Like Savannah, we'd always heard that the place is "charming." Charleston's more than that. It's unique. It's one of those rare places in our beautiful, yet increasingly homogenized country, that has managed to hold it's qualities in a way that shows it's a one of a kind place. Why is that? Well, we think there are a couple of reasons. The first is the people. Even though Charleston has grown a lot (the traffic here is horrible!), there are families dating back to before the Revolutionary War who still live in their homes built then. That's pretty unique in this country. It's more like Europe or other older societies. Then, there's the amazing architecture. The mostly colonial-era "single and double houses" for which Charleston is so well known. The single houses are always multi-story construction, one room wide, usually with a gabled roof, sideways to the street. Along the southwest face of the house is a full-length columned porch, which is entered by a door on the street, and from the porch a center door leads into the house. This construction was intended to keep the house cool, as prevailing southwest winds would sweep the house end-to-end, while the porch roof would shade windows from the sun. No other city has a collection of homes that quite look like this. They are unique. The "double houses" are more traditional looking. They're built on a double lot and turned so that the front of the house faces the street. The old part of Charleston has another thing going for it...it's clean! We spent an entire evening, just sitting on the pier with locals and visitors, watching the harbor and the ships coming and going. In the distance, you can see historic Fort Sumpter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.
We spent over a week here and really got around a lot. We covered the old town area (even took a carriage ride tour), most of the "islands" (James, John, Sullivan, Folly Beach, and Kiawah Island). Kiawah is a major upscale vacation beach, with a new, small village that reminded us of Celebration or Watercolors in Florida. The night we visited, the whole town turned out for an outdoor movie in the square. Very retro feeling.
We looked really hard for eating places in the more touristy parts of town, mostly the old town area, and didn't find much that satisfied one of our new rules: "We have gourmet food just waiting to be prepared in the kitchen in Harvey. If it isn't real unusual or amazing looking, have fun exploring, maybe have a drink...then GO HOME to eat!" We did go to Jestines, arguably one of the most famous places in town. It's just a little dive on the edge of downtown, famous for their fried chicken. I quote now from Mary Ann, "I think it was an off night because I could have mistaken the chicken for shoe leather. They did have really good sweet tea though." I don't drink much tea but I got addicted to it also. Enough said? (And a reminder of why we came up with eating out rule number 1). The foody highlight had to be The Fat Hen on James Island. This is the place we're searching for and find very elusive. It has all the qualities that make it a double nod YES and a double thumbs up, to go the step beyond entering the doors and looking at the menu. We sat down in the busy bar area and and had a total view of the whole place from our high seats. It was a weeknight, but the place was packed. Familys, couples on dates, young people, older, a total swipe of the local demographics of the area. Affluent, casual but nicely dressed guys with shorts or khakis and shirts actually tucked in. Women in sundresses, made up like they are out for the evening. Now this is a very casual place. Not high end or stuffy. The more upscale restaurants are filled with men in sport jackets and women more elegantly dressed, just like we found in Savannah. The food? Casual French bistro. Steak Frites, clams, a few other meat dishes, salads, and the meanest burger this side of the Mercury in Dallas (my standard for serious and BIG burgers!). We split the burger and perfect fries ( Mary Ann ranked them up there with Easy Street in Park City..our benchmark for fries!), and a glass of and old vine Zinfandel. Does not get any better. This place was another find for us.
We also took a day trip up to Hilton Head Island. This posh resort has always been on the list of cool places to visit. First impression is that it's larger than we expected. You almost need an overnighter to really get the feel for the place. We packed as much in as possible and saw pretty much the whole area, albeit a little more quickly than we'd have liked. Beautiful homes, good zoning again, with no high signs and lots of little nooks and crannys. After a couple of failed attempts at eating places from a list I made that looked like possibilities, we agreed on Roast Fish and Cornbread. Yep, that's it's name. Owned and chefed by a 5th generation Black Hilton Head resident, this place features healthy preparations of Southern specialties like Shrimp and Grits. Wonderful spices add an unusual flair to each bite you take. All dishes are served with their signature pumpkin cornbread. It tastes more like pumkinbread with a sweet cinnamonny finish.Yummy again! A winner again! We ate it for dessert. We returned to our RV park in Charleston that evening with the impression that Hilton Head would make a great one week, total getaway for almost anyone. The beaches are white powder and very wide. There are golf courses all over the place (and tennis courts). Even though the heat was turned way up, the breezes off the Atlantic kept it bearable.
