!)
The porches face gardens and the gardens are secured from
the street by fences and gates.
Oftentimes the gates are made of wrought iron. Long ago I read that the wrought iron work
was done by free men of color. Each
family had their unique design and every gate made by that family followed that
design. The skill and the design were
passed from generation to generation.
That said, in two trips to Charleston spent walking up and down these
streets looking at wrought iron work, I’ve never seen a duplicate gate. So maybe the story isn’t true, but it is a
great story.
We followed Legare down to the Battery and walked along the
sea wall admiring the view, the cannons in the park and the enormous houses
along the Battery.
We learned later that
when the settlers moved over from Charles Town Landing around 1680, this part
of the peninsula was all wetland.
It
wasn’t filled in and secured with a sea wall until the 1750's.
The stately mansions that grace the Battery were built after that.
We walked back up East Bay Street, and along the City
Market.
We had a seafood lunch at
Hyman’s on Meeting Street and then headed south again.
This time we followed a walking tour that we
had ripped out of the AAA South Carolina Tour Book.
We made an interesting stop at the Powder
Magazine (79 Cumberland St.)
To finish
off the day, we took a tour of the Heyward-Washington House at 87 Church
St.
The house was built in 1772 for Thomas
Heyward, who later went on to sign the Declaration of Independence.
In 1791 George Washington was a guest
there, hence the name of the house.
The tour was interesting with a
heavy emphasis on antique furniture that had been built in Charleston.
Of special interest to Dana was that the house was
briefly the home of the Grimke family (the daughters were famous abolitionists whose story was told in
Invention of Wings),
though they moved into a different house when Sarah was 11, before Angelina was
born.
Today was devoted to downtown Charleston. Lots-a walking - my fitbit recorded 15,000+
steps.
Our first destination was Legare Street, south of Broad, in
the most historic (read expensive), and lovingly restored parts of town. We were in search of “single houses” and
wrought iron gates. Charleston has a unique
architectural style called the single house.
The single house is only one room wide as it faces the street. From the street you see 2 windows upstairs,
and 2 windows and a door downstairs. The
door looks like your and my front door, but actually leads on to an open air
porch that extends the length of the house.
The rest of the rooms open up on to the porch all the way back to the
rear of the house. The same with
upstairs. (There are pictures of what this looks like at the end of this post!) 
We followed Legare down to the Battery and walked along the
sea wall admiring the view, the cannons in the park and the enormous houses
along the Battery. We learned later that
when the settlers moved over from Charles Town Landing around 1680, this part
of the peninsula was all wetland. It
wasn’t filled in and secured with a sea wall until the 1750's. The stately mansions that grace the Battery were built after that. 
We walked back up East Bay Street, and along the City
Market. We had a seafood lunch at
Hyman’s on Meeting Street and then headed south again. This time we followed a walking tour that we
had ripped out of the AAA South Carolina Tour Book. We made an interesting stop at the Powder
Magazine (79 Cumberland St.) To finish
off the day, we took a tour of the Heyward-Washington House at 87 Church
St. The house was built in 1772 for Thomas
Heyward, who later went on to sign the Declaration of Independence. In 1791 George Washington was a guest
there, hence the name of the house. The tour was interesting with a
heavy emphasis on antique furniture that had been built in Charleston. Of special interest to Dana was that the house was
briefly the home of the Grimke family (the daughters were famous abolitionists whose story was told in Invention of Wings),
though they moved into a different house when Sarah was 11, before Angelina was
born.
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