We spent over a week here and really got around a lot. We covered the old town area (even took a carriage ride tour), most of the "islands" (James, John, Sullivan, Folly Beach, and Kiawah Island). Kiawah is a major upscale vacation beach, with a new, small village that reminded us of Celebration or Watercolors in Florida. The night we visited, the whole town turned out for an outdoor movie in the square. Very retro feeling.
We looked really hard for eating places in the more touristy parts of town, mostly the old town area, and didn't find much that satisfied one of our new rules: "We have gourmet food just waiting to be prepared in the kitchen in Harvey. If it isn't real unusual or amazing looking, have fun exploring, maybe have a drink...then GO HOME to eat!" We did go to Jestines, arguably one of the most famous places in town. It's just a little dive on the edge of downtown, famous for their fried chicken. I quote now from Mary Ann, "I think it was an off night because I could have mistaken the chicken for shoe leather. They did have really good sweet tea though." I don't drink much tea but I got addicted to it also. Enough said? (And a reminder of why we came up with eating out rule number 1). The foody highlight had to be The Fat Hen on James Island. This is the place we're searching for and find very elusive. It has all the qualities that make it a double nod YES and a double thumbs up, to go the step beyond entering the doors and looking at the menu. We sat down in the busy bar area and and had a total view of the whole place from our high seats. It was a weeknight, but the place was packed. Familys, couples on dates, young people, older, a total swipe of the local demographics of the area. Affluent, casual but nicely dressed guys with shorts or khakis and shirts actually tucked in. Women in sundresses, made up like they are out for the evening. Now this is a very casual place. Not high end or stuffy. The more upscale restaurants are filled with men in sport jackets and women more elegantly dressed, just like we found in Savannah. The food? Casual French bistro. Steak Frites, clams, a few other meat dishes, salads, and the meanest burger this side of the Mercury in Dallas (my standard for serious and BIG burgers!). We split the burger and perfect fries ( Mary Ann ranked them up there with Easy Street in Park City..our benchmark for fries!), and a glass of and old vine Zinfandel. Does not get any better. This place was another find for us.
We also took a day trip up to Hilton Head Island. This posh resort has always been on the list of cool places to visit. First impression is that it's larger than we expected. You almost need an overnighter to really get the feel for the place. We packed as much in as possible and saw pretty much the whole area, albeit a little more quickly than we'd have liked. Beautiful homes, good zoning again, with no high signs and lots of little nooks and crannys. After a couple of failed attempts at eating places from a list I made that looked like possibilities, we agreed on Roast Fish and Cornbread. Yep, that's it's name. Owned and chefed by a 5th generation Black Hilton Head resident, this place features healthy preparations of Southern specialties like Shrimp and Grits. Wonderful spices add an unusual flair to each bite you take. All dishes are served with their signature pumpkin cornbread. It tastes more like pumkinbread with a sweet cinnamonny finish.Yummy again! A winner again! We ate it for dessert. We returned to our RV park in Charleston that evening with the impression that Hilton Head would make a great one week, total getaway for almost anyone. The beaches are white powder and very wide. There are golf courses all over the place (and tennis courts). Even though the heat was turned way up, the breezes off the Atlantic kept it bearable.
So go ahead and call us TOURISTS! Mary Ann decided we needed to visit a real plantation, so on Saturday we headed a few miles from our base camp in Johns Island to the River Road, where several of the larger intact ones still remain. She picked The Magnolia, which does have a very rich history and huge and beautiful gardens. The most interesting thing to note about most all of the plantations is their location, up the river from the city, by about 15 miles or so. In the old days, if you took the road to town, almost a full day by horse. If you waited for the tide to be in your favor either way, about three hours! What a deal! Like being on a jet airplane!
Charleston is an incredible town, for the kind people (especially the polite children!), the history, the architecture, and the beautiful South Carolina panoramas.
Where could we possibly be off to next, on this our 6th week out? Why North Carolina, of course. Asheville, the home of The Biltmore Estate, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and from what we hear, some good foody possibilities!!
Charleston is an incredible town, for the kind people (especially the polite children!), the history, the architecture, and the beautiful South Carolina panoramas.
Where could we possibly be off to next, on this our 6th week out? Why North Carolina, of course. Asheville, the home of The Biltmore Estate, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and from what we hear, some good foody possibilities!!
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